Western Dave Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 What's the story behind the line of Class 70's at Freightliners Midland Road Depot, is there an issue with their reliability? or do they not have the ability/need/resources to fix them? The line seems to be static most of the time and even grows from time to time! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Currently stored. I imagine if traffic picks up they will be removed from storage and used. Since g&w bought the company there has been better utilisation of the loco fleet. Where previously I would rarely get a heavy haul loco on a job,i seem to get any 66 they have and likewise I have seen plenty of the Intermodal 66s on infrastructure trains. There have been issues getting some parts for 70s in the past but the reality is that the freight sector has more locos than work. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2017 There was a rumour going round that they wanted rid of them, most Freightliner drivers I know hate them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Thing is they are tied into a lease with them so it's difficult to offload them. And of course if traffic picks up you still need locos. My contract prevents me from saying on a public forum what I think of them or how long the lease is! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Western Dave Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 Currently stored. I imagine if traffic picks up they will be removed from storage and used. Since g&w bought the company there has been better utilisation of the loco fleet. Where previously I would rarely get a heavy haul loco on a job,i seem to get any 66 they have and likewise I have seen plenty of the Intermodal 66s on infrastructure trains. There have been issues getting some parts for 70s in the past but the reality is that the freight sector has more locos than work. Thanks PM47079 I was wondering I know there are far too many locos for the amount of work around currently for most companies but to leave nearly new machines laid up even when tied to a lease is unusual when you have older locos still in use. so was wondering if there was other issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Western Dave Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 There was a rumour going round that they wanted rid of them, most Freightliner drivers I know hate them I live close to Southampton and I know they are not favoured here by drivers. like anything that's leased you can hand it back but the penalty payments make that highly unattractive. Bus companies shuffle buses around between garages (often hundreds of miles apart) when they loose contracts and sell or scrap the oldest they have or even delicense them and store them to save money, but Freightliners fleets is quite modern in real terms so that's not really an option other than to ship more 66's to Europe is demand picks up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I think spares availability isn't as good as good as it is for the class 66. And i have heard there are only so many staff trained on 70s. Probably easiest to get a 66 into midland Road sort it out and bung it back into traffic quickly. Doesn't solve the problem of newish locos sitting about I know.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black and decker boy Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 From info gleaned elsewhere, all FOCs have a surplus of locos (except perhaps COLAS) due to the sudden downturn in coal and steel traffic. FL have lost experienced staff from Midland road and spares are low for the 70s so the decision has been to maximise 66 use and also swap to pairs of 90s over shap in lieu of a 70 (more power). The 70s are reputedly on a 10 year lease (introduced from 2009) so have a couple of years yet unless a sublease can be agreed (if they want them used by a competitor). COLAS have new 70s arriving over the next few months so who knows if they want/need FLs old ones or not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 There certainly maximising 66 use all of my 70 diagrams have been a 66 in December and January Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2017 There certainly maximising 66 use all of my 70 diagrams have been a 66 in December and January Are they worse than a 66? I hate 66s with a passion the only good thing about them is they are pretty reliable Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I am not a 66 fan either, would rather have a 70 any day, they can really shift a heavy load well. The 66 will get it going but hasn't got the grunt of a 70 and it tends to hover around the 60 mile an hour mark and of course it's very very noisy! Due to the high noise levels we have been issued with special noise cancelling headphones which I personally always wear when driving them. In all my 31 years on the job they are without doubt the noisiest locos I have ever driven and that includes the 37/0s before they put that clutch on the big fan motor! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2017 I would agree with that. I still occasionally get a 37/0 and other than some rogue ones such as 194 they are much quieter than 66s I had 194 on an RHTT a few years ago and the compressors were so noisy I took the fuses out and ran with the air from the yellow pipe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 That's actually a good idea. We were laughing at work a while back at the way some of the older drivers way back in the 1980s used to shut off the class 37s from full power to off and as second man how it made you jump out your chair at the gigantic flash from the contacts cupboard if you were that end! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2017 I wonder how many main gens that cost, but there was some old gits We had a bloke at Thornaby who was a nice enough bloke but was terrified of grinkle tunnel on the Boulby branch, convinced that he would derail in there and ' they will just brick it up without getting you out, they did in Scotland you know!' On day I took the bulb out of a class 20 cab light and hit it on the desk to break the filament, I was driving and we went in the tunnel and he couldn't get the light on ,he was virtually screaming like a girl and sweating buckets by the time we came out, I'd almost bitten through my hand to stop myself from laughing! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Love it,! I wonder what he would make of Newmarket tunnel? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 28, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2017 I don't think he would have liked that,it's profile is similar to centre section of grinkle You must be at Ipswich then? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray M Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 We called at Midland Road , on saturday. Coming from the Ponty show. There was at least 14 out of the 19 on shed. I mentioned it to 1 of the lads in my local, who works at Stourton FLT " They where a load of crap when we got them, they up dated them, and they are still a load of crap now" And he pointed the finger, straight at one top dog in Freightliner. ( i Know the name, but i ain`t going to put it on her). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 I don't think he would have liked that,it's profile is similar to centre section of grinkle You must be at Ipswich then? Yep one of the old Ipswich bunch. I am guessing you are just down the road at Norwich? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 29, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 29, 2017 Even closer, stowmarket , with one of your former workmates. I also go drinking most Fridays with Phil Ward who was one of your fitters. I very nearly came to Ipswich twenty years ago, when your lads were learning Wilton I took the first ones , Andy derret was one , around the Teesside area in a van and the shed at Thornaby. I got wrong for it off my boss but Ronnie Holland offered me a job but I'd already started with DRS when the IPS vacancy actually came up 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Sad sign of freight decline that. Must be costing a fortune. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Sad sign of freight decline that. Must be costing a fortune. In general terms yes but it's not all bad news on the freight side, this time last year we were facing redundancy but since being taken over by the Yanks our workload has picked up tremendously. In fact, some of those who were made redundant have been asked to come back. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 If Freightliner are having such issues with their 70s why is it that Colas are acquiring new ones? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted January 30, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2017 If Freightliner are having such issues with their 70s why is it that Colas are acquiring new ones? Because they don't have a lot of choice. No more 66s can be built due to emissions regs and Caterpillar have not offered up a replacement. The 68s are less if a 'heavy freight' loco, more like a mixed traffic machine with features Colas doesn't need. Also rival FOCs are not in a rush to sell traction to their competitor. Finally lots hinges on finance - the 70s may come with very attractive financial package. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Even closer, stowmarket , with one of your former workmates. I also go drinking most Fridays with Phil Ward who was one of your fitters. I very nearly came to Ipswich twenty years ago, when your lads were learning Wilton I took the first ones , Andy derret was one , around the Teesside area in a van and the shed at Thornaby. I got wrong for it off my boss but Ronnie Holland offered me a job but I'd already started with DRS when the IPS vacancy actually came up Nearly but not quite then! Think you're probably better off Martin really enjoys it. I wish I had of took photos of Phil 08 paint jobs they were great. When I was at Colchester our 08 fleet was the best turned out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 30, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 30, 2017 Phil's 08s are better than new, you can almost see your face in the desk paint job and no runs whatsoever. His cars are the same. Now Martin has got used to the passenger turns he seems to like them aswell. I'm going to have cold lugs tomorrow got a snowplough testing run from March to Peterborough but got a pair of 57s so it's a head out the window job, shame we didn't have a pair of 37s as at least you get about two inches of vision! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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