Freightliner to take over Mendip aggregates traffic

[The Stationmaster]

6 minutes ago, Steadfast said:

For reference, 24 wagons is the most a 66 will take up the B&H. No idea how many extra a 66/6 could drag

 

Jo

Ooh, what a tiny train - way short of 4,500 tonnes trailing then.

[adb968008]

On 26/12/2018 at 11:51, Ron Ron Ron said:

I've pointed out before that this is just an urban myth and bears no relation to reality.

ENS was in trouble from 1995/96 and the program was put on hold a year later.

Apart from the technical problems and costs running out of control, there was a realisation that there was no viable market for the service.

It should have been canned then, but allowed to struggle on until the plug was finally pulled in early 1999.

 

The European budget airline "revolution" had hardly started by then and the small number of routes and markets it was serving in those early days, were completely different from the Eurostar and proposed Nightstar routes.

In those early years, it was not a competitor to ENS at all.

Certainly there was almost nothing in the way of budget airline operations from the "regions" until after the millennium.

The massive explosion in European budget airline operations, didn't kick in until after 2002.

 

The "killer" was that the concept was already outdated at its inception, there was no viable market for it and that regular European air transport links had already been providing a much better alternative, at reasonable costs, for a couple of decades before.

 

 

Ron

I think you might be out a couple of years...

1992 the EU deregulated the aviation industry.

 

it took a few years to get organised but funding was definitely in place by 1996 and many players were scrambling the market by 1998... indeed some were casualties by 1999 already... remember go fly anyone ? Stelios kicked off in 1995.

 

Ryanairs big play began c1998 and enmasse in 2001, but they weren't the first in the race. 

 

But dont forget fund managers, financial markets had that crucial 3 years head notice that we passengers had yet to see... they knew in 1995 this was coming and so ENS management would know too, having got so deep in, they just waited the inevitable then called it quits.

 

what maybe they missed was Eastern Europe joining the EU in 2003... millions of poles enjoyed the misery of 24 hour bus rides from Poland to Victoria.. Nightstar could have offered a less painful alternative from Poland / Hungary  to London, that took Easyjet / Ryanair until 2005 to realise that potential too.

Edited July 21, 2019 by adb968008

[Rugd1022]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I hope Freightliner's locos are up to 5,000 tonne trailing loads although presumably the Mendip Rail (ex Yeoman) 59s will still be in use?  The 66s seem to be able to mange the lighter trains ok from what I've seen from lineside.

 

A couple of lads from our depot are currently lodging down at Acton road learning for this new Mendips traffic, I'll ask them what the craick is regarding loadings and diagrams etc. I was up for it myself originally but I'm not too keen on lodging away from chez Nidge .

[beast66606]

70003 had a trial run this week

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H17398/2019/07/18/advanced

[Steadfast]

The trial was close to maximum (around 4500t trailing I believe it was) for a regular working on 7A91. Much was made elsewhere of the time it made up east of Westbury, which whilst impressive, that time of night a 59 will often gain similar time against the schedule. Also, the time gain at Westbury was because it was routed round the avoider non stop rather than via the station. The path still reflects the need in the past to get reilef, but this service these days is a through man normally.

Yes the 70 did well, but it needs to be seen in light of what a 59 or 60 can do too

Jo

 

[Erixtar1992]

Was over 4600T, didnt need banking out the quarry and dragged it up the B&H very well apparently. 

 

[TravisM]

I was talking to a friend last night who works for Freightliner as he said the trial went very well.  70001 and 70004 plus one unidentified Class 70 have been inspected at Midland Road for quick return to service.

[Zomboid]

23 hours ago, Steadfast said:

Yes the 70 did well, but it needs to be seen in light of what a 59 or 60 can do too

Only if they're trying to decide which of the 3 to use.

Since FL don't have any 59s/ 60s that I know of, they've got to show that a 70 can do the job well enough. Which apparently it can.

[Steadfast]

They've got the 8 ex Mendip 59s, they've owned them since Christmas-ish last year. 

Once it all settled down it'll be interesting to see the balance of traction that Freightliner use on the contract

 

Jo

Edited July 22, 2019 by Steadfast

[Marcoblanco]

 Its already started..Orange 66415 seen down at westbury today...!! 

