Freight Update

On a day that brought glorious sunshine, the 4K64 11:46 Garston FLT - Crewe Basford Hall was well loaded and hauled by a pair of Cans! 86628 and 86614 multi power the train towards Ditton East Junction where they will make a brief stop to allow a Pendolino to pass by. This service is more often than not 86 hauled, either single or double-headed. Once a booked Class 90 turn, the hire of locos to Sleeper duties plus the Russell container trains that are double headed, 90's are relatively rare on this turn now. As mentioned 86's are the stable diet but 66's and occasionally 70's can appear from time to time. Always nice to see these wonderful AC Electric workhorses though, despite their advancing years they never get old! 18/04/2018.

Still carrying full 'DB Schenker' branding is DB Cargo 66101 here at Halebank. The loco has just slowly edged its way out of the Jaguar Land Rover plant at Halewood and is about to begin its long journey to Southampton Eastern Docks, 18/04/2018

88001 'Revolution' leads the long 4S43 Daventry - Mossend Euroterminal 'Tesco' express through Red Bank, Newton-Le-Willows on Saturday 21/04/2018. These electro-diesels are the newest class of locomotive introduced in the UK and are used predominately in 'Electric' mode with a 'Last Mile' diesel engine to cover short distances of electrified track. The Mossend/Daventry turns are the stable diet at the moment and the Class have also seen some use on Sellafield Flasks and WCML departmental trains.

Disturbing the early morning peace and quiet, DRS Class 68's 68023 'Achilles' and 68001 'Evolution' lead the 6C53 06:25 Crewe Coal Sidings - Sellafield through Daresbury. There is just something about these 68's that make them a personal favorite. The noise from them when a driver opens up will no doubt make them a cult classic! 21/04/2018.

A rather shabby 66061 heads towards Acton Bridge with the 6O42 11:31 Halewood Jaguar Cars - Southampton Eastern Docks on 05/04/2018. It has now been 20 years since the first Class 66 landed on British soil and this particular loco has carried this paint scheme from new avoiding the DB Stickering and the red paint brush so far but not for much longer...

DB Schenker Red 90040 leads Malcolm Logistics liveried 90024 towards Acton Bridge with the 4M25 06:06 Mossend Euroterminal - Daventry on 05/04/2018.

66109 is seen near Halewood with the 6O16 11:46 Ditton Foundry Lane - Dollands Moor. For operational reasons this service heads out of Ditton and reverses at Garston Yard before heading back to Ditton East Junction. From here the service then heads to Latchford sidings for another reversal before recessing at Warrington Arpley Sidings until the evening when it proceeds on to Dollands Moor.

66503 'The Railway Magazine' is seen taking the 'Fast line' near Jaguar Landrover Halewood with a lightly loaded 4Z80 08:15 Garston FLT - London Gateway on 21/04/2018. This particular loco has had its cab front and cab side Freightliner logos replaced with the newer Freightliner logo along with Genesee & Wyoming branding. 

With a slight pinch of sun peering through the forming clouds at Daresbury, the Freightliner Class 90 pairing of 90041 and 90043 slowly edge the 4M27 Coatbridge-Daventry through Daresbury. This was my first opportunity of 90041 being on the front of a service since reinstatement, having caught it several times in the past few weeks being the tucked in loco. Welcome back! 23/02/2018..

Trans-Pennine Express Class 68 Training

DRS/TPE 68022 leads a training trip from Wavertree Junction-Crewe Carriage Sidings through Halebank. 68027 was on the rear. 18/04/2018.

With the introduction of Class 68's and new coaching stock manufactured by CAF penned in for the Autumn, attention has now turned to driver and guard training. A number of test runs of Class 68's have occurred since Autumn 2017 mainly focused on the Crewe-Preston/Carlisle corridor.

68020 68022 Winwick 16/11/2017.

