8K77

To be fair Ed had a vision he liked what Transrail had done with its Enterprise Network and it did grow and he saw an opportunity with the opening of the Tunnel to develop it more and fully integrate it. His idea get the volume on the trains this largely worked the aggressive marketing and the no job is to difficult approach at 1st worked. He got the volume he brought traffic back the integration with the tunnel showed signs of working. When it came to the contracts with the customers being renewed and the customers having to pay decent rates for the transportation of the goods. Some customers would not pay the new rates and left rail again thus EWS absorbed the additional costs incurred. Thus turning marginal or break even traffic flows into loss makers, despite the account managers doing the best to win traffic. The difficult stuff that under Burkhardt that was no job was too difficult to do came at cost and got put by the wayside. The Channel Tunnel dream the Asylum Seekers put pay to a lot of that and also the un predictable nature of cross Europe freight traffic where to the French, Germans, Italian's customer x's train is just another cross boarder train and your at the will of the operators in those countries and late arrivals really didn't help along with Chemical traffic not being able to be moved through the Tunnel. 8K77

The gent in your last lines of your post sound very much like Keith Heller. Like him or loath him Keith an North Canadian Rail Roader had a tight grip on cost control and how to stop it from getting out of control unlike Mr Burkhardt who if I am being brutally honest Business Acumen let him down. His vision was to be admired he enchanted the staff as he was a true Railwayman in every sense of the word but a Business man... No. To a certain extent you are right the right rasping the day to day running of the railway seemed to be hard to do at times. For me the reason the Yanks found it really really difficult to get the heads round how things worked in the UK and as time has marched the Germans to a certain extent struggle with the same. EWS had some very very competent people in its Middle and Lower Management teams but they sadly never made it to the Top Table. The Yanks had an expectation of seeing things done like they do in America. The loco control team leaders used to shudder when they herd the Bosses from the US was visiting as they knew that they could marching down to see them asking why there 7 locos at Peterborough not attached to trains and why wasn't the trains moving as in the US train comes into the yard gets service fueled brake blocks changed without being detached from the train. They had show them the allocation sheets to show them what they was marked up to. Yard Pilots became a massive problem in the Heller era if he didn't see it move it was gone in his "Its obvious you don't need it" It got to the stage when he once went to Doncaster Up Decoy and Belmont the loco control arranged with the yard for the pilots just to move empty wagons about so they was left in place otherwise they would have been stored ASAP. To be fair the 350 Shunters by this point was in reality not fit for purpose, making up trunk Enterprise and Engineers trains with them was becoming a very laborious task with a brake test on say a 30 wagon train taking 30-45 mins from start to finish. So it was probably right they went in mass when they did despite some being fitted with class 37 air compressors to help speed up things. The Depot closures again in the US they have big centralized depots and that was Jim Fisk's big idea and he ran with it the idea to reduce the costs of the engineering function and a central spares pool. With light maintenance in the field the man in a van concept doing minor 'A' Exams and service checks to a certain extent this works but the Central Depot just gets flooded with work instead it going to other depots or being shared out. Penny wise but pound foolish. 8K77

What happened to the Hessle Haven Layout you was doing??

WCRC Has had to be fair 18 years to fit the stock the required CDL interlocking to its stock. The ORR Gave them this notice 18 years they have neglected to fit the stock with the equipment. They can't really play the victim on this issue sadly. K77

They was not bought back for a £1 per loco I can assure you of that and spell rail backwards that tells you all you need to know about that publication.

DB Cargo now own outright the class 66 & 67 fleet they purchased them back off the leasing company in 2015

Peaks did work down to the Docks, the last one I saw as kid was on a MOD Special just before the withdrawal of the class circa 1988.