[TravisM]

I see that Freightliner are pulling 5 or 6 Class 70’s from storage at Midland Road to release a equal number of Class 66/6’s from the Tunstead pool, which will then head to the Mendips.  70007 and 15 have been used for traction training between Great Rocks and Sheffield, so it seems contrary to the jungle drums, Freightliner haven’t bought DBC’s Class 59/2’s.

[Steadfast]

Don't forget a load of services are currently worked by DB 66s, so even if they have the 59/2s as well, they'll still need to release some locos elsewhere to cover

 

Jo

[159220]

On 12/09/2019 at 22:57, jools1959 said:

Freightliner haven’t bought DBC’s Class 59/2’s.

Far as I understand, Freightliner never even inspected the 59/2s down in Westbury (I have remained quiet as until recently no one would have believed me). Interest is from DC Rail, LSL and Beacon Rail (for Colas or GBRf). DB made a decision before losing the Mendip contract to introduce 'super' 60s on the Mendips and phase out the 59/2s which all need major exams/rebuilds. Who ever buys them, shall first need to put them through an exam/rebuild program (likely at Eastleigh) before using them again in service. The 59/0 & 59/1 are also in need of a this, hence why Mendip has sold them to avoid the risk/cost of their future use. If DB had won the new contract, more 60s would have been put through the 'super' program (10 expected) (GBRf were also proposing 60s). I would expect that Freightliner won on agreeing to take on the decision of the 59/0 & /1s, as well as providing a mix of 66/6 and 70 traction on the Mendips. The 70s shall be far more fuel efficient for the Jumbo trains and trails have been rather successful - I would suspect the main factor in keeping the 59/0 & /1 in the short to medium term is the lack of spares forthcoming from GE to return the 70s to service. No doubt, it shall all play out in the coming years - one thing is for certain, it is always interesting to model the Mendips! 

[john new]

On 26/12/2018 at 10:51, Ron Ron Ron said:

I've pointed out before that this is just an urban myth and bears no relation to reality.

ENS was in trouble from 1995/96 and the program was put on hold a year later.

Apart from the technical problems and costs running out of control, there was a realisation that there was no viable market for the service.

It should have been canned then, but allowed to struggle on until the plug was finally pulled in early 1999.

 

The European budget airline "revolution" had hardly started by then and the small number of routes and markets it was serving in those early days, were completely different from the Eurostar and proposed Nightstar routes.

In those early years, it was not a competitor to ENS at all.

Certainly there was almost nothing in the way of budget airline operations from the "regions" until after the millennium.

The massive explosion in European budget airline operations, didn't kick in until after 2002.

 

The "killer" was that the concept was already outdated at its inception, there was no viable market for it and that regular European air transport links had already been providing a much better alternative, at reasonable costs, for a couple of decades before.

 

 

Ron

However, the budget airlines can (did) only capture the market for those who want to fly or have no choice. The rest of us got ignored and are so still with HS2 not even giving a same station connection into Eurostar.

 

Sorry for the late response, only just seen the thread. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by john new

[Steadfast]

Don't think we'll be seeing 70s anytime soon. Apparently not cleared on one of the tunnels on the Whatley branch. The drivers being TUPEd have been told a mix of 66/6 and 59, so no traction to learn. 

 

Jo

[TravisM]

1 hour ago, Steadfast said:

Don't think we'll be seeing 70s anytime soon. Apparently not cleared on one of the tunnels on the Whatley branch. The drivers being TUPEd have been told a mix of 66/6 and 59, so no traction to learn. 

 

Jo

 

As per my previous post, Freightliner are pulling 5-6 Class 70’s from storage at Midland Road to then release a equal number of Class 66/6’s from the Tunstead pool which will travel down to the Westbury area to work the stone traffic.  The reactivated Class 70’s will stay on the Tunstead/Great Rocks traffic.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Has the change now taken place,? The article in the OP mentioned November. 66526 was at Crawley yard this morning with the 04:47 Acton - Crawley Foster Yeoman. I have seen FL stuff occasionally there before, so it could just be coincidence.

[KeithHC]

Yes November its already happened I believe. The Cl 59 fleet has also been sold to FL and several locos are running around debranded from DB. There are pictures on Fickr . Scroll down on this website for info and pics: https://www.47soton.co.uk/

 

Keith 

[Gilbert]

5:50

 

 

[ColinK]

The wind was a big problem when I went there in October. Fast forward to 9 minutes for the stone trains. I spent hours editing the sound to reduce the wind.