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Old BR stock in use abroad

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Other than the International Train in Ireland are the Mk 2 coaches in New Zealand the only ex British Rail coaches/stock in use anywhere? I have some grab shots of the NZ ones leaving Wellington for Palmerston North, still with Sxxxx numbers.
 
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hexagon789

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Other than the International Train in Ireland are the Mk 2 coaches in New Zealand the only ex British Rail coaches/stock in use anywhere? I have some grab shots of the NZ ones leaving Wellington for Palmerston North, still with Sxxxx numbers.

The ex-BREL Internationals are no longer in use, they were withdrawn in about 2008, most have been scrapped.

If you count heritage/charter stock, I believe the RPSI may have some of the ex-BR Mk 2 pressure vent stock IÉ acquired in 1993 for use on some railtours etc as well as former NIR Mk2s, some of which were once BR stock. Not sure of the exact vehicles.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Historically there were loads, from the 141s in Iran to the 109s in Trinidad & Tobago. There were also the former Woodhead EM2 locomotives which had quite a long and successful second career in the Netherlands. I think one of them is preserved there and still runs on railtours on occasion.

Away from the national network, the original Docklands Light Railway stock now runs in Essen, Germany... complete with drivers' cabs now!
 

185

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The ex-BREL Internationals are no longer in use, they were withdrawn in about 2008, most have been scrapped.

Fairly certain in NZ there is still ex BR stock in daily use on both of the two loco hauled Welly commuter services - Palmerston North's Capitol Connection is Mk2s, and look largely unchanged, whilst the Wairarapa Connection up to Masterton also uses Mk2s - although these are heavily refurbished by Hillside Engineering and look a little different, quite modern.

The Palmerston has about 8 coaches, one is a buffet, there is also a noisy generator van - it only runs once daily in each direction... Whilst the Masterton has over 20 coaches - they use six or seven at most in service, in rotation for the five return trips it does throughout the day.
 

hexagon789

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Fairly certain in NZ there is still ex BR stock in daily use on both of the two loco hauled Welly commuter services - Palmerston North's Capitol Connection is Mk2s, and look largely unchanged, whilst the Wairarapa Connection up to Masterton also uses Mk2s - although these are heavily refurbished by Hillside Engineering and look a little different, quite modern.

The Palmerston has about 8 coaches, one is a buffet, there is also a noisy generator van - it only runs once daily in each direction... Whilst the Masterton has over 20 coaches - they use six or seven at most in service, in rotation for the five return trips it does throughout the day.

Yes, there are ex-BR Mk2s in use in New Zealand. They are not the same as the BREL Internationals though, which were based on the Mk3 design and bought by Iarnród Éireann in the early 1990s to provide an additional set of higher-speed coaching stock for Dublin-Galway services.
 

Elwyn

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I am fairly sure some of the RPSI carriages are former Gatwick Express MK 2 stock. Northern Ireland Railways acquired a set of about 8 them around 2001 and withdrew them in 2005. I think some are in use with the RPSI and others in storage pending overhaul by the RPSI.
 
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EF784141-69EA-4172-83CE-AE800176CEB7.jpeg
Fairly certain in NZ there is still ex BR stock in daily use on both of the two loco hauled Welly commuter services - Palmerston North's Capitol Connection is Mk2s, and look largely unchanged, whilst the Wairarapa Connection up to Masterton also uses Mk2s - although these are heavily refurbished by Hillside Engineering and look a little different, quite modern.

The Palmerston has about 8 coaches, one is a buffet, there is also a noisy generator van - it only runs once daily in each direction... Whilst the Masterton has over 20 coaches - they use six or seven at most in service, in rotation for the five return trips it does throughout the day.

I’m equally certain. As the thread originator I actually saw the Palmerston North train
 
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Fairly certain in NZ there is still ex BR stock in daily use on both of the two loco hauled Welly commuter services - Palmerston North's Capitol Connection is Mk2s, and look largely unchanged, whilst the Wairarapa Connection up to Masterton also uses Mk2s - although these are heavily refurbished by Hillside Engineering and look a little different, quite modern.

The Palmerston has about 8 coaches, one is a buffet, there is also a noisy generator van - it only runs once daily in each direction... Whilst the Masterton has over 20 coaches - they use six or seven at most in service, in rotation for the five return trips it does throughout the day.

