Malcolm Dobell BTech CEng FIMechE

Rail Engineer has often written about the problems of low adhesion caused by, inter alia, leaf debris rolled into the railhead. As a reminder, dry leaf debris can cause wrong-side track circuit failures and, when wet, can lead to...

Part 4, Passenger Service In this series so far, Rail Engineer has reported on the tests of Double Variable Rate Sanders (DVRS - a new acronym is born) on a Class 387 Electrostar at the RIDC Melton (issue 157, November...

A previous article outlined plans for bi-mode fleets on UK railways. This article briefly described Porterbrook Leasing’s Class 319 Flex conversions. A total of 32 units are currently on order, more than half of which will be the UK’s first tri-mode trains (AC, DC and diesel).