European Railroad Discussion > Three Freights Climb to Shap Summit

I had a few days off work recently and with good weather forecast I decided to spend some time in the northwest of England at arguably the most famous/infamous mainline gradient in the country; the climb to Shap summit in the county of Cumbria.
In quite quick succession on the second afternoon, a trio of northbound trains made their way up the 1 in 75 (1.33%) gradient in their own different ways; a Stadler class 88 electro-diesel on an intermodal to Scotland, a 2000 tonne ballast train hauled by a GE class 70 diesel and another Scotland-bound intermodal in the hands of an EMD class 66. 

Turn the sound up to hear the difference between the different locos... I wonder which one people would say is their favourite...

(The flashing headlights on the class 88 is an effect created by the LED lights and the shutter speed on my camcorder... apologies for that).
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/21 22:55 by exhaustED.

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GE class 70.

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EMD class 66.

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Excellent work on all three videos
Thanks for your posting..
Favorite sound is Class 66.
ALLEN
 

krm152 Wrote:
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> Excellent work on all three videos
> Thanks for your posting..
> Favorite sound is Class 66.
> ALLEN
>  

Thanks, I had a feeling the EMD might win out!

Three well done videos. Interesting to see British trains working hard.

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Three well done videos. Interesting to see British
> trains working hard.

Thank you. There aren't too many places where freights in the UK can be seen battling lengthy gradients. The viewpoit in these videos has only recently 'opened up' after some forestry was felled.

I do like those class 88s, that's an excellent location.

86235 Wrote:
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> I do like those class 88s, that's an excellent
> location.

They're extrememly capable locos, nice looking too.... a Co-Co version would be unstoppable! The location is a dream and now it's been 'opened' it needs to be 'tended' to keep it open!

great videos of a place i have always wanted to see videos of.  feel free to post more.

it is interesting to compare the huge 15K' beasts we run here those short intermodals.

the class 66 is my favorite locomotive in England..........

66

Ask and you shall receive, 'goneon66'!! 

I have a couple more videos from the previous morning about 2 miles further back down the hill (south) at a location called Scout Green. Unfortunately it was a little misty that morning and there wasn't a 66... but what I did get was another class 88 electro-diesel on a northbound intermodal and a GE class 70 on an empty timber train about a mile or so into their ascent of Shap.

Again, turn the sound up! 

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Class 88.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/21 10:58 by exhaustED.

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exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had a few days off work recently and with good
> weather forecast I decided to spend some time in
> the northwest of England at arguably the most
> famous/infamous mainline gradient in the country;
> the climb to Shap summit in the county of
> Cumbria.
> In quite quick succession on the second afternoon,
> a trio of northbound trains made their way up the
> 1 in 75 (1.33%) gradient in their own different
> ways; a Stadler class 88 electro-diesel on an
> intermodal to Scotland, a 2000 tonne ballast train
> hauled by a GE class 70 diesel and another
> Scotland-bound intermodal in the hands of an EMD
> class 66. 
>
> Turn the sound up to hear the difference between
> the different locos... I wonder which one people
> would say is their favourite...
>
> (The flashing headlights on the class 88 is an
> effect created by the LED lights and the shutter
> speed on my camcorder... apologies for that).
>  

Love the videos, a really great selection there, the clips to Shap and Beattock have always been great places to experience both freight and passenger trains slogging it out up the grade, though of course electrification back in '74 really "flattened" the hills and passenger trains don't really notice the gradients.

Aesthetically I like the 68/88 design the most, the 66s are just a bit boxy and the 70s ain't winning any style awards are they? ;)

I have to say, that while you haven't captured one, the 68s sound the best for me. The sound of them just exudes pure power, 66s are surprisingly quiet by comparison and the 88s usually work on electric over Shap and Beattock given the diesel is only rated at 950hp gross.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/21 11:46 by Hexagon789.

I have to agree with you, the bass thump of a 68's Caterpillar C175 is very appealing in a 'beefy' way!

The 70s can sound really good, working at full power and at speed. As you say, aesthetically they're not too polished though... although front-on i think they're quite interesting...

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have to agree with you, the bass thump of a
> 68's Caterpillar C175 is very appealing in a
> 'beefy' way!
>
> The 70s can sound really good, working at full
> power and at speed. As you say, aesthetically
> they're not too polished though... although
> front-on i think they're quite interesting...

The 68s are just fantastic machines all round really.

I suppose you could say that of the 70s, you sort of look at the front and go - "okaaay". Then you look at the side and just go - "eurgh"! ;) They don't sound bad though, that's the redeeming feature but they aren't good locos, a very rushed design with many mechanical faults.

Posted from Android

One thing I noticed was the speed difference. I know intermodal are not always that heavy, but on a two track mixed use railway speeding up the slowest trains will help capacity. 

cricketer8for9 Wrote:
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> One thing I noticed was the speed difference. I
> know intermodal are not always that heavy, but on
> a two track mixed use railway speeding up the
> slowest trains will help capacity. 

Yes the intermodals were probably about 1000-1500 tonnes, the ballast train 2000 tonnes. The ballast train was put into a passing loop/siding at the bottom of the gradient (for an intermodal to pass it) so would have climbed the gradient from a standing start!
That northern section of the west coast main line (Crewe to Glasgow) is less busy than the southern section (London to Crewe) so is double track and has a number of passing loops roughly every 20 miles or so.

Indeed, though looping a train can take up a lot of time, especially with slow entry and exit points and accelerating from a standing start. 

cricketer8for9 Wrote:
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> Indeed, though looping a train can take up a lot
> of time, especially with slow entry and exit
> points and accelerating from a standing start. 

Agreed. Until recently that particular train was consistently routed up the Settle-Carlisle route but for some reason it seems to be now on the busier west coast main line. I don't know the reason. A large proportion of the freight on the west coast main line runs at night.

outstanding and thanks.

if i lived anywhere near there i know where i would hang out.........

66