08 Update

2017 has proved to be a busy year for the humble 08/09 Shunter with plenty of activity. Although the number remaining is nowhere near the amount that was produced, the figure remains fairly static with few being disposed off. This year has seen long term contract changes, location changes and even new shunter duties created. Below is a brief update on whats being going on...

Alstom

Alstom retain a number of 'Gronks' at their depots along the West Coast Mainline. Locations such as Glasgow Polmadie, Liverpool Edge Hill, Manchester Longsight, Wolverhampton Oxley and London Wembley all started the year with a Shunter requirement. All of Alstom's Gronks have received attention in recent times, with money spent on them to keep them going for years to come. Most of this work was undertaken at Arlington Fleet Services, Eastleigh Works and included a full overhaul and repaint. Alstom's locos carried a variety of liveries prior to overhaul including BR Express Parcels Blue (08721) BR Black (08454) BR Green (08696) and Virgin Trains Red/Black (08611). 08954 was overhauled at Longsight depot and repainted blue from Transrail Railfreight grey livery.

The current disposition of Alstom's Gronks is as below...

Location	Allocation
Ditton	08454, 08721
Glasgow Polmadie	08764, 08954
Manchester Longsight	08451
Wolverhampton, Oxley	08617
Wembley	08611, 08696
Eastleigh Works	08790, 08887

08721 08454 Alstom Widnes

08454 Alstom Widnes

The list above no longer includes Liverpool Edge Hill. In truth, for the past couple of years the 08 was little more than a spare part on the site, often only being moved to keep it in serviceable condition. In June 2017, Edge Hills final pilot 08454 was road transferred the short distance to the new Rail Technology Centre in Widnes. The new site has a contract to repaint all Virgin Pendolinos which are now due. Rather than receiving Virgin Colours, the Pendos will initially receive a neutral scheme prior to the awarding of the West Coast franchise. The Pendolinos are split in to 3 parts and placed on to the 3 roads of the shed. Surprisingly in August, 08454 was joined by 08721 from Longsight and it appears that for the foreseeable future the site will have 2 pilots.

08721 Heywood, East Lancashire Railway

Manchester Longsight is down to 1 pilot, with 08451, itself not long brought down from Polmadie, holding the fort. It is expected that this will be joined by 08790 once it is released from Eastleigh.

08790 and 08887 are both on repairs at Arlingtons. 08790 has received some attention to its radiator as well as its traction motors. The loco is the only of the fleet at the moment to have a slight deviation to its livery, this being a black bonnet roof in addition to BR Blue.
08887 has been onsite at Eastleigh since Mid 2016 when it arrived for generator repairs.

Freightliner

Freightliner continue to deploy 08's at their container terminals up and down the country. The Gronks are on long term hire from Porterbrook and receive repairs at the LH Group (Wabtec) Barton Under Needwood as and when required.

08785 Southampton Maritime

Location	Allocation
Felixstowe FLT	08531,08691
Southampton Maritime	08530,08624
Trafford Park FLT	08585
Barton Under Needwood	08785
Nemesis Burton (Stored)	08575, 08891

08571 08624 Southampton Maritime MD

08724 08530 Leeds Midland Road

A recent shuffling of the fleet has seen 08530 come off long term repairs and transferred to Southampton Maritime via Leeds Midland Road for tyre turning. This has joined 08624 'Rambo' ensuring there is a pilot for the servicing shed and a pilot for the container terminal.

08785 has been tripped to LH Group for some well earned TLC having put in a tremendous performance at Maritime during which all of the other Freightliner Gronks had visited LH group due to failure and repairs at some point. 

08530 Barton Under-Needwood

08531 Barton Under-Needwood

08585 'Vicky' Trafford Park Fueller

08624 'Rambo' Southampton Maritime

08691 Barton Under-Needwood

08785 Barton Under-Needwood

 

08891 Barton Under-Needwood

Long term stored 08575 and 08891 have been shifted the short distance from LH group to the Nemesis Rail site in Burton. It is unclear at the moment why this is, whether they have been sold on or for further storage. 

08575 Barton Under-Needwood

08575 was stood down after an incident also involving 08077 at Southampton Maritime which saw both Gronks go through a set of Buffer stops. 08077 has since been scrapped.

HN Rail/GBRf

GBRf own a small number of their own Gronks but in more recent times have hired in from their supplier of choice HN Rail. The GBRf/HN Rail combination has seen Gronks used at Cardiff Celsa, Garston Car Terminal, Immingham Docks. 

