Traction

Traction caters for those interested in the fascinating development of classic diesel and electric traction on the railways of mainland Britain, Ireland, continental Europe and the parts of the world where British-built locomotives have operated.

Within the pages of Traction you will find a wide variety of articles written by professional railwaymen, railway historians, photographers and enthusiasts.

You’ll also find a ‘Traction Modelling’ section of the magazine which caters for readers who have an interest in modelling the railway in the era of the classic diesel and electric motive power.

Traction is published every two months.

It is often fascinating to to hear about events which were not generally public knowledge at the time. In this issue we look at the often complex decision making when procuring new locomotives and, using original source material, we reveal how BR decided to build the Class 90s and 91s electrics during the 1980s. 

We return to the East Coast Main Line near Doncaster in the 1980s, this time concentrating on freight operations. 

A former senior BR manager, describes the recovery of two Class 31s that crashed down onto the North Circular Road in London. It’s a hair raising tale!

There are several articles about freight traffic starting with the final years of mail trains in Devon and Cornwall. The sand traffic from Holmethorpe in Surrey is looked at in depth together with details of the wagons used on these trains. 

In our main photographic feature we concentrate on the Basingstoke to Salisbury line. 

We continue the story of the early years of a railwayman’s career when he was a lowly apprentice at Bristol Bath Road depot.

In TRACTION MODELLING our featured layout is inspired by the West of England with track work in EM Gauge.