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59003 Coming Home


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Has she been dragged back through the tunnel yet?  All gone rather quiet! :scratchhead:

 

Saw it reported and pictured somewhere (WNXX I think) that she was in southern France. Running late but on the way.

 

Edit: http://www.mainlinediesels.net/index.php?nav=1000914&lang=en&id=6643&action=shownews#.VA3rlfldUrV

Edited by 071
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IIRC it will need a bit of tinkering before returning to traffic as some alterations were made to the braking controls amongst other things to suit the continental ways.

 

It had temporary yellow panels tied on for its final UK movements after the semi-secret repainting at Eastleigh, I wonder if the same will apply in reverse?

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Has she been dragged back through the tunnel yet?  All gone rather quiet! :scratchhead:

As posted by GBRf Tonight.

 

An update on the movements of 59003. At present she resides in Saarbrucken, Germany awaiting authority from SNCF to transit it's Network (slight differences to a 66s bogies mean a new certificate is needed).

This may take about a week to get sorted after which it will be hauled through the tunnel and taken to Arlington Fleet Services at Eastleigh for GSM-R and TPWS fitment.

 

So by the sounds of it it'll gain a small yellow warning panel there, and like the other European 66s be in service in it's present livery until a time for repainting is booked in.

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Thanks for the info Surfsup.

 

I'd have thought it would need a decent overhaul by now rather than just a repaint and GSM-R and TPWS equipment fitting. I guess the money isn't there for such things these days.  I do hope it's not just a short-term stopgap measure for GBRf.

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So by the sounds of it it'll gain a small yellow warning panel there,

 

Why? As I understood the current position, Group Standards or whatever they are called now don't actually require a yellow panel. They simply lay down visibility/sighting requirements. So let's NOT have a yellow panel.

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What I find odd is that lots of the European "class 66's" (yes I know they're not 66's as such) have yellow warning panels in the same style UK based ones even though they're not required.

 

Seems to suit them though and they do look strange without one.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Probably easier than getting the paperwork from SNCF/RFF...

 

Not meant in any political context, but you'd think after xx number of decades the EU would have poked their nose into rail interoperability to help with passing stock from 1 country to another without delays! Rail = business provision, EU = improved international business oppotunities.....so i thought anyway. I'll add it to my list of gripes along with 'why is there no standard EU wall power socket design?'

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Not meant in any political context, but you'd think after xx number of decades the EU would have poked their nose into rail interoperability to help with passing stock from 1 country to another without delays! Rail = business provision, EU = improved international business oppotunities.....so i thought anyway. I'll add it to my list of gripes along with 'why is there no standard EU wall power socket design?'

They have tried, and have the flat spots on their foreheads to prove it..

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Not meant in any political context, but you'd think after xx number of decades the EU would have poked their nose into rail interoperability to help with passing stock from 1 country to another without delays! Rail = business provision, EU = improved international business oppotunities.....so i thought anyway. I'll add it to my list of gripes along with 'why is there no standard EU wall power socket design?'

In some respects interoperability in Mainland Europe has been around for a long time - the UIC were standardising vehicle design and various standards a long time ago hence train heating in most countries is the same, most wagons can work anywhere, and many passenger coaches are built to the same basic design but with different interior fits according to what is wanted by their owner.  The biggest, and somewhat awkward. differences have been in signalling systems and electrification systems although ERTMS is now in effect answering much of the former while multi-system/voltage designs of traction are a long established, but expensive, answer to the latter.  So a lot has been done and much of it long before the EU came into existence, let alone in its present form.

 

And going back even further, and with certain well know interruptions, a cross border international timetable conference has been going on for over a century.

 

The only problem of course is that our little island has sit, and still largely sits, on the periphery of all this.  And maybe teh same process could be used for wall sockets - but it might will take a long time. 

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From the GB Railfreight Facebook page:

 

 

 

So the difficulties with moving 59003 continue, however the good news is that the loco is now en route from Saarbrucken to Cuxhaven in train 62293, which is currently passing through the outskirts of Koln. 
It should arrive in Cuxhaven around 0700hrs tomorrow. Timescales for loading onto the ship for Immingham are to be confirmed.
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That does sound more how i thought it should on the continent, thanks. So what's the SNCF paperwork issue with moving something that was ok on German rails? (sorry if i've missed it detailed earlier in the thread)

I suspect it has far more to do with politics than paperwork. Basically SNCF are locked in battle with DB to be the dominant force when it comes to railways in Europe and it strikes me that just as the French tried every trick in the book to try and prevent Eurosar from buying German trains, delaying transit traffic from your deadly rival is just the sort of thing SNCF might do - particularly if it annoys the Brits - who the French blame for the EUs efforts to split up SNCF and allow competition in the first place.

 

British rail freight companies have long complained that in the rest of Europe they have difficulties securing paths (regardless of what EU directives say) and of all the operators SNCF and DB are among the worst as they desperately try prevent competition.

Edited by phil-b259
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  • RMweb Premium

Why? As I understood the current position, Group Standards or whatever they are called now don't actually require a yellow panel. They simply lay down visibility/sighting requirements. So let's NOT have a yellow panel.

Are you a track worker?

 

If not then you have no right to demand the removal of something we regard as important to our safety on a daily basis just because you don't like the colour.

 

Having high intensity headlights is all very well for telling you a train is approaching but absolutely useless when it comes to assessing speed and distance. A large yellow panel is far easier for the brain to interpret, particularly on long straight sections of track where a train may be visible for long lengths of time. If anything there is to little yellow on many liveries now.

 

And yes I know we allow steam (well tolerate it in my book) to not have yellow ends but that does not mean its fine to get rid if it elsewhere. I am also well aware that railways elsewhere in Europe don't feel the need for them - but here in the UK the people who matter DO feel the need for them.

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