Late night diesel test movement

[user9319062]

Hi! First time post, hope I'm not getting anything wrong or misposting in the general discussion threads

ANYWAY I was cycling across the marshes from Walthamstow late last night when I came to the very low bridge near Coppermill Junction, where I heard a heavy diesel chug. My ears pricked up and I stuck around. It was 4 yellow carriages with a diesel engine at either end. It paused, did some nice idling out of sight down the line, and then pootled off towards Clapton.

I checked it out on realtimetrains and found the train, 1Q90: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H10273/2023-09-11/detailed (I was there at 2228)

I see a 10-year-old post on here https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/network-test-train-out-on-the-lee-valley-this-afternoon.90396/ which suggests it was a network rail test train. But what were they testing? I immediately started wondering what it's like on board, whether the crew stay on for the entire length of the night, what kind of work they're doing, etc. Any information gladly recieved!

Also is it possible to find out what the locos were? I'm not very well versed in train identification so I thought "ooh, that's a deltic" but I might be wrong since that 2013 post said it was being topped and tailed by two class 37s, which to an untrained eye look quite similar. I would say it was dark in my defence, but I don't know if I'd know the difference in broad daylight

If anyone's interested, or if it helps, I hung around on the marshes for a walk and a tin of beer I had with me (it was a nice night and cool after so much horrible hot weather), and perched on a hay bail where I recorded this short sound clip of the train passing again, this time heading north, at 2316¼ https://on.soundcloud.com/y9HKb. I also heard it from the back garden as it went through Seven Sisters two streets away just before I went to bed. It was some nice chugging, but no recording

 

[_toommm_]

Definitely a Class 37 from that recording. Normally the Class 37s use a DBSO (Driving Brake Standard Open), which allows the loco to be controlled from the other end.

As to the purpose of this particular run, I can't tell you exactly, but there's a good bit of information here:

Guide to Network Rail Test Trains - Rail Record

Guide to Test Trains of the UK Rail Network including PLPR, UTU, NMT Class 43, TRU 950001 and DR98008 Test Trains | Rail Record UK

www.rail-record.co.uk

 

[DelW]

Hi! First time post, hope I'm not getting anything wrong or misposting in the general discussion threads

Welcome to the discussion forums

Also is it possible to find out what the locos were? I'm not very well versed in train identification so I thought "ooh, that's a deltic" but I might be wrong since that 2013 post said it was being topped and tailed by two class 37s, which to an untrained eye look quite similar. I would say it was dark in my defence, but I don't know if I'd know the difference in broad daylight

Class 37s, Deltics (aka class 55) and also class 40s were all English Electric designs which look broadly similar in having the windscreen set back behind a projecting "bonnet" (in car terms). The most obvious visual difference is that Deltics have a two piece windscreen with a central dividing pillar, while 37s and 40s have three piece screens.

Deltics and class 40s were retired many years ago (though preserved examples do come out on main lines from time to time). Many class 37s have also been withdrawn, but a surprising number survive in niche roles, like those you saw, despite now being around sixty years old.

 

[user9319062]

As to the purpose of this particular run, I can't tell you exactly, but there's a good bit of information here:

Thanks - several good bits of information, in fact!

Interesting that these images can also be collected at night (presuming it's a PLPR train as described in that link). I mean fairly obvious as they're not 'photographs' in the normal sense - they must have some wild kit on board.

I'd love to see more than just the few flashes of captured images in that linked video in the article

. Loved the desk/massive monitor setup in the carriages as the countryside flashes past as well. Maybe i should retrain and move to derby!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Sep 2023 ==

The most obvious visual difference is that Deltics have a two piece windscreen with a central dividing pillar, while 37s and 40s have three piece screens.

Yeah this is it, isn't it, like two eyes. Someone once told me that Deltics look a bit like sad-eyed puppies, which I can definitely see - especially when you look at some preserved ones online that have red flashes down by the buffers, like little tongues

I know the 55s are famed for their sound (this description on here is quite informative), but the 37 had a nice meaty rhythm of its own - but then I guess any massive diesel engine is going to sound, well, massive. Before long I'll probably end up seeking a preserved Deltic somewhere - armed with a better sound recorder than my phone!

 

[norbitonflyer]

There were also "Baby Deltics" which looked like a shortened Class 37 but sounded like a proper Deltic. But the last of those, after use by the Reseach Department at Derby, was cut up in 1977.

But a Deltic looks and sounds quite unlike anything else on the rails today, and certainly none of them were ever yellow.

(There is a project to build a replica Baby Deltic using a navy-surplus engine, the bogies and electrical equipment from a Class 20, and a Class 37 body suitably shortened.)

 

[D1511]

It was probably 37421!
I saw it on a test train earlier that day. It may have had another loco attached at Willesden if you saw one at either end.

 

[XCTurbostar]

So 1Q90 is part of a week-long test train circuit covering Cambridge, LTS Lines, Essex, Anglia and East Midlands. This month it is both 37607 and 37610 with PLPR3 top 'n' tail.

Found this video of the working too:

 

[user9319062]

Found this video of the working too:

Looks familiar! Like I said it was dark but there was definitely one end with an orangey livery.

Blinding white light under the first coach too. Nice! Thanks for the info!