On Wednesday 18th April a number of runs were operated between Crewe Carriage Sidings and Wavertree Junction (Liverpool) utilizing MK3 coaches from the former 'WB64' Pretendolino stock last in use with Abellio Greater Anglia. A Class 68 locomotive was placed at either end, 68027 on the Liverpool end and 68022 'Resolution' at the Crewe end. Testing continued for the remainder of the week working several trips back and forth each day.

68022 'Resolution' 5K23 10:23 Wavertree Junction-Crewe passing Halebank 19/04/2018.

68027 5F23 11:16 Crewe-Wavertree Junction passing Halebank 19/04/2018.

68022 'Resolution' 5K25 12:18 Wavertree Jn-Crewe passing Halebank 19/04/2018.

68027 bringing up the rear of the 5K25 12:18 Wavertree Jn-Crewe passing Halebank 19/04/2018.

The plan is for 2 current Class 185 diagrams to go over to 68 haulage from the May timetable change using MK3 coaches, both on the Liverpool/Scarborough turns. These will be top n tailed with the loco hauled sets initially based at Crewe Carriage sidings. Facilities at both Liverpool Edge Hill and Manchester Longsight are being enhanced to house the new stock in the near future. The May start date is dependent on enough drivers and guards being suitably trained up in time.

There are currently 2 Class 68's over in the Czech Republic being tested with the new CAF MK5a stock, these being 68019 and 68021. These locomotives currently carry Trans-Pennine Express livery after vinyls were applied at Crewe Gresty Bridge in 2017.

Watch this space...

DRS places third order for Class 68's

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/uk-and-italian-operators-order-vossloh-locomotives.html?cHash=be53496d2893eb5bdfad8350348e26ed&Continue=1

Direct Rail Services (DRS) have placed a third order for the successful Class 68 introduced in 2014. The companies first order was for 15 locomotives and following the introduction of these machines an additional order for ten locos was placed. This latest order is for seven locomotives and highlights how in demand the 68's are. Currently the mixed traffic design is occupied with both freight and passenger work. Chiltern Railways replaced hired in Class 67's on passenger services between London and Birmingham earlier this year. Following the change over from First to Abellio in Scotland, Class 68's have also been deployed on passenger work North of the Border working peak services on the Fife circle, again at the expense of DBS Class 67's.

On the freight front the only regular booked turns for the Class at the moment is the 6U76 Crewe Basford Hall-Mountsorrel (6U77 return). North of the Border the 4H47 Mossend to Inverness (4D47 return) and the 4A13 Grangemouth to Aberdeen (4N83 return) intermodal turns have been in the hands of Vossloh's finest for some time. Other turns have and indeed do sometimes throw up a 68 such as engineers trains and wagon movements. Earlier this year, DRS experimented with Double Class 68's on Mossend-Daventry (and return) intermodal services. Replacing Class 92's hired in, two locos were required to maintain the timings of the ridiculously powerful 'Dysons'. A shortage of locos has seen this service revert to Double Class 66's for now...

So what is likely to occupy these additional beasts? Well a lot of rumours and speculation surround the Class. Talk of TPE and Northern looking at introducing a loco hauled turn utilizing the Cat's has been doing the rounds as of late. The difficulty here being that both franchises are shortly to be renewed before the new locos are expected to arrive, so things can change. First Great Western replacing 57's on sleepers with 67's is something that has been thrown around for some time. Could the 68's comeback to haunt the 67's again? At this point it must be said that there are no *official* plans to replace 57's on 'Night Riviera' duties.

The Northern Belle also recently had 68 power.Could we see an umber and cream Warskip? Highly unlikely but you never know...

So what for the impact on rest of the fleet? Serious inroads in to the Class 37 (non ETH) fleet as well as the elimination of the Class 20 and Class 47 has to be high on the agenda. Even perhaps the Class 57 could be under threat. Unless DRS has major expansion plans its hard to see them maintaining such fleet levels. They have committed to their leased Class 66's for another 5 years so they're safe...

