Rail Express

RAIL EXPRESS is Britain's favourite modern rail enthusiast title. Undoubtedly the best for modern traction photography, the magazine keeps readers informed and entertained with undiluted coverage of Britain's railways in the diesel and electric era. First produced in 1996, RE has set a new standard for the hobby, with a clean design, high quality paper and the best reproduction. January 2008 saw the magazine relaunched in an innovative 'supersize' format, showing off the ground-breaking contents to the best advantage. Every issue includes news and analysis covering the present day railway scene, plus the latest preservation developments. Also inside: RAIL EXPRESS Modeler - Diesel & Electric era modeling magazine

RAIL EXPRESS

Six unanswered warning calls prior to ScotRail HST hitting tree at 84mph

ROG Class 93 begins first loaded test runs on WCML

Alstom completes final Class 458/4 refurbishment for South Western

New Year’s Day whistle-up kicks off rail’s 200th anniversary

Two more former DRS Class 37/4s make a main line comeback • Andania Engineering and Europhoenix both returned English Electric Type 3s to main line service during December.

Avanti bids farewell to its last ‘221s’ • Voyagers retired by Avanti as more ‘Evero’ sets are brought into use

Another rebuilt sleeper lounge car joins LS Group’s ‘Chairman’s Train’ • Second Mk.2f RLO gains a viewing balcony

Powerscene • Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.

Epping Ongar Class 37 is sold • Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway is new home for splitbox ‘37’

Diesel galas • A look at diesel gala events held in the post-Christmas period at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway and Severn Valley Railway.

‘Slugs’ at last

‘TT:120’ MMA/JNA CADs revealed

High density commuting in ‘OO’ gauge • Accurascale’s brand-new Mk.1 suburban coaches are far from suburban, as we discover with our usual in-depth examination of the new models.

Ruston & Hornsby 48DS in ‘O’ • The smallest locomotive in Heljan’s ‘O’ gauge range also needed more than the usual innovation to make it work, as Rail Express Modeller discovers in this comprehensive review.

‘N’ gauge OAA from Rapido Trains

NEW CONTAINERS FOR THE HORNBY KFA

Heljan ‘Peak’ in plain green

BR Diagram 1/211 ‘Palvan’

Countdown on to Scottish show

How to get the best from ‘N’ gauge. • ‘N’ gauge (1:148 scale) is a great scale to model in, but in addition to its many benefits over larger scales, it also has its challenges. We show how to fine tune a layout for the best operational performance.

Northumberland Line opens for service • At a cost of nearly £300 million, the former freight line between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Ashington reopened for passenger services on December 15. Chris Milner takes a look at the project.

Boston Docks exchange for RSS • The resident Class 09 has returned to the east coast port following repairs, only for a Class 08 to depart.

Q Stock Restoration work moves north to Barrow Hill

Breedon orders 54 JPAs with iWagon technology from Feldbinder • Time is being called on the 1980s-built two-axle PCA cement fleet with another order of bogie wagons from Feldbinder in Germany

‘Santa Specials’ hauled by 071 Class

UK Railtours to pursue charter trains over more freight-only routes • 2025 tours to emulate the successful change in tour itineraries seen last year.