Class 70s due Dec 2011

[Peter Sarf]

Apparently the ship to convey the next batch of 70s is docking soon to pick them up in the great lakes. Then its the race to get through the St Lawrence seaway before that closes (freezes over) for the winter. Thats the only way in/out to the North Atlantic.

So they should be here late December 2011. I guess still Newport. I am assuming its 70013-70017(or 18). There is a rumor that 70013 will not be unloaded in the UK but go on to Turkey for them to look at while building their own kit built version of the 70s. Then 70013 will travel to the UK via the Channel Tunnel. The UK 70s are not being built there though.

Usual caveats apply but I am sure we will soon know more (or otherwise ) !.

 

[callum112233]

There was recently a thread about this. I think you just answered someones question.

So are these 70's eventually going to take the place of freightliners 66's?

I also read somewhere that Australia have put orders in for some 70's

 

[Peter Sarf]

Its quite a while ago so things might have changed but I think this batch was to be all be for heavy haul, except perhaps one. Freightliner have been shedding a few 66s but I reckon growth might soak up any remaining spare 66s.

I am still wondering if 70013 is on the ship but going to Turkey, there are apparently 4 or more locos waiting to be loaded. The ship should be on its way now.

Remember that the 66s are on various kinds of leases. For instance DRS has not renewed the expired leases on its 66s and has instead leased some others (I think they had a lower mileage but the lease terms might have been better). I cannot help wondering if the UK 66s are getting cheap to lease judging by how many have to find work abroad. DBS(EWS) is iirc lumbered with long term leases on its 66s which is why they favour them over 60s. They cannot just stop using the 66s whereas they can save money if they dont use/keep-alive the 60s.

 

[scoope]

The ship is on its way at the moment

 

[HSTEd]

Wait, if the St Lawrence Seaway had frozen up earlier than planned and blocked them in, couldnt they have been run in multiple to some Atlantic port and loaded there?

Even if they dont have pulse code track circuit signalling equipment they could have just attached something to the front as IIRC they have AAR compatible multiple working equipment.

 

[Matt Taylor]

The ship is BBC Colorado and can be tracked on marinetraffic.com. Rather worringly the ship is near Niagara falls at the moment, maybe they are just going to drop them all straight over the edge this time.

 

[Aictos]

Currently heading into Montreal....

 

[Peter Sarf]

The ship is BBC Colorado and can be tracked on marinetraffic.com. Rather worringly the ship is near Niagara falls at the moment, maybe they are just going to drop them all straight over the edge this time.

Hopefully they will wash ashore on the USA side and they can then keep them .

ETA in the UK is on/after 12 December. I cannot see them getting here in 8 days as I think it took more than eight days last time. BUT be prepared for on/after 12 December. Oh and I am getting the impression that it is 70013-016 someone must know ?. Unless they have dropped one (nah ). My second best guess is 014-017. But 013-018 seems more logical as it was always six in the previous deliveries. Then again its a different ship and I seem to remember that it was the ships size versus the St Lawrence seaway closure schedule that was always the limiting factor. My theory is that it is more likely that the shipper has changed than the port of arrival because I think the shipper was liable for 70012s mishap.

 

[lordhinton]

colorado has gone off map on the ship tracker

 

[43067]

working on an ave speed of 16.5 / 17 kts the ship will arrive on or around the 12th Dec. Perks of being in the navy.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I have heard the 16th mentioned as an arrival date. The "www.marinetraffic.com" site is not showing the BBC Colorado for the moment. This is probably because the AIS system only detects ships that are near a coast. So it will pop up at short-ish notice. Try the ABP site "http://www.southwalesports.co.uk/com/smovements.htm" its up to the 12th already !!!.

Been wondering. If 70013 is not in the ship then did it perhaps go to Turkey a while back ?. The reasons for me thinking this are: Its already one year since the last 70 arrived in the UK so plenty of time for it to have been built, 70013 was suppposed to go to Turkey so the people there could see how to make the kit built version, any ship could have taken one loco and a load of kits to Turkey.

Otherwise where is 70013. No one seems to have heard mention of it. I dont believe they will skip the number 70013 because a steam engine already exists with the same number. The steam engine's official/reporting number is different (something like 99013 ??).

 

[mbonwick]

I was under the impression 70013 was being kit built in Turkey to prove the design for a potential assembly plant there if the Turks do go and order some?

 

[DjU]

Its quite a while ago so things might have changed but I think this batch was to be all be for heavy haul, except perhaps one.

Last I had heard most, if not all this lot are intended for Intermodal not Heavy Haul, think thats always been the case as well.

 

[DownSouth]

I also read somewhere that Australia have put orders in for some 70's

You're partly correct in that PowerHaul locos are likely to come here, but they won't be Class 70's and they won't be manufactured by GE directly.

Locos here are manufactured locally using certain imported GE or EMD components, with UG Limited being the chief licensee of GE technology. They recently launched their first PowerHaul loco which they will unfortunately (because you can add a Y) call the UGL class. There are no orders from any operators yet, I expect that a few will be built as demonstrators and leased out to operators on a trial basis on very generous terms. If the operators adopt them permanently they'll either get renumbered and repainted using that operator's preferred scheme.

While they will have the same GE drivetrain, they won't be Class 70's, they will be running on 1067mm narrow gauge (though they could be swapped onto bogies for 1435mm standard or 1600mm broad gauge), they don't have to conform to the EU's approach on crash-worthiness which is responsible for the British Class 70's unique face, and as we run longer trains here with multiple locos they'll only have one cab.