A rumoured new contract is to see 09106/09201 installed with lights and mainline equipment for the Doncaster area.... time will tell!

The requirement at Garston has been upped from 1 shunter to 2, with 08818 (fresh from overhaul) joining 08507 at the South Liverpool complex. Whether this remains a permanent 2 loco gig remains to be seen. 

08818 'Molly' Garston Car Terminal

08527 is used a Immingham Docks on a contract between GBRf and Puma Energy.

08527 leaving Allerton for attention at Barrow Hill before being redeployed at Immingham Docks.

Still the largest gig between the pair is the Celsa Steel Plant in Cardiff. Requiring at least 4 Gronks at any one time, currently the location is home to 08389 (Celsa 1) 08924 (Celsa 2) 08630 (Celsa 3) and non remote control 08904. The first 3 locos have been fitted with remote control equipment, with 08904 on site at the moment to act as the spare loco. This contract was gained from DB after they pulled out in 2010/2011 and had been run down by EWS/DB in the latter years. This was mainly down to a lack of local dedicated maintenance facilities which in turn busted many a Gronk, often leaving the site with 1 or no serviceable shunters. GB and HN Rail have transformed this, introducing overhauled locomotives and state of the art remote control technology, which unlike the EWS/DB variant, actually works reliably.

08389 (Celsa 1) Cardiff

08924 (Celsa 2) Cardiff

08630 'Celsa Endeavor' (Celsa 3) Cardiff

08904 Cardiff

RSS

08632 was moved to the Tata Steel Trostre site in Llanelli for hire via Runtech limited. This proved to be short lived however with RSS pulling out due to contractual issues. The loco has been returned to Wishaw where it is receiving some further attention prior to being released to Leeds Neville Hill. This will in turn allow 08405 to be moved to Wishaw for a repaint and some attention of its own.

08632 receiving attention at Wishaw

08480 and 08683 have in the past month taken over pilot duties at Norwich Crown Point from RMS locotech. 

East Midlands Trains

EMT currently employ Class 08's at Derby Etches Park (1) and Leeds Neville Hill (4) to assist with shunting operations. 08899 is based at Derby and 08525, 08690, 08908 and 08950 are based at Leeds Neville Hill. Of these, only 08525 is thought to be operational. 08690 and 08908 have been condemned for sometime visible from passing trains due to failures. 08950 is thought to have shifted cranks. As Neville Hill is both a EMT and Northern site, 08405 is on hire via RSS to Northern and assists EMT as and when required.

08417 08899 Derby

08525 Leeds Neville Hill

Arriva Traincare (Formerley LNWR)

Arriva Traincare operate sites at Bristol Barton Hill, Cambridge, Crewe, Eastleigh and Tyne Yard. Bristol, Crewe and Eastleigh all retain shunter duties at present.

Location	Allocation
Bristol Barton Hill	08516
Crewe LNWR	08868,09204
Eastleigh	08810,08442 (s), 08735(s)

At Bristol 08516 is kept busy as the sole occupant of the former EWS Mail depot.

08516 Bristol

At Crewe there is sufficient work for two Gronks with 08868 and 09204 employed here. Both carry Arriva Traincare Livery and apart from the plain yellow ends, look the business!

09204 Crewe

Eastleigh is home to 3 Class 08's at present with 08810 the depot pilot, 08442 in long term store and 08735 languishing on site despite being offered for sale last year by DB. It is unknown if it was sold and who its new owner may be.

The nose of 08810 just visible at the former Eastleigh TMD.

08735 'The Cement Mixer' awaits it fate at Eastleigh.

Model Rail Grumbles

I find myself writing this at a time where model railway products have never been better. The level of detail, functionality and quality is a far cry from models produced just 20 years ago. Naturally today's models command much higher prices but like anything in life, you pay for what you get. More manufacturers have entered the fray, no longer is Hornby the market leader, and this level of competition has led to raised standards.

However, this hobby is not all rosy.  I genuinely struggle to see how the Model Railway Industry in the UK survives with such a slow conveyor of products being released. I'm not rich, I'd consider myself comfortable with an amount of disposable income to spend on Model Railways every month. I find that I don't spend this money as there is nothing for me to buy. Sure plenty of products have been 'Announced' and plenty of these products interest me, however the amount of time in getting these items on the shelf is increasing. Its increased to the point where I'm not sure I see the point anymore, it's enough to kill off anyone's interest.

