European Railroad Discussion > Slim Pickin's

There's not a lot of opportunity to get out and photograph things this time of year where i am, so this lunchtime I jumped at the chance to grab my camera and head out for a few minutes as I'd seen a light engine movement in the schedule going from Cardiff northwards to Crewe. I'd assumed it would be a Colas Railfreight GE class 70 as I'd seen a loco location list earlier in the day, and indeed it turned out to be no. 70807.

It's passing the site of an old junction at Woofferton (as it heads away from the camera), just south of Ludlow on the Marches line in the far west of England, where semaphores are still used to control movements. There's a passing loop (siding) for northbound trains, the start of which can be seen a little way ahead of the loco, but as you can see from the signals, the loco was lined straight through on the main line.

Stay safe everyone.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/20 08:42 by exhaustED.

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Neat.  Thanks for posting.

Is this still a staffed interlocking?

Jim

Jimbo Wrote:
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> Neat.  Thanks for posting.
>
> Is this still a staffed interlocking?
>
> Jim

I'm pretty sure it is still staffed - the signal box is just out of site in the photo, obscured behind the brick building on the right, slightly beyond the loco. This is actually the site of the former Woofferton station, where a line branched off to the right and there were numerous sidings/spurs.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/20 07:53 by exhaustED.

Nice photo, so much to look at and absorb. I saw one of those GE's on a recent trip to the UK. A seriously ugly locomotive. I wonder how their performance compares to a GM product.

Brian N.

briancdn Wrote:
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> Nice photo, so much to look at and absorb. I saw
> one of those GE's on a recent trip to the UK. A
> seriously ugly locomotive. I wonder how their
> performance compares to a GM product.
>
> Brian N.

Thank you.

The class 70s have a reputation for ugliness, but I have to confess, I really like them - although certain angles are better than others! Their performance is the best the UK currently has in terms of tractive effort and power. They're powered by a 16 cylinder medium speed Jenbacher 4-stroke engine which produces 3700hp and has a very distinctive sound. They're equally at home pulling the heaviest trains due to their high tractive effort or doing 75mph on intermodals.

No other design in the UK can currently match those numbers.

The nearest EMD product in the UK has about 3300hp but only single truck traction control, whereas the 70s have individual axle control. The EMDs have a 12 cylinder 710 engine or a 16 cylinder 645. There is a European-built loco in the UK with a C175 Caterpillar 3750hp engine but they are only B-B rather than C-C, so they can't handle the loads a class 70 can either. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/20 13:14 by exhaustED.