European Railroad Discussion > Tuesday Tug fest

At any one time there are usually three DBC class 60s, the UK's last domestically produced heavy haul diesel (Brush Traction 1988), in and around South Wales. Known by some as Tugs for their haulage capability they are usually reserved for some of the heaviest services which DBC and Colas (the two 60 users) operate. Yesterday all three were on oil trains originating from the deep sea import terminal at Robeston in West Wales, two were destined for Westerleigh, near Bristol and one for Theale near Reading, about 40 miles west of London. Loaded the Westerleigh trains weigh in at about 3000 tonnes (29 tanks) whilst the Theale is a bit lighter, 2500 tonnes (24 tanks). On occasions each will run with fewer cars, but yesterday they were all fully loaded. The prime mover of the 60 is an 8-cylinder in line Mirrlees MB275T producing 3100 hp at 1000 rpm. For its time it was a very fuel efficient engine but of course today has been eclipsed by more modern types. It has a deep throaty growl.

1: The first of the trio I saw was 60040 The Territorial Army Centenary on the 6B13 to Westerleigh crossing the River Wye at Chepstow and leaving Wales for England
2: An hour later and it's only a few miles from destination, exiting Wickwar Tunnel
3: Running early it had to wait at Yate, a few miles south of Wickwar, to allow 6B41, with 60091 Barry Needham, to exit the Westerleigh branch following on the heels of a couple of late running passenger services. It passed me at 12:05.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/18 15:54 by 86235.

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4: 65 minutes later at 13:10 60091 was rolling down the west bank of the River Severn through Portskewett
5: The final 60 was 60100 on the empties from Theale, here exiting the Severn Tunnel at 16:35
6: It was a day of sunshine and showers yesterday. At 15:30 it was most definitely showering :-)

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Nice set of photos, thanks.

Gordon

Definitely like this photo series.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN

86235 Wrote:
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> 4: 65 minutes later at 13:10 60091 was rolling
> down the west bank of the River Severn through
> Portskewett
> 5: The final 60 was 60100 on the empties from
> Theale, here exiting the Severn Tunnel at 16:35
> 6: It was a day of sunshine and showers yesterday.
> At 15:30 it was most definitely showering :-)


Those VMS lightweight signals end up so blown out in photos that red looks almost yellow :)

zorz Wrote:
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> Those VMS lightweight signals end up so blown out
> in photos that red looks almost yellow :)

That's because it was showing yellow :-)