I’m equally certain. As the thread originator I actually saw the Palmerston North train
 

duesselmartin

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I am fairly sure some of the RPSI carriages are former Gatwick Express MK 2 stock. Northern Ireland Railways acquired a set of about 8 them around 2001 and withdrew them in 2005. I think some are in use with the RPSI and others in storage pending overhaul by the RPSI.
The Cravens stock is certainly assembled from british pieces even If not former BR.
 

Giugiaro

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There are a few Sentinel shunters originally from UK industrial branches now working for contractors in Portugal. Usually they roll whenever there is expansions of the Porto Metro.

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http://board.portugalferroviario.net/viewtopic.php?p=81180#p81180
 
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talltim

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A 59, 66s, 86s, 87s and 92s have all been exported, mainly to Eastern Europe. (Think the 59 and some 66s have been re-imported again)
Are any of the 20s, 56s and 58s that were exported still running?
 

Crepello

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jamesontheroad

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I appreciate this is a discussion about current use of ex-BR stock abroad, so this is drifting a bit. However in the mid-nineties, before DSB Danish Railways completely abandoned night trains, about ten mk. 3 SLEP sleeper carriages were loaned for operations there. I’d be interested if anyone know what routes they were used on, and whether they were just for domestic services or international.
 

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Journeyman

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It was discovered recently that a couple of the Class 126 DMUs sold to Liberia for use on a mining railway had survived, although they were nothing but rusted-out shells.
 

Gag Halfrunt

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It's fascinating - if I read it correctly, a number of exported aircon Mk 2s were converted to push-pull commuter sets, including removal of the end doors and insertion of two sets of powered sliding doors, midway along each carriage. Remarkable bit of rail engineering - and that they couldn't build new stock more competitively!
The SA/SD sets were withdrawn in 2015 (twelve years after they were introduced) because the Auckland suburban network has been electrified. Perhaps they were intended simply to fill the gap before electrification and avoid the problem of new-ish stock becoming surplus to requirements.
 

Beebman

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Many years ago I remember reading in one of the railway mags about Mark 2 coaches being sold to Israel. The Wikipedia page for Israel Railways at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Railways has the following information (but no photos):
British Railways Mark 2c TSO
Bought from British Railways in 1977 (Series 681-688 (ex BR 5567, 5570, 5575, 5580, 5588, 5593, 5606, 5612) and retro-fitted with air conditioning equipment. 1 preserved in Railway Museum. In 1989, restaurant chain Apropo bought 5 Mk1 (BR 3947, 7675, 18768, 84338) and 1 Mk2 (5250) and shipped these to Israel, never to be used.

The article has a couple of links to external pages. The first is a page with photos of TSO '688' in the Railway Museum:
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ne/Israel/car/Mk2/pix.html

The second is a page about foreign coaching stock imported into Israel and has a small photo of one of the Mark 2c vehicles:
http://www.angelfire.com/my/railnews/rolling/coachlist_e_3.html

Coach683.jpg
 

hexagon789

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Many years ago I remember reading in one of the railway mags about Mark 2 coaches being sold to Israel. The Wikipedia page for Israel Railways at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Railways has the following information (but no photos):


The article has a couple of links to external pages. The first is a page with photos of TSO '688' in the Railway Museum:
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ne/Israel/car/Mk2/pix.html

The second is a page about foreign coaching stock imported into Israel and has a small photo of one of the Mark 2c vehicles:
http://www.angelfire.com/my/railnews/rolling/coachlist_e_3.html

Coach683.jpg

I believe they used them as the local version of 'First Class' essentially just reserved seating, the other coaches at the time being mainly 2+3 seating. I also believe at least one never received air-con.
 

175mph

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How are trains in this country able to be used abroad when the loading guages are different?
 

hexagon789

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How are trains in this country able to be used abroad when the loading guages are different?

As long as the track guage and brakes are the same, the size doesn't matter usually as most other countries have a larger loading guage.

Israel and Denmark are both standard guage and use the air brake, hence why Israel could use ex-BR Mk2c stock and Denmark former BR Mark 3 sleepers.
 

175mph

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As long as the track guage and brakes are the same, the size doesn't matter usually as most other countries have a larger loading guage.

Israel and Denmark are both standard guage and use the air brake, hence why Israel could use ex-BR Mk2c stock and Denmark former BR Mark 3 sleepers.
Thanks for the explanation, but that's made me think as well, how were some of the original Eurostar stock able to be used on the ECML for the 'White Rose' express?
 

Darandio

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Thanks for the explanation, but that's made me think as well, how were some of the original Eurostar stock able to be used on the ECML for the 'White Rose' express?

Because they were built to the UK loading gauge. They originally used classic lines out of Waterloo.
 
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