Class 60s

[313103]

Hi all,

I read previously that the 60s were put into store, however on one of many Gospel oak shuttles today i saw 60051 pass through Gospel Oak with what looked like an aggregate train (was dark) around 21.00 hrs. Dont normally put these things down but i thought that some would want to know.

 

[33056]

Was on 6V34 1930 Dagenham Dock to Acton Yard.

There are only about four or five in traffic at any one time and they are rarely seen working off Acton these days.

 

[Moog_1984]

I know they aren't the most reliable locos, but it is criminal that they are in store, and worse that 92's have been stored.

This is really something the monopolies commision OFT people and the rail regulator should look into. I recommend a forced sell off to the highest bidder!!!!!!

 

[142094]

Thought that the 60s were still quite reliable for their age?

 

[Tottenham Flyer]

They must be doing something right if DBS keep taking them out of storage! Bring them all back! Fantastic locos.

 

[anthony263]

i think there have been a few problems with the 60's although in my opinion most of them should have a overhaul which a few need. After this they should put them back in to service and maybe put some of the class 66's into storage

 

[truckman060473]

regarding the current class 60 storage issue, the 60's have been on the Theale - Robeston for years. I do not know why DBS have put the 59 on this. the number of available 60's outweighs the number of 59's by a long way. have the 59's done substantially lower mileage or something to warrant them being employed (as capable as they are on heavy traffic) instead of the 60?

 

[royaloak]

Because DBS want rid of all the 60s, so if a 59 can do it all the better (for them). Some of the stone trains that use 59s at present can be handled by 66s so a bit of a swap around and the 60s are gone .

 

[truckman060473]

god it's bad the way things are going. although i've been interested in locos and general trains/freight etc for many many years i wish i could have been able to see more stuff prior to the GM invasion at the very end of the 90's. cashflow and work commitments at the time prevented me from going out travelling to see various movements at a time when 37, 47 56 and 60 haulage etc would have been the norm.

 

[TGVDUDE]

regarding the current class 60 storage issue, the 60's have been on the Theale - Robeston for years. I do not know why DBS have put the 59 on this. the number of available 60's outweighs the number of 59's by a long way. have the 59's done substantially lower mileage or something to warrant them being employed (as capable as they are on heavy traffic) instead of the 60?

59 has been put on the Robeston - Westerleigh's, Double Headed 66's on the Theale - Margam, but 60's should be back for sure!

 

[truckman060473]

full tanks out of Robeston so it's hard work! at Johnston station (not far from the refinery) i've seen a 60 on this, flat out thundering roar at about 10-15mph, wonder how well the 59 is, working at this location. bit of a bank plus the nasty bends
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what is the reason some of the petroleum workings run into to Margam yard for a pause in its journey? the first time i realised this was happening was when i was at Newport and saw the tanks running west and when, later it passed Carmarthen loop it had a different 60 on it

 

[142094]

Crew change? Also could be possible that there was something wrong with that 60 and they put a different one on the working.

 

[33056]

Anything a 60 can do, a 59 can do - if not better.

PS. I am not a driver but have spent a few years working on the operations side with both types.

 

[truckman060473]

i'm sure the 59 is not quite as good as a 60 when it comes to moving a very heavy train from a standstill. the 60 has the wheel creep function doesn't it. the 59's at Merehead or Whatley quarries need a rear end banker (the yard switcher) to shove them out of the quarry i think, but to be fair, this is an excessive load of approx forty 100 ton hoppers

 

[The Planner]

Whatley and Merehead are pretty steep on the exits I thought ??

 

[GearJammer]

What oil/fuel terminal is it thats alongside the M4 between Bath and Bristol? When i go past in the truck you can usually see whats in there, there was a EWS liveried class 60 in there this morning when i headed west and when i came back east about lunchtime there was a 59/2 + 66 combo on the front.... is this terminal Robeston?