Examples of products falling in to the above category are Bachmann Europe's Class 90 and 158 projects. The Class 90 project was announced 3 years ago in July 2014 and the 158 way back in 2012. Today these projects are no more than drawings (assuming they have been done) UPDATE strangely enough the Bachmann website has been updated to say the 90 has progressed to the Tool room. At the rate it has taken to get to this stage then it seems plausible it will 2020 before we see the first Engineering Prototype and probably another 3 years on top of that for production/release. In all seriousness, from the perspective of me as a customer, this is a piss take. I want the 90, I have the money to spend on it, I just want to be alive to see it released. If Apple took 4/5 years to release their latest iPhone after announcing it would customers wait? Would they hell, Samsung would have record share prices to go along with record sales figures.  Will we ever see these projects? Probably not in the case of the 158, was this just a diversion tactic by essentially "Reserving" these items.

This isn't just a problem with Bachmann though, this spans the entire industry regardless of size.
Dapol, a Welsh manufacturer, announced an N gauge Class 142 a number of years ago. Despite a lot of confusion (even amongst their own staff) over whether the model was actually still going to be made, it now looks like its nearing completion. Then there was the Class 73, a model that had been crying out for updating for many years. Dapol did the Class proud with an outstanding rendition let down by avoidable and plain stupid livery errors. There are several 73s that interest me, all from the post privatization period however I point blank refuse to purchase these with the ridiculous yellow ends that should never have made it through quality control. I ain't going to take a paint brush (or indeed pay anyone to) to correct a £150 model. Hopefully the second batch will be better...

Hornby, the only name from the Model Railway world that anyone outside of the hobby knows, have been an embarrassment over the past decade. They have produced some outstanding models, namely the Class 60, 67 and King (for the Kettle fans). However with capacity issues over in China, production of items to sell at one point where more dreams than reality. Then there was the whole laying down the law with retailers imposing unrealistic terms and making it practically nonviable for them to stock their products. Thankfully a lot of kick back was received, particularity from the smaller retailers, and Hornby in part where told to go "F*ck themselves". They do now however seem to have turned a corner and products are starting to appear as regular updates on their forthcoming items. Hornby could however do with some assistance in range planning as some of the announcements in recent years have been shocking and the exclusions of what many people would see as Key/Core items truly baffling. One hopes that someone with an understanding of the products they want to sell is brought in, as they once had someone doing this who was a real asset to them and is responsible for their success before the more recent turmoil.

Another firm uses "Crowdfunding" to get projects going which seems reasonable. The guy behind the company is one of the most enthusiastic and technically minded people in the business. A modeller himself, he looks to produce what he would like to see in models. He's done this with good success so far and if you go off what he posts on well known model railway forums there is much more to come. However, sometimes he comes across as a complete liability and its like he should be housed in a cage and fed water and leaves. A recent crowdfunding project had plenty of expressions of interest and a number of orders placed too. Realizing that the numbers hadn't got to the stage they needed to in order to make the project viable, it was opened up to established retailers to get it over the line, makes total sense, the project can continue and retailers get a slice of the pie = Happy Days, or so you would think. So when announcing this on a forum, instead of thanking those who had supported the project from the start and the retailers who have essentially bailed the project out, the attention was focused on those who had expressed an interest but who had not converted that in to an order yet. A public dig at those people who essentially he wants to part with their hard earned cash seems a most unusual marketing strategy. The gripe being that there were 'Broken Promises' which is amusing as if you were to go through this thread in particular, the amount of times you see an update from the guy saying "Update on the project to be posted Monday/Sunday" or "Next invoices to be sent out Sunday/Monday" and you're still waiting a week later. Broken promises, oh the irony.

At the end of this rant, which is actually a fact filled rant, I conclude by saying that all I want is to be able to spend money on products. Gone are the days where Lima had mass releases every 30 days. I'm not saying that is the answer either, somewhere in the middle will do. The only models I have purchased this calendar year are the Dapol Class 68 (which is truly outstanding) and a Bachmann 57. I have a broad modelling interest which spans an era of 30/40 years and there has been virtually nothing come through. I've spent more money on second hand items this year such is the lack of supply.

Over the next couple of months/years I have the following to look forward to

1. Bachmann Class 90
2. Hornby Class 87
3. DJ Models Class 92
4. Dapol 59

and various re liveries of existing tooling.

