Once again we had our charity open day organised. This year it was a our Carlisle Kingmoor depot as it alternates with our Crewe Gresty bridge facility and was to be the first event to feature the new 25Kv Ac/Diesel hybrid class 88 Bo-Bos. Friday was spent shunting the yard and marking out the car park for all the visiting trade stands and Railway societies. The wind was a bit wicked and one marquee nearly went over the fence before we screwed it down! A pair of class 66s stand waiting with 66 301 positioned ready for its naming ceremony the following day. 37 259 had brought two of our venerable Class 20s from Barrow Hill. These are planned to be used on the RHTT (Rail head treatment train) this autumn. Our Class 68s are now becoming well established and we lined three different liveried ones up in front of the shed The shortest liver colour scheme will be this plain blue. These locos are due to be allocated to the new TPE and will be wrapped in their livery nearer the time more in a mo Kev
The Chiltern rail class 68s, leased from us, work out of London Marylebone station to the West Midlands and are not named apart from one example We picked 88 008 up with the jacks to give the visitores a different perspective and 88 010 was parked on the Ski Ramp! This is a loading facility to get rolling stock onto low loader trailers in case you were wondering! So a very wet Saturday morning dawned which did nothing to deter the enthusiasts who were queuing from early on With the gates open the depot filled up quickly As did the merchandise stall situated in the stores loading bay this year, which turned out to be a good move as the weather got worse. More soon
The difference in front end design between the 2017 built 68 029 and the Class 57 front which dates from the early 1960s is evident here and 37 425 looks ancient We did the cab tours as before but this year the main attraction was the cab of the Class 88 which would not be out of place in Star Trek For the first time we decided to auction off some nameplates from withdrawn or sold locomotives for charity The Class 37 plates went for up to £2,500 each side and the 47 number plate and Pullman crest were topping £1,500 each and the name of the 66? 'Kingmoor TMD' which had previously been on one of our 37/6s. One look at the picture tells you all you need to know about the weather
Now I'm sure there are some of you going Diesels, Electrics Hmmmmm But... We did have steam Just not that big The Ravenglass and Eskdale railway, the world famous 15" gauge preserved line in Cumbria have acquired a 1929 Krauss built 4-6-2 that has had a chequered history from Spain. To deliver it the 'Lal Ratty' as the line is nicknamed decided to haul it from the open day to their Ravenglass HQ by road pulled by 'Providence' a traditional Fowler Showmans engine Back up power was an equally ancient Scammell lorry. This could act as a helper with a traction bar at the rear The loco is having an new tender constructed and is to be named 'Whillan Beck' following a public vote watch this space for a look at the 'Ratty'. I took our Brooklyn there yesterday and he had a whale of a time!
Videos? Friday and Saturday at the open day including the shunts to get it all lined up using some of the same footage but with main line action is this compilation of the Class 88s in action on driver training and Anglo-Scottish intermodals including one romping up Shap in the pouring rain on the Tesco service cheers Kev
Kev, I'm sure you told us, but I had forgotten that the 88s are dual-powered until I saw the pant on rooftop. They are a pretty locomotive. Thanks for these postings. What voltage and frequency catenary do you run in the UK?
