Bacon the PigPigs are traditionally thought of as nothing more than meat at a barbeque, a dirty animal, with no other worth. This story will hopefully change your opinion of "the other white meat" and see that they are intelligent creatures and can react to what other animals usually can't, except dogs. Pigs really do care?John Jackson was born in Gary Indiana in 1946 and moved to Nunica, Michigan, in 1949 with parents to a farm. He loved farming and raising animals and fis...

Formed in 1999, GB Railfreight was one of several new rail freight operators to appear after the privatisation and break-up of British Rail in the 1990s. After winning a contract to operate infrastructure trains for Railtrack in 2000 the company enjoyed a long period of rapid growth to become one of the UK’s principal rail freight companies, later expanding into passenger operations. Today, with a fleet of over 100 locomotives, the company operates a wide and varied range of services acros...

It is now more than thirty years since two words synonymous with Diesel Multiple Units became part of railway parlance – ‘Pacers’ and ‘Sprinters’. The Class 142 Pacers were introduced in the mid-1980s and, despite almost continuous criticism as to their lack of comfort, these ‘nodding donkeys’ remain in revenue-earning service. From these beginnings in the 1980s our rail network has seen a total of twenty or so classes of Second Generation DMUs enter service. Indeed, they are the mainstay ...

Anyone who has tried to watch freight moving on UK rails in the last few years will realise these are challenging times for the rail freight industry. Stand by any railway line and you may have to wait a while to see a freight train of any sort pass by. Indeed, many large areas of our rail network see no regular freight traffic at all. Against a backdrop of declining volumes, the competition between the various freight companies has never been so acute. The ‘big five’ freight haulage compa...

The importance of our railways in the movement of sea containers cannot be overstressed. Industry figures suggest that one in four of all containers arriving at UK ports move onwards via the UK rail network. This is particularly significant to the railfreight sector given the dramatic downturn in coal traffic in recent years. Four of the country’s major players in the freight sector – Freightliner, DB Cargo, GB Railfreight and Direct Rail Services – all move significant volumes of containe...

In 2012, Direct Rail Services (DRS) placed an order with Vossloh (now Stadler Rail) for its first Class 68 diesel locomotives. The fleet size has now grown to thirty-four. Their later order was for ten Class 88 locomotives, an electro-diesel variant of the Class 68. Since delivery, the 68s have worked alongside the operator’s fleet of ageing, so-called ‘heritage’, locos. With these locos now at their disposal, they are surely destined to be the mainstay of the company’s fleet for some time...

The city of Derby has a long association with the country’s railway heritage, not just as a focal point for the county’s railway passengers but also its long tradition of manufacture. Today, Derby enjoys passenger services to destinations as far apart as London, Scotland and the South West of England. But the county of Derbyshire offers so much more. With towns such as Chesterfield and Buxton, as well as some tiny rural communities, it is still well served by passenger trains. Looking at f...

How many times have we heard the phrase ‘they don’t make them like they used to’? Whatever the merits or otherwise of applying such a comment to UK railway locomotives, the fact remains that there are many longstanding survivors from our railway past. Of course, we all know of the role played by preserved railways in the UK; they have secured a place in history for heritage diesel and electric locos as well as many steam examples. But a number of ageing locomotive classes still remain on r...

Many will recall the days last century when British Rail ‘blue’ dominated the liveries of most locomotives and rolling stock. The safety feature of yellow ends was the only concession. This external appearance was to be the norm for almost two decades until, in the 1980s, rail sectors were introduced and a little more variety crept in.It was not until the privatisation of the UK’s railways in the mid-1990s that this colour-scheme stranglehold was to be fully broken. The newly appoi...

This important stretch of railway line through the Midlands connects England’s second city with the strategically important railway centre of Derby. The area is served by local passenger services as well as forming part of the strategically important cross-country route linking Scotland and the North East of England with Bristol and the South West. However, it is the variety of freight traffic that draws the rail enthusiast to this area. The frequent passing of coal trains may have ceased,...

Take a look at East Anglia’s rail map and it’s obvious that one line dominates. The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) from Norwich to London’s Liverpool Street runs broadly north to south through the region with Ipswich an important junction on its route through Suffolk and on to Essex and the capital. Passenger services on this ‘core’ London route remain in the control of Class 90 locomotives. So, East Anglia is one of the last bastions for UK loco-hauled passenger trains. Additionally, some...

After The Joker’s death, Batman and Gotham City face a mysterious new threat in this direct sequel to Tim Burton’s iconic Batman.The Joker is dead, but not forgotten. Gotham City is saved, but it is still not safe. By night, its new symbol of hope, Batman, continues his fight to protect the innocent and the powerless. By day, his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, wonders whether there may someday be a future beyond skulking the city’s rooftops or the cavernous halls...