90mph freight.....

[RichW1]

Hi All,

Just wondering what happened to 90mph container freight? I remember it happening and when I was driving on the M1 once I saw a class 86 hauling container freight in the middle of the night at 90mph as it was level with me and I was doing 90mph!

It seems this has been reduced to 75mph? Can anyone enlighten me? The French have there's kept at 90mph etc so what was our problem?

 

[The Planner]

I didnt know it had even been trialed, Ive heard plenty of stuff about trying to do it but didnt think it ever got off the drawing board. Nothing has ever ran over 75 freight wise on a timetabled basis that I can find evidence of. Would be a right bonus if it could though Id expect you wouldnt be able to haul anything substantial unless you had a 92 on the front.

 

[RichW1]

I wonder if this was an exercise by network rail? It was about 3am! I just remember being very surprised!!! It was Virgin liveried 86 hauling them as well. I remember thinking my god that's fast freight for the UK! Looked it up and found the odd reference but nothing since. Guess that's the end of that!

 

[MCR247]

I was doing 90mph!

Tut tut tut!

 

[CosherB]

Car speedos over-read by at least 10 percent, often more. Your indicated '90' could easily have been a true speed of 75 or maybe even less.

 

[mumrar]

I wonder if this was an exercise by network rail? It was about 3am! I just remember being very surprised!!! It was Virgin liveried 86 hauling them as well. I remember thinking my god that's fast freight for the UK! Looked it up and found the odd reference but nothing since. Guess that's the end of that!

When are we talking about, when you actually parallelled the 86 on the M1 I mean?

 

[Wyvern]

Would the loco have OTMR in those days? :roll:

 

[mumrar]

Would the loco have OTMR in those days? :roll:

We are yet to be furnished with a guide to when 'those days' would actually be. The mention of Network Rail and an operable Virgin liveried 86 seem at odds to me. If it was Virgin livery then it would be under Railtrack era, if it was Network Rail, then I very much doubt it could have been a Virgin liveried 86.

 

[90019]

Car speedos over-read by at least 10 percent, often more.

IIRC, legally they can't over read by more than 10%, so it's likely to have been 81mph.

 

[GB]

I have often wondered recently why freight seems to halt at 75mph. Is it the wagon design or the forces involved? What would it take to get freight above this magic number?

 

[CosherB]

IIRC, legally they can't over read by more than 10%, so it's likely to have been 81mph.

Possibly true when new. Add a few years of wear and tear however...

 

[Metroland]

It wasn't unknown for drivers to speed slightly in the days before data loggers, especially in the days of steam where many unofficial records were broken.

 

[90019]

Possibly true when new. Add a few years of wear and tear however...

Well, yeah, but it really shouldn't change that much.

 

[37402]

EWS ran a Class 3 90mph trial way back when, hauled by some Skoda or other. Didn't turn out to be a success...

 

[RichW1]

To answer your question it was an 86 in Virgin outfit but without the Virgin logo on it! So I suggest at this point it was ex Virgin or at least in branding and this was several years ago, we're talking about 2005 here so maybe my speedo was just plain wrong, I had a Puma and it was about 8 years old and because it's a Ford I wouldn't put it past the realms of possibility! I was definitely at 90 on the speedo and I was also surprised it was parallel with the M1 because I thought freight was supposed to be taking the Northampton loop?!! I remember finding the whole thing a big shock because I knew a bit more about trains then than I do now and thinking that was fast intermodal!

 

[GB]

EWS ran a Class 3 90mph trial way back when, hauled by some Skoda or other. Didn't turn out to be a success...

Do you happen to know the reason for the non success?

 

[90019]

we're talking about 2005 here so maybe my speedo was just plain wrong, I had a Puma and it was about 8 years old and because it's a Ford I wouldn't put it past the realms of possibility!

I'd be extremely surprised if the speedo was over reading by more than 10%.

 

[Kingfisher200262]

I'd be very surprised if any freight wagon bogie under UK stock is cleared to operate above 75 mph.

Unless someone here knows different of course....

 

[mumrar]

Please don't think I'm attempting to debunk you at all, but I'm pretty certain all AC electrics that were withdrawn from service have never worked in that livery again. We've seen GBRf, DRS, Europhoenix and various Bulgarian liveries on 87s. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but as the last 86 to work for Virgin were towards the end of 2003.

 

[RichW1]

Don't know how this could happen either; I was not understanding it either and since that night I've heard and seen nothing of it again. It was a mirage evidently! Couldn't have been an 87 or 90 and it has all 3 lights on at the front and was an AC electric 86 by what I saw that night/morning. It obviously didn't go anywhere whatever it was as no freight does that speed. I only found reference to 90mph intermodal traffic in some literature or other but it slipped away and I've never heard any talk of it again. 75mph is the limit and that's that I guess.

 

[Soft Mick]

As 37402 said, it did run a few years ago as a trial. Hauled by a 90 and ran by EWS. Some of the container flats used now are 90 mph capable. All to do with the wheel profiles etc.

 

[GearJammer]

Could it have been a 47..... were'nt Freightliner using a few ex Virgin 47/8's back then?

 

[a good off]

Would the loco have OTMR in those days? :roll:

LOL. My thoughts exactly. Maybe the driver was on a promise...