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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 6, 2018 13:31:03 GMT -5
37 403 'Isle of Mull' , which normally operates Loco hauled passenger services on the Cumbrian Coast line is ready for a trip though the washing plant and is seen alongside one of the FNA-D Flatrol wagons, which was being put on display for the first time The Class 37 is painted in the very retro British Rail 'large Logo' as are many of the other 37/4s we have. This has resulted in these locos, first introduced in 1960, having a bit of a cult following and attracting many railfans to the areas where they operate. 37 407, still missing its Loch Long nameplates, has recently come out of the works Contrasting with the venerable 37s was 88 002 'Prometheus' one of our cutting edge 25KC AC/Diesel hybrids. Pumping out 5360HP when under the wires and a more modest 950 HP on the CAT C27 diesel these are settling down to be very useful engines since their introduction in 2016. Currently we have had 10 delivered Now these Stadler built engines share the same bodyshell and running gear as our Class 68 diesels. These were built by Vossloh in Valencia in Spain who were absorbed into Stadler recently We use these for our own traffic but also lease them out to main line passenger companies 68 014 is in the rather plain 'Chiltern' livery and currently works out of London Marylebone station on their services to Birmingham Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Jul 23, 2018 15:52:44 GMT -5
Hi all, as many of you are aware I work for a highly specialised railfreight company in the U.K. One of the things we do that sets us apart is our annual open day where we throw the doors open at one of depots to the U.K railfans for one day only. All proceeds go to charity and the attendance is huge as we are hugely popular amongst railfans as we have a unique mix of heritage and cutting edge Locomotives which serve both passenger and specialised freight traffic This year it was our Crewe Gresty Bridge depot's turn and over the next couple of days I'll try and give you a flavour of what we do. and why I was so knackered yesterday after I got home! I'll start with the day before, where we did an epic shunt to start positioning locomotives for the show, at the end I'll post a link to the video of the event but here are some stills for now An EMD powered Class 57 left, a CAT powered Class 68 centre and a vintage English Electric Class 37 right More soon Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Jan 20, 2018 14:21:51 GMT -5
I never got to see a freight train going through though I heard them from the hotel but did manage to catch train 11 'Coast starlight' one lunchtime Big surprise was finding ATSF 33 'Redwood Empire' on the back This is giving me all sort of ideas next time I have Shasta running, might need to get another F59 set! quite a long video of train movements can be found at Anyway, with 101 kaput I had to ring the rental company and explain that getting the car back to lAX was going to be a nightmare and they very helpfully told me I could leave it at Santa Barbara airport if I wanted to fly down without it affecting the rental agreement So.. I flew on a United Express 50 seat Canadair 200RJ to L.A, tiny little thing, and then got on an British Airways A380 seating 800. Quite a contrast! Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Jan 20, 2018 14:11:33 GMT -5
Well it was an intense two weeks for sure. After the storm and the mudslides the area was a mess with 101 showing no sign of reopening any time soon but U.P got the line open fairly quickly (Although the U.P engineer described the track as 'Squishy' when a train passed over it. I caught some of the recovery crew heading to the blockage through Goleta in a convoy of Hy-rails running 100 yards apart. As Mark said a load of extra cars were brought in and they started topping and tailing the trains with a diesel on either end. F59 #450 has just arrived at Santa Barbara bound for San Diego with #464 on the back This shot shows a Surfliner in normal times formation with a cab car at the other end at Santa Barbara Last time I photographed trains in Goleta and Santa Barbara F40s still ruled the roost and the F59s and P42s were the new kids on the block! Now it is all new to me with the Dash8-32s very evident over the last few days More in a minute Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Jan 15, 2018 1:25:41 GMT -5
Thank you all for your messages of condolence. When I get back to the U'k I'll post a short profile of Dad who was himself a railfan and photographer and the reason I grew up to be the man I am. He had spent the last 40 years in the USA as one of the leading authorities on MG Sports cars, editing magazines and attending sports car rallies on behalf of Moss motors
In between sorting out dad's affairs ( The US legal system is a nightmare and SOoooo... long winded compared to the U.K) I have managed to get and photograph and film Amtrak's response to the mudslides that have been so deadly in this area.I have never seen so many people on the platform of Santa Barbara station. Word has it that the conductor said " it is like a japanese subway train on there!" They have bought in a load of extra cars to increase capacity including, I believe, some cars borrowed off VIA.
As 101 is still unlikely to be fully reopened this week I'm going to have to fly Santa Barbara to LAX to catch my flight and sadly won't get chance to meet up with anybody in the Z community this time. better luck next time Eh?
Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Jan 10, 2018 0:44:27 GMT -5
Well.....
I'm right in the middle of it in more ways than one.
Sadly Dad passed away on Friday after a rough couple of weeks and so far, since I came, we have had the tail end of the Thomas fire, an earthquake (although the locals called it a tremor), torrential rain, mudslides,multiple fatalities and Highway 101 closed.
Helicopters ( including National Guard and coast Guard) are flying over the Motel every 2 minutes evacuating people from Montecino and we had to deploy a high capacity waterpump today to keep the water away from my Mom's house.
There is also a plague of rats around and a flu epidemic in the county!
I have managed to get down to the coast line on only a couple of occasions, today was a procession of hy-rail trucks and diggers going to remove the boulders.
Not the best week I've had!
Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Dec 31, 2017 11:56:10 GMT -5
Link to #4466 video
Also some action around Santa Barbara at the same time
Just a shame I didn't have the HD camcorder back then
Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Dec 31, 2017 6:39:57 GMT -5
I visited Sacramento museum back in 98' My video of UP 4466 on youtube sill generates comments to this day.
I'll just play it by ear for the next couple of weeks and see how we go
Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Dec 28, 2017 16:58:27 GMT -5
Hi all
Not been over to the States for quite a while but the folks are in poor health and need a bit of help. I'm going to be in Goleta Ca. (Near Santa Barbara)for a couple of weeks so could do with knowing what will be running on the California Coast line on a daily basis to photograph and record.
In the U.K we have a fantastic website called realtime trains which tells you every train due to pass a station, freight and passenger, where it is in real time and how late it is running. Is there an equivalent USA website?
cheers Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 13, 2017 10:27:39 GMT -5
Now obviously progress was not going to be very rapid, you did not want to get stuck behind this on the A590 but to help things along an ancient Scamell road tractor was on the rear pushing with a traction bar as backup Videos ? Of course And using some of the same footage a Class 88 video showing the locos on their introduction out onto the main line I'll d o a separate thread on the Ravenglass and Eskdale shortly Cheers Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 13, 2017 10:22:42 GMT -5
Now.. The name. By early afternoon the weather was rotten and I had to keep going back to the modular building to dry the cameras out but we stuck to the timetable anyway 66 301 was named 'Kingmoor TMD'. this name was previously carried by one of our 37/6s which has now been sold Following this was the auction of some nameplates and headboards with some serious money being bid. Diesel plates are now as collectable as steam. For example the 37 fifty plates were fetching £2,300 each and the 47 number and Pullman Crest £1,500 In total we raised nearly £30,000 for charity which made all the effort worthwile. Now I know some of you will be thinking not like Kev not to sneak some steam in! Ah but We did have a steam loco just not full size. 'Whillan Beck' a Krauss built 15" gauge 4-6-2 has recently been brought over to the famous Ravenglass and Eskdale railway in Cumbria having had a very chequered career over the last few decades. To make it even more interesting they decided to have it delivered in the same fashion some of the original locomotives were delivered to the line in the 1920s, By Steam road haulage Fowler road engine was going to haul it from Kingmoor to the companies headquarters at Ravenglass following the show
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 13, 2017 10:06:00 GMT -5
It was good to see a lot of families attending and enjoying seeing real railways close up One of the major attractions was the cab visits into the Class 88 and 68 cabs. Not unlike something from Star Trak the high tech control desk was a revelation Just after lunch the excursion train we were running came onto the depot to be tanked. The passengers had got off at carlisle Citadel station so we had another surge of visitors shortly after 68 004 arrives onto the fuel road. Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 13, 2017 9:56:12 GMT -5
to show the various colour schemes the 68s carry we lined them up alongside, from L-R Chiltern, standard DRS and Plain Blue The weather was starting to get a bit rough by now. So the queue on Saturday morning had started early in the morning With the depot filling up quite quickly there was a dash to the main shed when the heavy rain kept returning This year we had moved the the merchandise stall into the stores loading bay (Much to the annoyance of the stores lads!) but it was a lot more sheltered than the marquee used in previous years 37 425 was left with its nose doors and hatches open Kev
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 13, 2017 9:46:31 GMT -5
In contrast to the ultra modern 88s we had brought a couple of the Class 20s along. We only have three left in active service, ready for this years leaf fall season where they will be used on the RHTT (Rail head treatment train). they have no restriction on loading gauge or axle load so can get down branch lines other locos can't access 30 302 and 20 312 have just arrived behind 37 059 You can spot the bodyshell is roughly the same on the 88s and Diesel only 68s. This 68 is in a plain blue colour scheme for now as it is going to be on the TPE (Trans Pennine Express) loco hauled trains and will be wrapped in their colour scheme nearer the time To add a bit of drama we had positioned 88 010 on the 'Ski Ramp' a facility we use to load rolling stock straight onto a semi trailer 88 008 was picked up on the jacks to let people see underneath More soon
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Post by kevsmithnkp on Aug 12, 2017 15:21:18 GMT -5
Another year on and this time it was our Carlisle Kingmoor depot's turn to host our charity open day. This was going to be the first time the public were going to get close to our new Class 88 25kv/Diesel hybrid locos so were expecting a lot of interest. I headed up on the Friday to do the prep stopping at the rural station of Kents Bank to catch one of our Class 37s on the Carlisle to Lancaster train. This is not how it appears, in the U.K the trains run on the left and 37 401 'Mary Queen of Scots' is working push-pull propelling from the rear The loco is painted in the classic 1980s 'Big Arrow' livery As the weather deteriorated I nipped off the M6 motorway to catch the 88 hauled 'Tesco' ascending the notorious climb up to Shap Summit on the West Coast main line. If anything was going to catch these 5,800 Hp Bo-Bos out it was bad rail conditions on a heavy intermodal train You can see how bad the weather was by the rain on the lens but it flew past me with no difficulties Once at the depot first order of the day was the first shunt. 88 001, working on its CAT disel engine, was used to dig out the snowploughs and some freight stock to make room. We positioned EMD built 66 301 by the car park ready for its naming ceremony the following day. This was to be the first 66 to be named and I was pestered constantly by people wanting to know in advance what it was to be called Back soon with more Kev
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