6Y99

I keep hearing this but everyone I know at GBRF say this is utter rubbish if GB have any sense they will wait till the 70s have settled down and all the issues are sorted out

Phil, Yeah a T.O.P.S. Enquiry on the locomotives shows a lot of Mid Week down time there is a two main reasons for this GE engineers are carrying out mods and such or the loco could be due and exam even also driver knowledge is a issue at the moment the depot's Bristol, Carlisle, Troon, Mossend and Dunbar and Garston are the only depots on the Heavy Haul side that have 100% on the class other depots have small links of men that know the class. As of yet no major traction training/handling courses have been run and I don't think there will be any till the class is properly bedded in I understand that Intermodal will be the 1st part business to get all its men trained up on the class. Re the class 60s and there computer panel some drivers still struggle with that and steady and flashing fault lights! The training of staff on loco's in my opinion is not the best the loco is new build totally new and the staff should have a full training program not make it a conversion course off a class 66! but EWS did that once 66's arrived for all new drivers the class 66s was classed as basic traction and everything else was a conversion course off it.

A Fair point and well made the only dealing that I ever had with class 59's was when I was on the loco desk at EWS looking after the ex National Power locomotives, Us ooop north we was limited as to what trains we could put them on as only Ferrybridge and Knottingley and some not all Doncaster drivers knew the loco's as the 66s came on stream the situation did get better as the 59s are a conversion course off 66 and vice verse. The JMA sets that used to run between Gascoigne Wood carried 130tons more coal than a standard 36HAA set. I had ride out before I came off the loco desk and spent a few day's riding trains around the Aire Valley and there is a short sharp climb from Ferrybridge North to Knottngley West Jn and I was with a Knottingley driver who thought that the these 59s was the muts nuts and showed me how good they was he stopped the train at the point ends of the junction at Ferrybridge it snowing wet an really awful day he blew the brake off and put the loco into notch 1 and left it with 1900 ton on the draw hook the loco pulled the train up the hill without an problem at all, The driver was man of many years experience and told me that he would never had attempted to do that with any other loco. But I do remember that the 59s in Yorkshire was not totally failure free because of the loco's only doing short runs and not hauling as heavy train as there brothers was down south the loco's hydro static oll was not getting to the right temperatures and they often failed with hydro static faults and low oil pressure, I had to arrange assistance for 59206 when it gave up the ghost on the mainline near Ferryhill when it failed with such a fault I nicked a 56 from Tyne Yard and to be fair the 56 did the job it hauled the dead loco and its train through to Gascoigne Wood as the coal was to be blended without any problems and when I was ever short for a 59 on the Wardley job I would always shove a 56 on it. Going back to my day on the loco desk (It must be boring you by now) I agree they often did fail to deliver many times I had to put double headed 56s on the Leeds Tanks when the class was not available for the job and on anglo scottish coal trains many times I had to 56 or 66 out vice a 60 they struggled coming back over the hills with the loaded trains but they got there in the end, But both the class was masters of there work on heavy trains for instance on the short but sharp climb up Appleby bank on a loaded Iron Ore train to be stopped halfway up and start its train without any issues to get hold of the train not shows the expertise of the driver but the engineering of the loco many times 66s have stalled had to be assisted from the front and the rear. Last year DBS did a trial with 2 class 66s in multi on 6N03 Lindsey - Jarrow tanks and the train was stopped halfway up and they could not restart the train admittedly the 2nd loco was dead and when it was fired up it still would not move the 30 TEA tanks up the hill the train was declared a failure and a 3rd 66 came from Scunthorpe all 3 loco's now in mulit and it only just moved the train. But yes lets see how the 70 perform from what I have experienced so far the loco's should in time shut all there critics up and you never know they could get a cult following as they clag a bit.

Working for FLHH and being fortunate I suppose to work with these loco's they are a very good piece of kit I have only been on the class when they have worked coal trains or being light loco but to compared to a 66 or a 60 these locomotives are in a different league to Haul a 1,900 ton coal train over the S&C and only use a minimum amount of sand is something a class 66 can not do and something 60 would struggle to do. I have never been on freight train that has started away from Birtley Jn (Tyne Yard) and be shutting off power at Chester le Street as the train is up to line speed, on a 66/60 you are lucky if you are around the 35/40mph mark the faults with these locomotives are daft little faults that can only really be sorted with a fitter who has a laptop computer! The high oil temperature fault that was causing the class to fail when they was 1st introduced has been resolved with re positioning of a sensor and better lagging on a pipe and also the disposal procedure of the loco has been revised this to is stopping the flat batteries that was always occurring when a loco was stabled. Comfort wise the class has the best seats that could be fitted to any locomotive there ride is a bit dodgy at times the best way to describe it is bouncy when you hit a wet spot you bounce around for around a mile after but that is something that will be worked on the ride quality saying that is far better than any other class of loco I've worked on, far better than 47/56/58/60 or 66. Stationmaster I do think you are being a bit hard on the class 60s I know you was involved with there introduction on the WR with the stone traffic out of the Mendips but for a loco that designed and built within 13 months and build that rushed I think they have done a sterling job and to be fair with only the 1st member of the class having a no doubt cheap overhaul at Toton as I type this I dn't think they have done that bad a job really. In the Yorkshire/Humber area for instance when they was put on the heaviest trains out of Lindsey and Humber Oil Refinery's in 1990/91 and handled these trains with the greatest of ease Trainload freight increased the weight's to 3,000ton and the only thing that stopped Trainload Freight increasing the loads further was that the terminals could handle the length of the trains, But you are right they are still no match for a 59.

The FLHH all did there route refreshing on passenger trains so there was no runs out in locomotives sorry I will try to get one down there next time they need a refresh

Around 4 Crewe 2 Kiverton and 1 Humber and 1 Midland Road Driver sign via Stoke - Derby they all had route reviews for the start of the LBT traffic in case the Mainline via Stafford was closed for engineering operations

I dunno if it is any Help but Rail Express issue 129 in the Model section produced a Modellers guide to Petroleum trains