One for the train buffs.

[CitroJim]

Ahh yes!!! When I was heard to shout 'Wow!!!!'

[mickthemaverick]

A taste of things to come later

Mtmo

[mickthemaverick]

Guess what I found

Mtmo

[bobins]

Move over Michael Portaloo, there's a new tour guide in town

[mickthemaverick]

A railway building that will draw some views, the plaque explains it:

MTMO

MTMO

MTMO

[mickthemaverick]

A few clips to give you a flavour of my birthday treat!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Just a touch more Bluebell

Sound and vision here...a full 2 minutes 20 seconds though.



Neil

[CitroJim]

Neil, especially for you

GB Railfreight have just released a new (a rebuilt Class 56 actually) Class 69 freight locomotive to traffic - 69012...

...Named 'Falcon 2' in tribute to the original Falcon

Here's its nameplate:

[NewcastleFalcon]

Neil, especially for you

GB Railfreight have just released a new (a rebuilt Class 56 actually) Class 69 freight locomotive to traffic - 69012...



...Named 'Falcon 2' in tribute to the original Falcon

Here's its nameplate:

Tremendous! Great find Jim thanks for posting, just what I like, something new to to have a delve into when I do the daily log in to the forum Nice definition on the nameplate and Falcon emblem, my avatar from the original culled fron the video was a bit fuzzy even with enhancement although it does have a story and a "presence"

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Sound and Vision Moving Pictures

Only 33 seconds....Hands up if you know where in the UK "Penshurst" is....I don't of the top of my head although most of the Hursts I know of are down Sussex way.



Neil

[CitroJim]

That's magic Neil, love the new avatar

A little of Falcon and Falcon 2's history courtesy of a Facebook post from the Class 56 Group...

GB Railfreight have today unveiled the latest Class 69 to be repainted and released into traffic, No 69012.
The loco has been beautifully outshopped in British Railways two-tone green with small yellow panels, in the style of the unique prototype Class 53 diesel-electric locomotive No D0280 (later ‘1200’) which was famously known by its iconic name ‘Falcon’.
To honour the legacy of this locomotive, 69012 carries the name 'Falcon 2' along with cast metal crests. D0280 itself first received the name 'Falcon' in March 1962 whilst undergoing an overhaul at Brush Traction, Loughborough, which was also its birthplace six months previously.
‘Falcon’ saw 15 years service with British Rail and despite some concerted efforts to preserve it, was sadly scrapped in the Spring of 1976 by John Cashmore Ltd of Newport, Wales. It proved uneconomical due to being a one-off, non-standard design.
69012 is rebuilt from Class 56 donor locomotive 56077, which also has a rather colourful history itself. Built in 1980 by BREL at Doncaster Works and released into traffic in May that year, one of the locomotive’s first appointments was hauling exhibits to and from the Rainhill ‘Rocket 150’ event, including steam locomotives 92220 ‘Evening Star’, 925 ‘Cheltenham’ and 790 ‘Hardwicke’ along with one of the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) sets, 370004. The event itself took place from 24th to 26th May 1980 and celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830), as well as the trials the previous year.
56077 was later named ‘Thorpe Marsh Power Station’ in September 1990, to mark the fact that the site had received 37 million tonnes of coal by rail.
After 21 years in service with British Rail and then later EWS, 56077 (by this point carrying Load Haul livery) was stored to the WGAT pool at Thornaby in February 2001 before ending up at Crewe DMD, where it suffered another prolonged period of storage. In 2013 it was sold to UK Rail Leasing and moved to Leicester Depot, then finally purchased by GB Railfreight in 2018.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice extras there Jim. I now know where "Penshurst" is, where it whizzes through the station on the video, and I wasn't a kick in the pants away with my guess. Big GB Railfreight Depot Close by.

If you come across its movements through your connections, should it be in service "up North" I would make an effort to get an original photo.

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Wiki has a decent enough page on the "Class 69 Project" where GB Railfreight chose to purchase outright 16 Old Class 56 Locomotives, and effectively re-engine, update, rebuild and reclassify them as Class 69.

This article from Rail Magazine is a little more revealing.

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/fleet ... -explained

A few factors I didnt know.
Emissions

Despite the engines being brand new 3A emissions-compliant, they are still of a design that had been discontinued due to emissions regulations imposed on the industry. However, GBRf was able to prove that their emissions were an improvement on what had been in the locomotive (class56) previously. Furthermore, because the Class 56 retained Grandfather Rights on the network, the approval process was a lot quicker.

New Locomotives disincentive.

If GBRf had wanted to buy brand new locomotives, these would have had to meet Stage 5 emissions rulings. Currently (at the time of the article) there was nothing available that would have fit into the UK loading gauge, and a premium would have had to be paid for development of a new locomotive.

UK Loading Guage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loading_gauge
The loading gauge on the main lines of Great Britain, most of which were built before 1900, is generally smaller than in other countries. In mainland Europe, the slightly larger Berne gauge (Gabarit passe-partout international, PPI) was agreed to in 1913 and came into force in 1914.[2][ As a result, British trains have noticeably and considerably smaller loading gauges and, for passenger trains, smaller interiors, despite the track being standard gauge, which is in line with much of the world.

This often results in increased costs for purchasing new trainsets or locomotives as they must be specifically designed for the existing British network, rather than being purchased "off-the-shelf".

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

There are four main freight rail operating companies in the UK: Direct Rail Services, Freightliner, DB Cargo UK (formerly EWS), and GB Railfreight. There are also three smaller independent operators, which are Colas Rail, DCRail and Mendip Rail.

A short selection of liveries

UK railway train, carrying cement -a Paulio! from UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons	DB Cargo 66085 passing Fairwater Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Direct Rail Services 37059 in revised Compass livery Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons	Long Rock 2019 - GBRf 50049 Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Neil

[CitroJim]

Mendip Rail I know very well, as it is right next door to where I regularly visit and gives the East Somerset Railway access to the mainline via their metals...

They serve some very, very large quarries, Merehead, where they're based, is unbelievably massive... I know, I've run around the edge of it!