Rail Press

DB Cargo Cancels British Pullman Contract Earlier today, DB Cargo have cancelled their contract with the British Pullman (A Belmond Train)  to operate Class 67 locomotives on their charters. GB Railfreight will be taking over all foreseeable British Pullman charters, with 2 of  GB Railfreight 's Class 73s (73119 & 73128) running on test earlier today. Photo by TheFlyingTornado & RailPress

SWR To Retire Class 458s This Year SWR have confirmed that their 28 Class 458/4s will retire later on this year, with them all expected to be withdrawn by July despite being refurbished on 2021 eventually then finishing in 2024. It is also reported that SWR plan to retire the Class 458/5 units by the end of the coming summer season as more and more are dragged to Long Marston.

Direct Rail Services Cancel Crewe Depot Open Day Unfortunately earlier today,  Direct Rail Services have made the choice to cancel the annual Crewe Depot Open Day , which was planned to take place on Saturday July 12th 2026 . This has been caused by actively changing health & safety rules and not being able to put on an event that DRS  feel is good enough. For those that have purchased tickets: All tickets purchased for the event will be refunded via Eventbrite. Refunds will be processed automatically to the original method of payment, and you do not need to take any further action at this stage.

Lumo Confirm First Running Dates For Refurbished Class 222 Fleet Minutes ago, LumoTrains have confirmed the first running days for their new Class 222 'Meridian' mini fleet, 5 Class 222s (now Class 222/6s) were transferred from East Midlands Railway in 2025 for Lumos plans for their expansion on the West Coast Mainline, with the first ever running day confirmed to be June 9th , tickets now on sale. Below are photos of the new fleet and we will keep you updated when we get new details. Photos courtesy of LumoTrains.

New Class 08e Revealed At Whatley Quarry Earlier today Heidelberg Materials  revealed their new battery powered Class 08, named "Battery Bill". The locomotive is officially the first of it's kind at a UK quarry, the Quarry is located in Frome Somerset and has a handful of public vantage points, such as road bridges where you may be able to see 08787 in action. Photo by Heidelberg Materials.

Grand Union Class 769s Poised For Testing Of London & Southampton - Marchwood Service Is Approved Grand Union has officially confirmed that if their new London & Southampton - Marchwood is approved, they can officially begin testing their Class 769 units on the route with the test runs presumed to run Eastleigh TRSMD - Marchwood and vice versa. We will continue to provide further updates related to Grand Union as soon as we get them. Mockup by Alliance Rail.

Steam Locomotive Derails At Churnet Valley Railway Earlier today, S160 Class No. 700 derailed while operating an empty stock movement at Cheddleton, marking the first incident on the railway since it opened in 1996. According to a statement from a CVR spokesperson, the cause has not yet been identified and it would be inappropriate to speculate at this stage. Services will not operate tomorrow, with normal operations planned to resume from Wednesday, 22 April 2026. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. Photo by an unknown reporter.

RailPress - March Roundup 2026 Railway News HS2 Trains Considered To Run At Lower Speed To Cut Costs It was announced that the Class 895 may run at a lower speed as the current price of the line is estimated at over £100 billion GBP. However there's no official confirmation. Class 895 Mockup, HS2. GWR Swindon Works Hooter Blows For The First Time Since 1986 On March 26th 2026 the Swindon Works hooter (formerly used to announce the start and end of all working days) blew once again to mark the 40th anniversary of Swindon Works closing. GWR STEAM, TheFlyingTornado. 5 New Railway Stations Open In One Month March saw the opening of 5 new Railway stations, 3 of them being in Birmingham. The stations were: Moseley Village, Birmingham Kings Heath, Birmingham Pineapple Road, Birmingham Willenhall, West Midlands Darlaston, West Midlands LNWR Class 350, TheFlyingTornado. And due to this article being delayed..... Oulton Broad North Station Catc...

Whistle & Wander Issue 1 - Out Now! The official first issue of the Whistle & Wander has officially released, the first magazine as part of the official subscription plan for the book which is £4.99, a good price for what you get, speaking of what you get, this months magazine contains stories from several enthusiasts as well as many photos to accompany the story, it's definitely worth a read if you haven't seen the magazine yet. For those not in the loop, Whistle & Wander was designed by Alex Fletcher (@FletchOnSteam) as the next generation of rail magazines, with the successful Issue 0 released on February 28th.