Why is there a ghostly GNER logo on the front end?
That's why when they were refurbished, the remaining 26s were fitted with rubber windscreen gromits like those on the 27s....although, judging by the photos of D5351/27 005 undergoing restoration at Bo' ness, they don't seem to have been entirely successful either. ISTR that back in the 1970s certain 27s were fitted with aluminium window surrounds in an attempt to get round this problem. 5357, 5373, 5374, 5391 and 5397 according to my records. Sorry....drifting off-topic here - although the 26s and 27s were replaced in the Highlands by 37s.
DRS must be interested in some form of ‘heritage’ though, why repaint several of your locomotives in a non corporate identity such as they did with the likes of 401,2,7,19,24 and 25? Those repaints didn’t exactly contribute to profit did they?
A repaint is very cheap and gets you some publicity. It doesn't materially change the operating costs.
If they were due repaint anyway, there’s no additional cost.
In railway terms, £12k is really not a lot of money. Locos cost >£5m a piece.
I bet the running costs for what's inside the loco cost a hell of a lot more than the paint on the outside.
Paint a loco a different colour will be marginal cost extra to standard colour.
Only if it were in corporate colours though, I wouldn’t have thought there would massive stocks of Monastral Blue, Intercity Charcoal or Reggie Rail blue knocking around at Kingmoor or Barrow Hill, not exactly common place these days is it?
They are much better than some but do have a few rust traps, main ones being
www.railengineer.co.uk
Was he involved with the D&EPG earlier in his life?Bob Tiller, the Engineering Director of GBRf, who was largely responsible for developing the class 69 conversion programme, had an earlier involvement in diesel locomotive preservation.
(69002 is named after him in recognition of his work on the class).
56+66=69 (or 56 plus 66 equals 69) - Rail Engineer
Listen to this article GB Railfreight (GBRf) was formed in 1999 by GB Rail which, in turn, had been created by entrepreneurs to seek opportunities through rail privatisation. GBRf ordered its first locomotives – seven Class 66s – in 2000. It has since grown to be a business with circa £200M...
Yes, he was its chairman in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Incorrect - they were all (or mostly) in DRS livery. This was at Parton in June 2015.
Thought so, thank you.
401/2 and 3 seemed to be regulars up there, 403 was on a contract from those lovely people at Bo’ness, as I’ve mentioned in an above post 401,2,3,7,9 and 24/558 carried Large Logo, so you’ve at least 2 from those.
37403 made it to East Anglia at least once, in April/May 2017.
Looking through my photos from 2015/16, 37401 was in "large logo" livery in both years. 37402 was in DRS livery in 2015, but had become large logo livery by 2016. All my other loco photos on Cumbrian Coast services were DRS livery - but I was not there every day, and other locos may have appeared. Assorted 37s were seen in 2015, including 37218, 37603/604/606/612, 37667/688, 37401/402/409/419/423/425. Only 37/4s seemed to appear in 2016 when push-pull operation applied.
Originally I think 401 went on loan from DRS to Bo’ness in about 2012/13, then about 2 years later it was recalled from loan whilst it it had been repainted from EWS Red and Gold to Large Logo.
37/4s are the only 37 variant with ETH (electric train heat) facility, hence why DRS put money into restoring these locos during the last decade.
The diamond plate is generally the below doors. Where the cabsides rot is a horizontal line about 2ft below the bottom of the window. There is a drainage channel there which blocks and causes water to pool and rot the panel.
Colas never ’had’ an MPV, it belongs to Network Rail and it is still operational. Colas merely provide a driver.