I had the pleasure of travelling behind Chiltern liveried 68015 between Birmingham Moor st and London Marylebone in May. I had read a lot from enthusiasts about how powerful and noisy these locos are and needless to say I was not disappointed. The acceleration on these locos is impressive but it is the sound that has made perhaps given them a cult following. They may sound different from a vintage Class 37 but they are certainly no quieter. For a modern locomotive they are incredibly popular with enthusiasts. However what is perhaps most pleasing is that this third order proves that the Class is popular with the people who truly matter, railway operators themselves...

The Cumbrian Docker

Saturday 21st March saw Pathfinder Tours operate a train between Birmingham International and Carlisle. It wasn't however just a straightforward trip up the WCML, it was routed along the scenic Cumbrian Coast line route. As well as the glorious views on offer, thrown in was some rare access to the private docks branches at both Barrow and Workington. The choice of traction wasn't bad either, a pair of DRS Class 57/0's top and tailing!

The Traction

The traction for the tour was a pair of Class 57/0 diesels operated by Direct Rail Services (DRS). These locomotives are normally 'Freight only' machines with no ETH and were introduced in the late 1990's by Freightliner. Utilising the body shells of Class 47 diesels, they have refurbished EMD engines and actually have traction motors from Class 56 diesels. allowing them to be introduced at a fraction of the cost of a new build locomotive. 

 

57004 was converted from Class 47 47347 in 1998. Originally operated by Freightliner and named 'Freightliner Quality' it was stood down following the decision in 2007 to start to hand back the locos in favour of Class 66 diesels. Allocated to Carlisle Kingmoor depot and carrying DRS 'Compass' livery, this locomotive is actually owned outright by DRS, unlike the other 8 57/0's which are leased from Porterbrook. Following the crash of 37515 in 2008 and subsequent insurance right off, it was given as a direct replacement. 

57008 was converted from 47060 and was introduced in 1999. Under Freightliner it was named 'Freightliner Explorer' and again was stood down with the rest of the fleet with the change in traction policy.
With DRS the 57's are mainly used on nuclear flask workings and are particularly well utilised in the Autumn when the RHTT season starts. 


The Tour

The day for myself started at Warrington Bank Quay and at 09:40 the train pulled in to platform 3 with 57004 at the helm, 57008 hanging on at the rear. The coaching stock was formed of Riviera trains MK1's which have been well looked after. So apart from the fact we were being hauled by a pair of locos introduced for freight in old MK1 coaches, it was a fairly standard journey up the West Coast Mainline through Wigan before our last scheduled stop at Preston. From Preston we continued north through Lancaster towards Carnforth. On the approach to Carnforth we were advised by an on board announcement that Intercity liveried 37518 had been moved to a 'phottable' position on the West Coast Railways depot there. With many onboard now on their feet looking out the windows, we slowly crawled past the seemingly endless line of stored coaching and parcel stock stored there. Eventually arriving at the north end of the yard where the diesel depot is located, the coaches were replaced by lines of Class 47 and 57 locomotives with the odd 37 thrown in. With Carnforth out of the way the train branched left and on to the start of the Cumbrian Coast line. Cumbria is beautiful in any weather, but on this line with the sea on one side and the mountains on the other, in full glorious sunshine then it really is something else. Miles and miles of fields, greenery and wildlife. Disturbing the peace and tranquility today was 57004 on the climb towards Ulverston.

The first private branch line of the day was that of Barrow Docks, something not too many passenger carrying trains have been on in recent times. Today, Barrow docks mainly handles specialist vessels, notably ships from Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited and its nuclear fuel carriers. Security is tight due to the sensitivity of the subject and as such there are a few stops whilst gates are unlocked and the train is given clearance to crawl along the line. Eventually at a stop, the train is next to two PNTL vessels, 'Pacific Heron' and 'Pacific Egret'. These two vessels were introduced in 2008 and 2010 respectively and have security features that enable them to transport MOX fuel and plutonium dioxide from here to Japan. As mentioned above, there have been several issues with the transportation of this cargo over the years mainly involving Greenpeace and the truly reckless behaviour of some of its tree hugging activists. These ships are truly kitted out for this type of Cargo with a double hull and essential systems have backups to ensure reliability, kind of sounds like the Class 92 of the seas... In terms of protection, the vessels are fitted with Naval guns as well as other defence systems.

