Train Mountains!

[neonwilderness]

IMHO there'd be a good case for using them on cross-country services. They're 125mph-capable so they could keep up to modern schedules

They were used on a couple of the summer Saturday trains last year but on a ridiculously slow timetable. They ended up sitting at every station for ages so it was quicker to get a later train that overtook it somewhere

 

[Roadkill]

They were used on a couple of the summer Saturday trains last year but on a ridiculously slow timetable.

IIRC those were only really relief trains. What I was suggesting was replacing Voyagers with them on routes such as Plymouth-Newcastle. They'd be a little slower, but I wouldn't mind the journey taking a few minutes longer if I could travel in some comfort...

 

[pogofish]

The 67s are also used on the non-electrified part of the Caledonian Sleeper, even though on the West Highland Line their high axle load (in comparison to the 37s that they replaced) they have to go really slow, and journey times have increased.

Yup, you see them on the sleeper daily, as well as the very regular freight trains from the docks here to Corpach,

 

[neonwilderness]

IIRC those were only really relief trains. What I was suggesting was replacing Voyagers with them on routes such as Plymouth-Newcastle. They'd be a little slower, but I wouldn't mind the journey taking a few minutes longer if I could travel in some comfort...

Yeah I think you're right about them being relief trains, but IIRC they'd ran the same trains to a normal Voyager timetable in previous years. Earlier this year they used a 57 and about 6 mk2s from Birmingham to Newcastle and back and that just about managed to stick to the Voyager timings too, so there's no real reason why it can't be done other than not letting people see that the new trains aren't any faster.

 

[Tom A]

On sections of track where they can do 125 mph running, having 67s (and maybe 57s as well) and Mk 2/3 coaches (maybe with modern bogies to allow running at 125 mph rather than 110) would make sense, partucularly considering that most of the HSTs that Virgin had have gone to GNER/Midland Mainline/First Great Western, it would put otherwise mothballed rolling stock into use and supplement the Voyagers on long-distance XC services. In the case of the WHL, they should also look at re-engineing a couple of 37s in the same way that they have done with the 47/57s.

 

[davesgcr]

67's are heavy and pick up very expensive track access charges - about a pound a mile.

Thats one of he reasons they are underused .......

 

[editor]

There's a similarly tragic scene as you roll into Crewe at the moment (or there was last time I went through there) of rusting locos lined up awaiting their fate. They are mostly 37s, 47s, and the like, which were the successors to those type 2's piled up in the OP....

I still see (and hear) quite a few Class 37s rumbling through Brixton from time to time.

Eme was not even slightly impressed that I can recognise them by their noise.

 

[davesgcr]

Nothing to beat the growl of a 37 digging in....

Years ago there was a 1720 Newport to Swansea all stations train - known to the staff as "The Marland House" after the old relocated Divisonal Managers office at Cardiff which the train was allegedly put on to serve the ranks of Welsh Bristow like clerks relocated to Cardiff from Swansea

Talking 1970's here - train was made up of old compartment MK1 stock with steam heat. Lovely and cosy in the dark winter nights.

They didnt half hack that train - starting from Bridgend or Neath with a good climb in front they would raise the echoes and she would storm off in a swirl of leaking steam and soft lights.

They were used on specials to Bristol Zoo in the summer- known to the straff as "monkey trains" !

 

[teuchter]

Aye, the 67s don't sound nearly as good as the old Growlers, do they...?

When they used to be more common on the various routes in the Highlands, you could hear them coming from miles and miles away if you happened to be out walking in a lonely glen somewhere.

 

[davesgcr]

When I was Traffic Manager Ipswich I would listen out for the 2230 Felixstowe - Manchester Trafford Park Freghtliner before going to bed.

With 2 class 37 and a load of up to 1800 tons you could hear it from 3 miles away on a good night.

Real workhorses - and very strong affinity to the Valleys , East Anglia and Scotland........

 

[pembrokestephen]

When they used to be more common on the various routes in the Highlands, you could hear them coming from miles and miles away if you happened to be out walking in a lonely glen somewhere.

I always remember that when they put the 50s onto the London-Weymouth (?) trains out of Waterloo. On a very cold cloudless winter night, you could hear those things snarling by when they were a good mile and a half away, over a fairly big hill. Was impressive.

 

[davesgcr]

Thats the old 0150 Waterloo - Yeovil Jct paper and passenger train which was 50 hauled overnight - a mix of very dusty passenger coaches and a tail of about 6 vans for the press / mail

Formed the first northbound to London and was a frequent source of complaint as to the mess it was in ....... !!!!

 

[pembrokestephen]

Thats the old 0150 Waterloo - Yeovil Jct paper and passenger train which was 50 hauled overnight - a mix of very dusty passenger coaches and a tail of about 6 vans for the press / mail

Formed the first northbound to London and was a frequent source of complaint as to the mess it was in ....... !!!!

I think there was a point when 50s were on a regular run, though, as well. It happened to be most noticeable late at night, but on a quietish day you could hear them, too. Mainly because they were more bassy and noisy than whatever it was that one usually heard - "slugs", I think (Class 33s?).

 

[_pH_]

50s always did the Waterloo-Exeter St Davids run in my day

 

[pembrokestephen]

50s always did the Waterloo-Exeter St Davids run in my day

That would have been it, yes.

They got around, though: didn't they double-head trains on the WCML at some point?

 

[_pH_]

That would have been it, yes.

They got around, though: didn't they double-head trains on the WCML at some point?

I think so, yes, prior to electrification on the WCML, after which they were transferred to the Western Region (allocated to Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira)

 

[_pH_]

Nothing to beat the growl of a 37 digging in....

Oh, I dunno. I always liked the sound of these:

ETA: I forget what the blue star on the front meant - was it something to do with ETH?

 

[Tom A]

ETA: I forget what the blue star on the front meant - was it something to do with ETH?

The blue star is a coupling code, which allows engines with the same equipment (ie also with the blue star) to work in mulitple without having seperate crews.

 

[_pH_]

Oh, yeah, I remember now. Cheers.

 

[_pH_]

True, although a couple of redundant Class 87 electrics are currently being fitted out for export to Bulgaria.