Press release is here, and official artist's impressions were found on another forum...

Very smart looking locos, I would like to see them in Pacific National livery.

 

[Oswyntail]

They left the "Y" of the branding. I prefer "ours"

 

[43067]

They left the "Y" of the branding. I prefer "ours"

AND-THE-(F)-INFRONT-OF-THE-UGL

SPACEBAR-HAS-PACKED-UP-HENCE-ALL-THE------:roll:

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I think tht's actually better looking than our class 70s; any chance a Photoshop expert could put one into Freightliner livery ( and a 70 in the Australian livery ) to better compare them?

 

[DownSouth]

I think tht's actually better looking than our class 70s; any chance a Photoshop expert could put one into Freightliner livery ( and a 70 in the Australian livery ) to better compare them?

That's not actually a real livery you'll see in Australia, that's an artist's impression of a demonstration livery the locos owned by the manufacturer might carry. We have quite a large number of different freight operators here which makes for quite healthy competition, and those with larger fleets have multiple liveries running at once so there is no single Australian livery.

If the freight operator Pacific National gets hold of some they will be navy blue all over with a fairly plain branding on the side and some yellow highlights on the front. This is a great livery that is improved on only by adding the Southern Cross on the side as their Intermodal fleet has.

I'll try and do a PS job on those artists drawings into both a Freightliner-style green/yellow and a livery more like one a real operator in Australia would use, but I'm no PS expert so it will be pretty rough.

 

[Schnellzug]

You're partly correct in that PowerHaul locos are likely to come here, but they won't be Class 70's and they won't be manufactured by GE directly.

Locos here are manufactured locally using certain imported GE or EMD components, with UG Limited being the chief licensee of GE technology. They recently launched their first PowerHaul loco which they will unfortunately (because you can add a Y) call the UGL class. There are no orders from any operators yet, I expect that a few will be built as demonstrators and leased out to operators on a trial basis on very generous terms. If the operators adopt them permanently they'll either get renumbered and repainted using that operator's preferred scheme.

While they will have the same GE drivetrain, they won't be Class 70's, they will be running on 1067mm narrow gauge (though they could be swapped onto bogies for 1435mm standard or 1600mm broad gauge), they don't have to conform to the EU's approach on crash-worthiness which is responsible for the British Class 70's unique face, and as we run longer trains here with multiple locos they'll only have one cab.

Press release is here, and official artist's impressions were found on another forum...

Very smart looking locos, I would like to see them in Pacific National livery.

They're rather better looking than ours, that's for sure.

So will Oliver Cromwell be with them or not, then? Or will we only find out when they're unwrapped.

 

[sprinterguy]

I dont believe they will skip the number 70013 because a steam engine already exists with the same number. The steam engine's official/reporting number is different (something like 99013 ??).

Nor do I, given that, as you say, the steam loco bearing the number 70013 is allocated a different number on TOPS: 98713. And also remembering that there are steam locos numbered 60007, 60009 and 60019 registered for use on the main line as well as similarly numbered diesels in the form of class 60s.

 

[DownSouth]

Has a replacement 70012 been sent yet? It would be very odd to leave that out of the mix since the original one was never delivered.

 

[Schnellzug]

Usual practice seems to be to not re-use the number of locos or units that are written off, but I don't know if the same would apply here since (presumably) it was never registered on TOPS. Was it, does anybody know?

 

[lordhinton]

tops only applies when on british rails, 012 never landed on britains rails so im assuming it wasnt registered..

thanks hinton

 

[Peter Sarf]

Newest (and latest) date I have heard for arrival is 20th Dec 2011. Still no sign of the ship on the Severn ports site (still only goes up to the 15th). The ship is presumably mid atlantic as its not appearing on the marine traffic web site.

BUT I am going to be "ready" from the 16th onwards .

 

[Martin nx]

Do not take this as gospel but, 4 loco's were on the dockside prior to loading. Apparently these were 014,015,016 and 017, It was a good source but don't shoot me if it's wrong! :roll:

 

[Peter Sarf]

The ship "BBC Colorado" carrying the 70s is now shown as due to dock at Newport on Saturday 17th December at 23:59. The time might be an estimate as, currently, arrivals for 14th onwards are shown as 23:59 !. However high tide seems to be at 23:45 on that day and its a big ship for Newport iirc. I can see the Sunday being a busy day !.

 

[g4mby]

tops only applies when on british rails, 012 never landed on britains rails so im assuming it wasnt registered..

The information that I have is that all 30 Class 70s were registered on TOPS and were initially in the DHLT pool. As far as I know 70012 is still in that pool but is shown as "OFF TOPS" as are the other locomotives that have yet to be delivered.

 

[Martin nx]

The ship "BBC Colorado" carrying the 70s is now shown as due to dock at Newport on Saturday 17th December at 23:59. The time might be an estimate as, currently, arrivals for 14th onwards are shown as 23:59 !. However high tide seems to be at 23:45 on that day and its a big ship for Newport iirc. I can see the Sunday being a busy day !.

Correct Peter! picking up Pilot at 21.45 off Barry and in through the gate on the high tide. Not heard anything on poss unloading on Sun yet but no doubt the grapevine will provide!

 

[Karl]

BBC Colorado has now appeared within range on the http://www.marinetraffic.com website and is currently passing between the Scillies and Land's End. According to the info on the site, the ETA at Newport is 1700hrs later today.

 

[OxtedL]

Actually that's 1700 yesterday. It's been showing that all week.