Also in view is the shipyard of BAE systems which is responsible for the design and production of Nuclear submarines. Nearly all of the Royal Navy Submarines were built here, the exceptions being made at Cammell Laird Birkenhead.

Back to the tour and 57008 was started up on the rear of the train to drag us back out of the private line, before handing back over to 004 which was to continue on the northbound trip. With a planned stop at Barrow station for a photocall being called off due to time constraints we were headed to Ravenglass for a quick stop and an opportunity to stretch the old legs. Here is home to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway which is a 15 inch narrow gauge railway which stretches for 7 miles to Dalegarth Station. Even with this fine piece of engineering, I couldn't bring myself to point my camera at a 'Kettle'. The stop here allowed an opportunity for some photographs of our train.

Back on board and back underway, the 57 took no time getting up to speed as we headed for Workington Docks. This section was probably the most beautiful and took in towns such as Sellafield and Whitehaven and was alongside the Irish sea for most of it. At Sellafield, we stopped for a couple of minutes next to the DRS holding sidings and the former DRS diesel depot which now houses the nuclear flask wagons and is still owned by BNFL. In the sidings today were Northern Belle liveried 57306+57312 which had worked up from Crewe that morning. On the headshunt was 37612,37059,57009 and 57002. 37603 and 37611 were also noted within the confines of the depot.

At Workington, the docks branch was accessed by a reversal, so 57008 was put back in to use slowly traversing the internal rail system. Workington docks these days handles about 300,000 tonnes of Cargo per year. This ranges from both dry and liquid bulks and forest products. Indeed on the day of our visit there was activity with timber traffic. In one of the sidings were some French registered 'Silver Bullet' wagons with 'Ermewa' branding.

Back on the line and the train was headed to Carlise for a brief 40 minute stop enabling a chance to be fed and watered. On the approach to Carlisle Citadel station we passed the now closed depot at Carlisle Currock. The shed here was closed by EWS in 2007 after being gradually run down over several years like many of their depots. Prior to being mothballed the depot was mainly used for maintaining wagons rather than locos but did still look after a fleet of shunters used in the Carlisle area. The depot is a sad sight today, truly abandoned with smashed windows, doors and overgrowth as well as lifted track. 

Shortly after we pulled in to Carlisle station and here 57004, with a fair shift behind it today was shut down. The stop in Carlisle was originally scheduled to be a two hour break, however this had to be reduced due to operational reasons throughout the day. Leaving at 17:20 the journey down south on the WCML was also set to be interesting as it took it some goods loops such as the ones at Eden Valley, Shap and Oxenholme. These loops are used normally for freight services to pull in to, allowing faster and higher priority trains to pass. One thing I was particularly looking forward to was seeing how the 57 fared on the climb to Shap Summit, which is 916 feet above sea level and the result was pretty impressive. Between leaving Carlisle and passing through Plumpton, the service had lost 8 minutes. This was maintained even on the climb to Shap and upon arriving at Shap Summit the train had not lost anymore time. At this time of day the sun was disappearing but what a sight the Lune gorge was in the evening light, simply stunning. The rest of the trip down South was mainly in the dark and largely uneventful. Upon arriving at Preston the service was by now 20 minutes late, and at Warrington Bank Quay were I was to leave the train we were late almost the same amount of minutes. Railtour time I think they call it..

So all in all a very good tour, allowing some rare mileage on freight only private branches as well as goods loops. The scenery on offer was unbelieveable as expected for Cumbria but with the weather on our side it just took it to another level. The opportunity to get some miles in behind some 57/0's was not one to be missed either for me personally. The price of the tour was a little higher than what I had paid on recent tours at £89, but perhaps with the ridiculous online booking charge taken out of the the equation, I'd say it was a reasonable price for what was delivered.