Interesting, Like the rest of the Industry the Freight sector is broken.... For a small pond you have lot of big fish! The losses for the Industry is thanks to the overnight loss of coal traffic, the trains short haul might not have made a lot of money the longer distance made a decent profit circa £15K per train but the main players DBC & FLHH had the volume and that is what made the difference. The Industry was sold a pup by the Energy Supply Industry with the switch to Bio Mass that was really curtailed before it properly got started even Drax took the Government to court over the U Turn it did regarding subsidies over this new fuel. HS2 has been when it was going to be completed in full has been temporarily propping up the industry this saw increasing tonnages moved from the Mendips and Derbyshire. However, Now that this has been cut short and is not going to be completed in full these tonnages have fallen through the floor this has not been helped by the UK not building and when I say not building I mean London & the South East the tonnages into this area low and it will be a matter of time before the UK slips into a recession. Container/Intermodal traffic this has not recovered since the pandemic along with the geopolitical landscapes constantly changing the volumes of these goods coming to the UK and volumes are flattening. Whilst things peak around Christmas this has really happened for the last 2 years and all the global shippers have seen volumes fall. Also the Automotive Industry is also producing low volumes of products. Heavy Industry well.... This is more broken than out else thanks to cheap imports of poor quality steel being brought in the UK has not been on a level playing field for years on this front and with the Government being blinkered on "Electric Arc Furnaces" this will destroy UK PLC as a whole. To keep the green agenda in line and "De Carbonize" everything this is worrying time but the current government cant see this . The Industry is trying to combat adapt as quick as it can HVO Fuel in the 66 Fleet for DB Cargo. Great Idea but 4 times the cost of red diesel. While FLIM is riding the waves on the increased costs of rising Electric this needs to be tackled as it is sustainable for the long term. The new start ups FLHH, GBRf, Colas, DCR and DRS have the advantage of having very few fixed costs (Traincrew Depots, Yards and Sidings) that they have to maintain and pay for. DB Cargo and FLIM inherited various yards and sidings and depots that has to maintain and pay for and these take a slice of the companies top line. Having sat in Various meetings regarding new traffic being brought into an East Coast Port and the goods moving by rail that in the end came to nothing after 2 years of meetings and work behind closed doors to routes cleared to accommodate 9ft 6in Containers securing paths for the trains. It became apparent that the potential customers was very keen to have rail on its portfolio as it ticked a box and matched the sustainable and environmental credentials. When the serious conversations was had on who was going to pay for this train it became apparent very quickly that the customers wanted the freight haulier to take all the financial risk. Lets be honest everyone wants a Harrods Product for Aldi or Liddle Prices but sadly to operate a train from point A to B costs and the prices we quoted the customer despite being over £200.00 quid cheaper per container the customers decided that rail on this occasion was not for them. To go for growth and strive the industry needs serious government backing the need to bring back the freight facilities grants and tax the road industry to proper levels. They need to work with the FOC's assist them with getting new customers to rail and making rail attractive to them and show them the advantages of rail over road and the Freight Industry needs to improve on delivering the full package in full for the customer. Also the National Infrastructure owner needs to understand that it has freight customers that every train that they company runs has a monetary value and that during disruption it cant park trains up in Yards and Loops we cant demonstrate to the DFT that these trains was cancelled to recover the service quickly and it was done for the grater good! The need to understand that the trainload of aggregates for Mr Smith is a once weekly delivery and it impacts on his business and his customers and the local economy around him.... This is sadly lost on Network Rail despite the PR the pump out that they are supporting freight! Ta, K77.

56006 Was accepted into BR Stock the day before the Westerns finished in 1977. K77

It's quite poor that your company had let the set of wagons get in such a state that it had so many cripple "E"' Wagons in the set by the sounds even running 10mph below the maximum permitted speed for the train might not had been enough to stop the train in a controlled manner when being detained at signals or slowing for Permeant & Temporary Speed Restrictions. 8K77

Evening, As stated the stock and power cars would have been painted as full sets, with normal running and such and day to day faults coaches would be removed and replaced with a good order coach of the same type. Ideally you would want to replace it with a coach in the same livery but needs must to keep the job moving like and if it was not in the new livery GWT/GNE/VXC or VWC then an IC would go in. As mentioned on the Loco Hauled sets the ILRA Class 47/8s ICCA Class 86s would have to be removed for minor and major exams and the same with the HST power cars leaving mix and match sets all over the shop. For GNER who had a much smaller fleet the mix and matching didn't last long and they was quite quick with the paint brush. 8K77

