All eyes on 99006 now to see what that works next from Tuebrook! And yes, first 99 to visit Tuebrook and therefore some new track for 99's was covered by it working 0R01. My next task is to work out what.
I've heard that it's to work the Liverpool to Tuebrook section of the Drax biomass trains
as a 'stress test' to see how the class performs on that notoriously difficult section,
similar to the class 93 which piloted the DB train from Seaforth earlier this year.
There's also talk of using one as a banker on Miles Platting bank at some point to see
if the loaded trains to Drax can be rerouted via Chat Moss to avoid the current huge
detour via Altrincham. This actually makes sense as Miles Platting is electrified,
so a class 99 would be able to use all it's available power.
I'm (just!) old enough to remember class 25s sat at Manchester Victoria for the same
purpose, although I never saw one used in anger...
MARK