Current equivalent of the 08 shunter

[Stubby47]

For my Polbraze layout I'm happy to use BR blue locos: 108 DMUs, 25s and 26s for the freight, and 03s and 08s to do the shunting.

 

If I wanted to represent current locos / DMUs, what would I use instead of the 0-6-0 shunters ?

 

Ta

[definate maybe]

I think shunting is so limited these days that unless you are modelling a massive site then the the same loco that brought the train in will be used. 08's are still used in certain locations and Freightliner have a couple of 47's being prepared as super shunters. I think the days of true shunting have gone never to return

[avonside1563]

Here's the Hunslet Engine Company's take on modern shunter requirements.... http://www.hunsletengine.com/news_dh60c.php

 

Will we see something like this on Network Rail one day?

[Dan Griffin]

class 66's and mobile ground staff with radios at peterborough. silly really as a 66 is long, and with an 08 you could get atleast two extra wagons onto the shunt line, now its more restricted with the use of a 66. the last gronk departed peterborough yard on a low loader in 2004. 7 years!! god doesnt time fly!!!

[Stubby47]

Thanks for the replies - it sounds like the small shunter is almost gone - though the new Hunslet looks like a possible solution.

[PaulRhB]

Don't forget that quite a few places lease ex BR 08's from companies like Harry Needle as well. Ex MOD rolls Royce shunters are another source of secondhand locos. I know DBS Eastleigh yard still has an 08 and there was one at maritime in Southampton two weeks ago too so they are still about with the freight companies.

[ANT]

Hello

 

You could always use a Ruston & Hornsby 0-6-0DM, like the one at Aylesbury depot on the Chiltern Line, Works No. 468043 of 1963.

 

There is also one at Wembley depot a Ruston & Hornsby 0-6-0DH.

 

See Geoff Plumb's website, click here for photos

 

Thanks

SEEYA

ANT

[Stubby47]

You could always use a Ruston & Hornsby 0-6-0DM, like the one at Aylesbury depot on the Chiltern Line, Works No. 468043 of 1963.

 

That's a loco built in 1963 (same as me...) and still in current use ?

 

The replies above sort of confirm what I thought; although there are plenty of new large locos, the small shunters are still the same ones that were used 40+ years ago - and I know the 08 is derived from an LMS design, which is over 60 years ago.

 

Thanks guys, superb info as always.

[Glorious NSE]

And if you want something really random try a class 73! - Freightliner used one at Taunton, and GBRf are currently using one in South Wales...

[smokebox]

They still use an 08 at Toton

[Kris]

There are still 2 or 3 08's down in Plymouth. No freight for them to play with though just coaches.

[St. Simon]

Here's the Hunslet Engine Company's take on modern shunter requirements.... http://www.hunsleten.../news_dh60c.php

 

Will we see something like this on Network Rail one day?

 

Hi,

 

It's currently being trailed at Daventry Freight Terminal. There was an article about it in an issue of the Railway Magazine.

 

One figure that stood out for me was that it only uses 2 litres of fuel to idle for an hour instead of an 08 which uses 10 litres of fuel

 

Simon

[Stormbringer]

There are at least 4 if not 5 08 shunters in Southampton Docks. I've seen 3 in Freightliner colours tonight. there a 3 tone grey one loitering down the other end of the yard (out of use?) and there was a red/grey one here the other day. And still they use a 66 for shunting. 70003 is sat about 50 yards away right now trapped between 2 lots of wagons.

 

Pete

[Stubby47]

Ok, so 08s are still around, when were the last ones actually made ? Are they still classed as current locos ?

[Kris]

Last built 1962 according to wikipedia. I have not looked further but it would seem about right.

[rob D2]

08 still at didcot as well as of yesterday.

Still a fair few around, but i think the nature of freight today means less locations need them.

[Gwiwer]

Class 08 and the uprated version class 09 are still very much "current" locos but in far smaller numbers that was once the case. Well over 1000 of the basic design were produced which included the Blackstone-engined variant class 10. If you add in the Company designs which were allocated classes 11 and 12 then around 1400 "gronk" style shunters existed at one stage. Add to that the very large number of smaller shunters which gained classifications 01 - 07 (and some types which never gained a class number) and there were over 2500 diesel shunters built for BR or taken into stock from their predecessors. The basic LMS design which become the 08 has also been exported to at least the Netherlands and Victoria (Australia) as the 600 and F-classes respectively and it can safely be said that it was an enduring, reliable and rugged design which has proved hugely successful.

 

There are still perhaps 200 or so in regular use though by no means in daily use in every case. Other survivors see occasional use.

 

Wagons are seldom shunted in marshalling yards as used to be the case; passenger trains operate in fixed formations, do not require shunters to assemble stock in sidings and do not generally require a loco-release shunt at a terminus. Main line types are used for such shunting of freight as does go on and usually with classes 59 or 66 though other survivors from the class 20 - 60 range sometimes appear.

 

It would be perfectly normal to place an 08 in a present-day setting if painted in an appropriate colour scheme. This might even include BR blue if it were hired in (as is now often the case) from an owner who chooses to use heritage liveries. Class 09 could likewise appear and although they have largely been confined to SR and more recently WR locations they too get about more than they used to thanks to the widespread use of low-loaders to relocate locomotives as required. Slow-speed shunters seldom make long trips on the main line these days even if they are required in distant works for attention - they are trucked.

[PhilJ W]

Don't forget that English Electric had a substantial export business for their '08' type shunters. Many saw service in Holland and a few others in Europe as well as some that went as far afield as Australia. They were also produced in gauges from a metre to 5' 6". The first one took to the rails in 1932 so the design is almost 80 years old.

[RWJP]

Current equivalent of an 08: an 08 (or an 09)

 

There are regularly 08's at Southampton Maritime Depot. Two or three in Freightliner colours, one in grey out of use at the far end of the container sidings, and one which was on loan from HNRC to Freightliner recently.

 

DBS have at least two at Eastleigh, one of which was shunting around old wagons in the yard behind Eastleigh station not too long ago. Over the times i've been there i've copped about 6 unique 08s and an 09.

 

(I live on the south coast, so these are the only places I see 08s now.)

[Allegheny1600]

Not strictly UK locos(!) but Euro Cargo Rail own/operate these class 21's; (Yes! It's a TOPS classification in use again!).

http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/fr/private/freight/ECR/G1000/ECR21006Blo3004.jpg

Which are roughly the modern equivalent of a trip shunter.

Maybe it will not be too long before we see something similar in the UK?

Cheers,

John E.

[Fat Controller]

Not strictly UK locos(!) but Euro Cargo Rail own/operate these class 21's; (Yes! It's a TOPS classification in use again!).

http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/fr/private/freight/ECR/G1000/ECR21006Blo3004.jpg

Which are roughly the modern equivalent of a trip shunter.

Maybe it will not be too long before we see something similar in the UK?

Cheers,

John E.

You'll see their older cousins in the UK most days; Eurotunnel's 'Krupp-MAK'. These have been known to venture to London on occasion... The fleet's recently been supplemented by some ex-NS 6400s.

The ECR ones are used for some quite long-distance flows; from near Valenciennes to Rouen, for example. One made it to the UK, arriving by rail at Dolland's Moor, then being moved on by road to Toton. It was this visit that meant a TOPS code was generated.