Unreliable.... The build of the class was rushed as per the terms of the contract to build the loco. Brush Delivered a loco in 13 months after being awarded the contract to build the class. The Engine type was new a stretched version of the type that was placed into some of the 37/9's. Given the tight timescales sadly the 1st 2 locos had a number of fault around 100 (Not all of them major) that Brush had to sort out under warranty. Given the tight timescale its hardly surprising that locos had a few faults on them. Into traffic as "The Stationmaster" says once all the relevant traincrew had been trained on the class and the faults ironed out and the locomotives had completed the 1000 miles fault free running. BR Trainload Freight sectors guarded the locos and monitored the locomotives performance very closely with the aid of some Brush engineers. When the class was used on the Calvert Binliner and Greater Manchester there was issues with the loco performing erratic the Brush Engineers said to just operate the "Light Loco" switch as out under 1,500ton the locos classed the trains as light! BR's Trainload Sectors really evolved with the contracted tonnage on a lot of flows in the Petroleum, Metals and Aggregates sectors being delivered in longer and heaver trains. This continued under the shadow operators the only difference being in the North and Mids that the class could be used on weekend T3 trains that was formed of Air Braked stock. English Welsh and Scottish Railway came to the fore and Jim Fisk its then Engineering Director got that the 60 was not meant to be a master of all and was a heavy freight loco and he saw the usefulness of the loco and they featured heavily in the companies traction plans. This was at a time when EWS was winning new traffic left right and center and the class was not yet near its 1st overhaul. 1999 is when things started going wrong for the class and EWS, 1st the ousting of Ed Burkhardt has Chief Exec (Not a bad thing) the new management team came in and that was quickly followed by another that wanted to "Sweat" the assist's. The company through no fault of its own in 2001/02 lost 30% of its business with Corus Steel closing Llanwern to Steel Production and Closing Ebbw Vale and Shelton and reducing its production at Lackenby. This was also with the loss of the cement traffic out of Earls sidings to Freightliner Heavy Haul (This should have been a warning they should have took more seriously) The company also lost its foothold on coal traffic as well with Heavy Haul being successful in winning some of that traffic. With the loss of traffic and a new fleet of 66s the accountants dictated to eek it out as long as they could with sanctioning money for 60 repairs. The main reason being to operate a Class 60 is double the cost of a 66 Sadly and so it became the norm for the locos to be running on 5 traction motors or 4 motors for months. So with the continued loss of work not all EWS's fault the locos just got laid up when the repairs was expensive. The class have been good performers but not without issues the Doplar Radar that controls the locos slow speed control is not brilliant in wet conditions it caused nothing but issues when its raining or in the wet. The big achilleas heel for the class was the engine guvnor this was always an issue and a few had been trilled over the years and the one in them now is the best one in the class. Its a great testament to Brush Traction that locos managed 20 years before the 1st overhaul that was in the region of 900k per loco. If the locos had have still been maintained the way that Trainload Freight CM&EE set out they would have been the best they could be. But with North American Railroaders buying the UK freight business they expected our locomotives to act and behave like they do in the US and that wasn't case hence why they wanted GM locos switch on and leave on and spend some money every 20 years on them. 8K77

Hope there was no High Heels at that day.....

Have you looked at the Signalling Record Societies on line archive of Weekly Operating Notices the archive goes back towards the 1960s along with Periodical Notices and Sectional Appendices or are you hoping to save time on research by hoping someone on this outlet gives you date that you require.

6O25 Llandarcy to Grain was a heavy fuel oil in 45ton TTA's and this was booked for a Heavyweight 37/7 & Was the heaviest diagram that a 37/7 worked. As privatization crept in it became 56 Diagram than a 60 Diagram as time marched on. The Jarrow, Leeds Hunslet East, Langer and Latterly Colnbrook oil services was the heaviest trains to leave the Humberside Refineries of Lindsey and Humber. From introduction of the Class 60s the loadings was increased on Langley Tanks to 30 TEA/TDA's making it what it was and the same with the Jarrow that was 30 and the Leeds was 28 tanks. Now the Kingsbury Flows have the crown being planned to run with 32 TEA/TDA's it was hoped to run these with 36 and a trail was done and it was successful the customer was happy the only issue was that the limit of shunt board coming out of Kingsbury limits the trains to a maximum of 32 tanks + a loco. Regards, K77

Must be a Sunday Hessle Road is quiet

The WTT will probably show 60H0S28K in the Timing Colum, It dunt give you much to work jus that the trains was RA10 on TOPS and ran with RT3973 Heavy Axle Weight restrictions there was a few structures at the time where the trains had to adhere to a speed restriction over them on the North London and Chiltern Lines. The 60s tended to be serviced at the new Temple Mills Depot during the week going for fuel and 'A' Exams and at a Weekend they would go to light to Old Oak for any bigger exams or repairs. The wagons the MBA's for planned PPM and VIBT would be worked to Acton for the PPM and VIBT's to be done and the set had to use the 1st batch of MBA's constructed as they had buffers fitted. K77

Morning, The 2 daily trains 6M34/6M35 & 6E35/6E34 was diagramed for a class 60 and 21 MBA wagons and the trains did not deviate from those formations. The use of the 60 was to lift the trains up the Kings Cross Incline and the climb up Saunderton Summit. It was painful if the trains was brought to a stand at ME151 at High Wycombe as the signal section then pre the upgrade works was High Wycombe to Saunderton and that for a train traveling 75mph was around 10mins a class 60 with 2000t on the hook from a standing start would take around nearly 15-20 mins to tackle that. K77

They loco's have hauled Sleeper Stock on the ECML but this was on traction training and mileage accumulation runs mainly between Kings Cross & Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds and York. Thanks, K77