I look forward the eventual arrival of these new models, however, I wont be around forever...

08 Update

Introduced well over 60 years ago, the standard BR Diesel Electric shunter,  or Class 08/09 as they are more commonly known, continues to prove its worth on the British Railway network today. Although the numbers have dwindled right down in recent years, a number of operators continue to add to their fleets.

Once the largest operator of 'Gronks' in the post privatization era, EWS/DB Cargo withdrew and sold their remaining shunting fleet in late 2016 after a number of unsuccessful attempts. The shunt operations which retained a dedicated pilot have been taken over by Class 60, 66 and 67 Diesel locomotives. Of the 24 sold, most were snapped up by hire market operators such as RSS (Railway Support Services) and HN Rail. The preservation movement also secured a number of these workhorses to ensure that they will be useful for many more years to come. Reflecting the current low price of scrap metal, only former Tinsley favourite 08879 was sold to a scrap dealer, Raxxstar Ltd, but even this is now has been repaired and should be sold on again shortly.

RSS (Railway Support Services)

Contracts both new and existing are being won all the time, however RSS are taking the lead in this field and below is detailed a list of recent goings on at the Wishaw based theme.

08460 prepares to shunt crippled wagons in to Axiom Stoke after their arrival from Warrington Arpley.


By far the busiest operator as of late is Railway Support Services Ltd based at Goodmans Yard, Wishaw. Formerly trading as Traditional Traction Ltd, the operator has made real strides in to the shunter hire market and as well as winning long standing contracts, has won new contracts as well.

• Wigan Springs Branch - Following the sale of 08605 to Riveria Trains, DB have opted to hire in a Class 08 from RSS to cover the sites shunting needs. Home to the Network Rail breakdown crane and MPV fleet, the site is also a wagon repair facility. With the shed having no allocation of its own these days, mainline shunting isn't really an option. 08703, fresh off a C Exam at Bescot (bizarrely sanctioned before sale), arrived at the site on the 20th January 2017. Still carrying shabby EWS livery, the loco has had the EWS lettering painted out and a small RSS logo placed on each cab side. Initially expected to replace 08605, both shunters remain on site at the time of writing.
• Leeds Neville Hill - Due to low availability of East Midlands Trains 4 own Gronks on site at Neville Hill with 08690 and 08908 out of action, and a commitment to provide a pilot to Northern covered by 08525, 08405 was collected from Crewe IEMD to ease the burden on former Intercity liveried 08950. 08405 was officially stored a number of years back by DB but was maintained in operational condition as Crewe IEMD pilot. Similar to 08703, the loco retains EWS livery with RSS logos attached to the cabsides.
• Axiom Rail, Stoke - Perhaps the most unsurprising new requirement for a Gronk was the pilot duty for the former Marcroft Engineering works in Stoke. Home to shunters such as 08714, 08993 and more recently 08633, the sale of the latter by DB to the nearby Churnet Valley Railway left this busy facility with no pilot. Realising that this wasn't practical DB turned to RSS who in turn have provided initially 08652, whilst 08460's overhaul was completed at Wishaw, via Mendip Rail. 08460 has now taken up its duties in the Potteries allowing 08652 to be returned to Merehead.
• Greater Anglia, Cambridge - The Arriva Traincare/LNWR facilty in Cambridge which is used for stabling/servicing units is a new location to require a Gronk. A lane of the shed has been hired by Abellio Greater Anglia for the overhaul of units. As the shed is not electrified the 08 will provide the power for any required movements. 08511 has taken up this duty after generator repairs at Wishaw.
• Greater Anglia, Norwich Crown Point - A depot and turn that has existed for many years, Crown point has a requirement for 2 pilots at any one time. This contract has been held by RMS locotec for a number of years. Expected imminently are RSS owned 08480 and 08683 to relieve locotec's 08754 and 08847.
• Tata Steel, Llanelli - Another contract won from RMS locotec, recently overhauled 08632 has been deployed to South Wales for pilot duty.

Purchased from DB Cargo at the fall of 2016 were,

08405
08480
08632
08703
08752

Also added to the operators fleet as of late are,

08568 - purchased from Glasgow Works
09015 - purchased from the National Collection

08632 under overhaul at RSS's base at Wishaw prior to deployment to South Wales

08511 undergoing generator repairs at Wishaw. The loco has since been dispatched to Cambridge for the new contract with Abellio Greater Anglia as described above.

