Class 20s - West Ruislip

[hoffers]

Hi all

On Tuesday 24th Sept as I sped past West Ruislip on a Chiltern Railways express, I saw no less than four Class 20 locos stabled amongst some oil tankers and wondered if anyone knows exactly which locos they are.
One was Railfreight livery, two in BR Blue and one in GBRf livery but my train was going so fast I couldn't catch the loco numbers.

Any info will be very much appreciated

Thanks
Tony

 

[Peter Mugridge]

That'll be the ones used for the S Stock movements to and from Derby.

The numbers are posted around the web - I'll have a look for today's reports and put them here unless someone else gets to it first!

Edited to add:

Could have been:

20 132
20 142
20 096
20 901

Unless there are two quads operating at the moment!

 

[Boothby97]

There are two sets of the locos (the other being 20107/311/314/905), but the four quoted above are the ones the OP will have seen.

 

[D365]

Might I ask why 20s must be provided in quads? To provide enough power? Redundancy? Cab visibility?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Might I ask why 20s must be provided in quads? To provide enough power? Redundancy? Cab visibility?

For many years 20s tended to operate in pairs, coupled nose-to-nose to aid cab visibility and as you suggest to increase power. They tended to stay paired semi-permanently (unless one of them developed a fault) as this just made life easier. The few that DRS still have tend to operate on flask trains in T&T mode as the 1,000HP of a single 20 would be more than enough- the second providing redundancy and avoiding the need to run around. On the tube stock moves more power is required, and having a pair at each end saves having to run round when a reversal is needed. I'd imagine brake force might be an issue too, but I'm not an engineer...

 

[D365]

Thank you for your swift reply, I guess this is more suitable than T&T two 20s either end of an S Stock.

(Isn't that double-heading which DRS do on flask trains, both locos heading nose-to-nose. Top-and-tail is either end of the cargo, as with HST)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Thank you for your swift reply, I guess this is more suitable than T&T two 20s either end of an S Stock.

(Isn't that double-heading which DRS do on flask trains, both locos heading nose-to-nose. Top-and-tail is either end of the cargo, as with HST)

You may well be right. I'd assumed that the flask trains were usually topped and tailed as they always seemed to be when I saw the Hinckley Point flasks at Bridgwater, but that was a few years back.

 

[Freightmaster]

You may well be right. I'd assumed that the flask trains were usually topped and tailed as they always seemed to be when I saw the Hinckley Point flasks at Bridgwater, but that was a few years back.

The only flask trains which are regularly top and tailed are the ones which
run to Heysham (because of the reversal at Morecambe) and Torness
(reversal at Innerwick on the return). All others are double-headed.

MARK

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The only flask trains which are regularly top and tailed are the ones which
run to Heysham (because of the reversal at Morecambe) and Torness
(reversal at Innerwick on the return). All others are double-headed.

MARK

Fair do's. Must have been something out of the ordinary at Bridgwater all those years ago then. Perhaps a scheduled diversion requiring reversal further up the country?

 

[hoffers]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Tony