The short answer is... No Colas hired a set of 19 HHA off Angle Trains when FLHH off leased a set during during 2008/9. Colas swooped in and hired it to work its services from Wolsingham to Ratcliffe and Scunthorpe CHP. The loco and wagon set would do two round trips to each location during the week 2 trains to Ratcliffe and 2 Scunthorpe. Thanks. 8K77

Morning, The train was booked to run from Grain via Clapham Jn, Barnes and Kew to maintain traincrew route knowledge on that section of the West London line. 1 week in every 6 at that time it came into its own when the route via Kenny O was blocked for engineering so sending 7M60 this was good for maintaining route knowledge. I do know one ex HG man who learned the route to West Ruislip but only ever learnt it on the empties that ran via Greenford. He had a shock the 1st day he did the loaded the run! He said nowt and batted on via Northolt Park like the good chap he is! K77

No the train from the Isle of Grain worked by Hither Green Traincrew ran via Neasden South Jn and Northolt Park but the empties returned via Greenford and Acton and Kenny O The did also work into Gerrards Cross the turn back siding was exetened and 3 daily trains ran in Top and Tailed from Merehead and Whatley, during the construction of the Gerrards Cross Tunnel and Tesco superstore they planted on top of it. All the trains that ran loaded was booked to run as Class 7s and JYA's was the most common wagon type used on the flow. K77

The 4th Feb 1997 in the UK was a Tuesday so the Up & Down Night Riv would have been the 1st trains to operate for Great Western Trains. They did not Operate Saturday night into Sunday but ran Sunday into Monday. Ta, K77

Hi, The Hooded MGR Hoppers as HMRS Paul has stated in the early part of the wagons working life spent it mostly working internal Scottish Trains from the loading points to the Scottish Power Stations. If I remember right from 1990 around 650 or so normal MGR Hoppers was modified to be fitted with hoods for the start of a number of new flows from Westfield, Ravenstruther, Blindwells, Roughcastle and for a short while Bilson Glenn to the Aire and Trent Valley Power Stations, these long haul trains would be staged at York Yard North both norhbound and Southbound. When these trains started running a instruction was issued by Trainload Coal's CM&EE Department that no more than 3 Normal HAA wagons could be marshalled in a train made up of Canopy fitted MGR wagons. As it would lower the speed of a loaded train to 45mph vice 60mph. How long this instruction was issued for I can't remember. As fast forward to around 1998/99 when the Anglo Scottish Coal boom really kicked off. The new of the game was maintaining set sizes at all costs let that in set of 36, 38, 40 or 42 wagons dependent of the routing of the train. Short Sets = loss of profits! The Hoods as us coal controllers referred to the wagons as caused us nowt but strife as you was limited to where you could send them! Not all loading points coal accept trains of these wagons! So when the power stations had problems emptying or tipping trains as they often did and the ones that are still open still do! It became a game of chance when stepping up sets to keep the service running and one that often lead to cancellations! It was the same on a Monday morning when when kicking trains out for the week from yards like Worksop a few times they sent trains formed of HFA/HCA/HMA's to places like Welbeck or Thoresby or Harworth only for them to come back empty. Some of the loading points on the Docks and some collieries that loaded trains using JCB Shovels could loaded the Hoods and they often did and destroy the when they JCB drivers used to pat the coal down so it didn't stick up too high over the top of the wagon and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the hoods in the end I think EWS stopped replacing them as the new breed of coal hopper was on the Horizon the HTA and they are another story altogether along with the HHA/HXA that Freightliner Ordered but they could go any place and get loaded with no issues! The Hoods also meant that trains planned and timed to run at class 7 speeds could come back class 6 Speeds this caused a lot of extra work as when the new drivers got on at Tyne Yard mainly Knottingley men working back to Milford or Knottingley after 1998. Saw the TOPS generated trainlist and saw that they had sufficient brake force for them to run back at 60mph they would be on the phone asking to run back at 60 and instead of running back via Stillington and Yarm Viaduct to run direct via Darlo to Northallerton! To be fair York did there best to path the trains this way but refusal often offended them and they more often than not during the day would trot back via Stillington & Yrm. Thanks, K77

Scrap Metal is dispatched from London these days its loaded at Ripple Lane or "Barking Euro Terminal" and runs to Immingham for export. It has a WTT path 6E64 and the train is normally formed of 20 MBA "Monster Box" Wagons. Re the Water Traffic for Dannone this traffic still runs and passes through London no longer making its way to the Tibbett and Britton Wearhouse at Neasden but instead it now travels as a block train from Dollands Moor through to Daventry International Railfreight Terminal and direct into the Tesco's unloading facility at Daventry. Thanks, K77