GBRF Sleeper Class 92 rescue Class 66

[XCTurbostar]

Just seen at Nuneaton a repainted Class 92 with a Class 66 behind hauling an intermodal. I believe it was 4L18.

Thanks,
Ross

 

[GB]

66 hadn't failed it is just DIT. Persuambly will be used to take it to Felixstowe from Ipswich and back then used on tanks or Parkeston - Whitemoor trip job tomorrow.

 

[Boothby97]

Presumably testing the 92?

 

[Altfish]

92033 ran light engine from Crewe to Trafford Park and then was put on the front of the Gbfr Trafford Park to Felixstowe service this afternoon, double headed with 66747 which brought the train into TP this morning.

It was a planned move.

 

[alexl92]

92033 ran light engine from Crewe to Trafford Park and then was put on the front of the Gbfr Trafford Park to Felixstowe service this afternoon, double headed with 66747 which brought the train into TP this morning.

It was a planned move.

Double-headed 92+66? Is that a regular thing? There's a lot of power there... is double-heading a diesel and an electric any different to d-h with two diesels or two electrics?

 

[DownSouth]

Double-headed 92+66? Is that a regular thing? There's a lot of power there... is double-heading a diesel and an electric any different to d-h with two diesels or two electrics?

I expect that the 66 would have been put offline (i.e. idling only, and unattended) for that one, rather than providing power. A Class 92 has way more power than a UK intermodal train (short, and lightly loaded with only single-stack containers) could ever need, certainly one on that route which doesn't have any significant gradients.

This sort of move is common practice for freight operators who can use it to shift locomotives around without paying the higher costs of a light engine move. This even applies to the private Class I Railroads in the USA, despite them owning their own tracks and not being above-rail operators who have to pay the below-rail operator for a train path.

If that combo was double-heading, it would have required a crew in each loco as the multiple unit working systems are not common.

So far as I know, 'automatic' electric+diesel multiple unit working is only done as routine practice on a couple of lines in South Africa, and even there it requires the new electric locos be fitted with a bespoke multiple unit working system that is able to talk to the diesel locos.

 

[DarloRich]

Double-headed 92+66? Is that a regular thing? There's a lot of power there... is double-heading a diesel and an electric any different to d-h with two diesels or two electrics?

the 66 will have been dead. It will have just been hitching a lift to, I guess, Ipswich to pick up further traffic.

 

[Legzr1]

The answer is in post # 2 !

 

[GB]

The answer is in post # 2 !

Phew! Though I was going doolally for a minute

 

[Altfish]

the 66 will have been dead. It will have just been hitching a lift to, I guess, Ipswich to pick up further traffic.

I think it was there for emergencies as the same combination has run there and back again today.

 

[33056]

Seen on 4M21 this morning (click for larger picture)

 

[TheEdge]

Are the sleeper 92s going into a their own sleeper use only pool or will they still be used on normal freights?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Are the sleeper 92s going into a their own sleeper use only pool or will they still be used on normal freights?

Four will be dedicated, three will be mixed use.