Rail Projects

Rail projects : Class 91 – a potential never fulfilled

91 publicity Crewe

Mike Humble The East Coast Mainline (ECML) has been for many years, England ’s rail gateway to the North starting from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh some 392.7 miles in length. Some of the worlds most famous trains and locomotives have plied their trade with evocative names such as the Deltic, flying Scotsman, Mallard and [...]

AROnline Calendar IconSeptember 16, 2012 · AROnline Card IconMike Humble · AROnline Comments Icon31 Comments

Best of British : BR Class 43 – High Speed Train

hst

Twenty twelve is of course our Jubilee and Olympic year, and here at AROnline we celebrate our own transport legends in the first of this new short series that pay homage to some true gold-winning icons. Words: Mike Humble It’s quite staggering when you take stock and think that it has been 16 years since the [...]

AROnline Calendar IconSeptember 13, 2012 · AROnline Card IconMike Humble · AROnline Comments Icon54 Comments

Essays : Leyland Bus – the declining years

Leyland Swansong: The Lynx became a decent bus but early examples were prone to serious corrosion and warranty issues. The last ones were Volvo engineered.

It’s 20 years since Volvo delivered three killer blows to our motoring industry: 1992 saw the end of Leyland Lynx and Tiger production with total closure being announced for the following year. Mike Humble takes a look at the declining years of Leyland Bus. Recession of an Empire Moving fast, in a fast moving world Looking [...]

AROnline Calendar IconAugust 9, 2012 · AROnline Card IconMike Humble · AROnline Comments Icon21 Comments

Rail Projects : The BRE-Leyland Pacers – the dream becomes a nightmare

The BR / Leyland Class 142 (Pacer) - Still a common sight on Northern Regional Railways

Another development of the Leyland/British Rail partnership was the Rail bus. This time it all came to fruition for BL in a period when the bus market was dying. But this time, it got nasty, and had it not been for the Swedes, Leyland would have most certainly been sent into bankruptcy. Story: Mike Humble Far from being put off [...]

AROnline Calendar IconJanuary 13, 2012 · AROnline Card IconMike Humble · AROnline Comments Icon83 Comments

Rail projects : When BL met BR – The APT

St Pancras 1974 - APT-E by British Rail - Engines by British Leyland

Many people are unaware that some British Leyland products ran on the rails as well as the roads. AROnline looks at the Advanced Passenger Train (APT-E), which was BL’s first engineering partnership with British Rail. Story: Mike Humble I make no apologies for the fact that I love trains, and if it hadn’t been for [...]

AROnline Calendar IconJanuary 11, 2012 · AROnline Card IconMike Humble · AROnline Comments Icon57 Comments