 

[sprinterguy]

What oil/fuel terminal is it thats alongside the M4 between Bath and Bristol? When i go past in the truck you can usually see whats in there, there was a EWS liveried class 60 in there this morning when i headed west and when i came back east about lunchtime there was a 59/2 + 66 combo on the front.... is this terminal Robeston?

That's Westerleigh oil terminal; the "other end" of the route for the 59s. Robeston is located deep in South Wales the other side of Swansea.

I think the 59s are adeptly suited to hauling heavy oil trains. Though I'm not happy that DBS is getting closer and closer to having withdrawn the entire 60 fleet, I thought the withdrawal of the 56s and 58s after so few years service was bad, but this is criminal; the 60s are only twenty years old!

 

[ailsa]

This all leads me to wonder, how did EWS end up with such a surplus of locos?

It seems silly to me to order so many 66s and store 58s and 60s, but maybe there's something I don't know. Are the 66s so much cheaper to run that it made financial sense to replace the older locos, or perhaps EWS management thought they'd have more traffic than they did?

Does anyone know?

 

[starrymarkb]

They lost a lot of contracts to GBRf, Freightliner and others, hence why 56/58 and now 60 are being stood down

 

[Oswyntail]

IIRC (from an article somewhere) the 66s are more expensive to run individually, but there are economies of scale. And the initial pre-EWS business plan was posited on little or no competition for freight, guessing that Freightliner would stick to intermodal.

 

[HSTfan!!!]

was certainly nice to see a 60 down my way today, getting sick of seeing all the GM stuff haha

 

[33056]

i'm sure the 59 is not quite as good as a 60 when it comes to moving a very heavy train from a standstill. the 60 has the wheel creep function doesn't it. the 59's at Merehead or Whatley quarries need a rear end banker (the yard switcher) to shove them out of the quarry i think, but to be fair, this is an excessive load of approx forty 100 ton hoppers

The 59s have wheel creep, not so sure about the 60s. I think thay have something like that - though they certainly have slow speed control which is not the same thing.

It's been a few years since I had dealings with these trains but, IIRC, the switcher at Merehead did not bank the trains out of there; it just pulled them round towards Cranmore as the exit from that line was a little easier.

The class 60s were never used on the heaviest "jumbo" trains with two or three portions out of Merehead or Whatley, these were always hauled by class 59s. I have probably still got my loadings book knocking around somewhere and I am sure the loading for a 59 was greater than that for a 60.

59s are also a lot more reliable, the only problems I can recollect with those was usually due to an inexperienced driver or something not directly related to the engine itself, such as AWS. In contrast, I can recall several serious failures of class 60s.

 

[Nash]

I was at Barnetby a few weeks ago and there were 6 or 7 diff 60's in a couple of hours.

 

[truckman060473]

on Tues saw an EWS liveried 60 coming into Margam with empty steel flats. didn't see which one, my HST went past too quickly to see.

 

[KingboyD]

60`s still do the Oakleigh - Tunstead stone train but I think a 66 was trialed on this run, not sure what the conclusion was but at present its still a 60 working.

 

[royaloak]

60's still do the Oakleigh - Tunstead stone train but I think a 66 was trialed on this run, not sure what the conclusion was but at present its still a 60 working.

This would probably answer your own question!

 

[KingboyD]

This would probably answer your own question!

You might be right

 

[royaloak]

I hope it does anyway, bloody yank cr4p taking over everything.

Wonder if DBS will admit defeat and overhaul some 60s (unlikely) or get some re-geared bogie's a-la freight-liner 66/6s?

 

[truckman060473]

Yank cr4p, yeah Royal Oak, i can't agree more. everything has gone this way. even on the loco hauled 57's at Cardiff, the loco looks the shape of a lovely 47 but the mill inside is a GM. as has been already said, it's a crime to take these 60's off. nowhere near their life expectancy, built 89-93 they are not that old by train standards

 

[142094]

The (last?) Railfreight Petroleum liveried 60, Charles Babbage was on the Jarrow tanks last week. Saw it powering through Durham on Friday.