08703 sits outside the shed at Wigan Springs Branch on Friday 19th May. The site is a shadow of its former self with its once large allocation of Class 31's, 56's and 60's all gone and replaced by crippled wagons and Network Rail MPV units. 08605 (which 08703 was brought in to replace) remains on site and in use.

Toton's former Pilot 08480/Toton No1 sits at Wishaw after arrival from the East Midlands. A quick overhaul and repaint in to RSS livery was to follow before being sent over to the Grand Central Railway, Loughborough along with 08683, where they participated in the lines diesel gala. Both shunters are still on site in Loughborough awaiting redeployment which is expected to to be at Norwich Crown Point.

08752 sits on a road trailer at Wishaw after arrival from Bombardier Derby. The loco is onsite for generator repairs and will likely receive a repaint in to RSS house colours of Black, Grey and Red.

'Euro Gronks' 08738 and 08939 sit at Wishaw pending overhaul. The pair are to be reactivated with their multiple working equipment reinstated and deployed nose to nose on an undisclosed contract. The pair last worked in 'Multi' in Rouen, North France but returned from their jollies and straight in store at Toton in 2011.

Former Bescot residents 08580 and 08709 have recently arrived at Wishaw after temporary storage at the Chasewater Railway. It could go either way with these 2, with stripping for spares or overhaul both under consideration.

 

08411 sits heavily stripped at Wishaw. Prior to the DB tender list purchases, the loco was scheduled for a full overhaul. It remains to be seen whether this is proceeded with.

08480 08683 are seen assisting with shunting operations at GCR, Loughborough. The pair are awaiting redeployment which is expected to be in East Anglia.

Observed from a distance and amongst the gantries is 08405 which is on hire to EMT at Leeds Neville Hill. On hand to assist with shunting duties due to 08690 and 08908 currently being out of traffic.

News Update

It's been a while since I last updated this blog, so understandably quite a lot has gone on in the railway world since then! The aim of this post is to pick out of the highlights of the past few months.

DRS 37's with contrasting fortunes

Finally coming to the realisation that they probably had more locos than they did work, DRS have offered a number of locos available for sale over the last 12 months. Whilst the last remaining 47's were sold off, a number of Class 37's have also faced the chop. 2 years ago Colas Railfreight bought several 37s out of preservation for test train workings, a contract won from DRS. Subsequently, 37's fell out of favour with the Cumbrian operator (except for the 37/4 sub class with passenger contracts with Abellio Greater Anglia and Northern). DRS have started to withdraw locos with high engine hours or that are close to needing major attention. This has included some of the 37/6 locos once of Eurostar EPS.

In the other direction, DRS continues to overhaul 37/4 locomotives for their passenger contacts. Released from RVEL Derby last Summer, 37424 was extensively rebuilt and finished off in large logo livery as per 37401/2/3. 37407 is almost finished at Loram Derby and also has been finished off in the retro BR scheme. 37423 has just been released back to traffic after a general overhaul and is currently plying its trade on the 'Short set' in East Anglia. 37422 has been moved to Barrow Hill for attention, internal and external with its deteriorating bodywork a reason it never received any decals, running around in base DRS blue for the past 2 years or so.

A full update on the new owners of the DRS 37's will appear here shortly when complete.

3 Weeks ago today I had a wonderful day on the Cumbrian Coast with these classic BR diesels. Starting off at Warrington Bank Quay with a pendolino to Preston, 37409 'Lord Hinton' was waiting to take us forward to Barrow. Reported to be in 'Poor Health' in the days prior to the trip, the loco was purring like a cat in Preston station. The departure was as spirited as expected and after a short stop at a signal outside of the station, 409 was opened up to all its glory. A faultless trip to Barrow via Lancaster and Carnforth followed.  At Barrow there was a quick swap of trains to catch the 11:38 service to Carlisle, another 37 hauled set. I'd wanted 37402 or 37403 but with both locos out of service, at Carlisle and Crewe respectively, 37401 'Mary Queen of Scots' was awaiting us. A few quick photos were grabbed before a mavellous departure from Barrow. 37401 was in fine form, the driver presumably enjoying himself as much as the many enthusiasts on board! Arrival at Carlisle was on time and there was a quick rest for the English Electric type 3 before 'Pushing' the set back down to Barrow. This was a truly special day being able to enjoy these fine machines, fantastic scenery alongside the person I love.

A trip down to Norwich is next on the list for Class 37s and 68s!