Over the weekend of the 11th, the Exeter to Plymouth section of railway line was completely shut to allow several bits of heavy maintainence to take place. One of these was to relay the sharp curve on the Up line through Parsons tunnel, near Teignmouth. For the railway, this meant lots of disruption, and buses replacing trains, for me it meant lots of interesting engineers loco's and wagons sat in easy-to-shoot locations! First stop was Dawlish Warren, there are loops and a crossover here, so it's a natural place to leave a train in reserve, we found a spare loco waiting here. 60074 idles away next to the Crazy Golf... After checking that there was nothing waiting at Dawlish, it was a hike across the clifftops to Horse Cove, where a GMD class 66, 66236, was starting to remove the old track panels. View looking North at Horse cove, 66236 and it's train in the foreground and Dawlish in the distance behind the headland. More to come later...
Martyn- My knowledge of your railroads is quite minimal. What is the story behind the name "Mainline" on the top pictured diesel? Boxcab E50
In the run-up to privatisation, the bulk freight business of British Rail was split into three companies to promote competition, these three companies were Mainline Freight, Loadhaul, and TransRail. The three companies were then sold to the same bidder (Wisconsin Central) and became EW&S. Go Figure! Don't worry Alan, we have Amey down here. I think the only thing Jarvis will be replacing is themselves... BTW, todays big news is that Network Rail is bringing all maintainence contracts back in-house.
To add to the last post a bit, (and head off-topic slightly! ) all three Trainload Freight companies created their own corporate images, but the one shown is a Mainline decal added to the Railfreight (British Rail) three tone grey scheme, these are the "proper" corporate images, shown on some other class 60's for comparison: Mainline, Blue and Silver: Loadhaul: Black and Orange: Transrail just added a new logo to the Railfreight grey most loco's wore anyhow... All these were shot this year, so EWS doesn't paint that fast...
Network Rail's desire to bring the maintenance back in-house was being realised with the six major contracts already with NR. The Kings Cross (Jarvis) derailment only expidited the rest being brought back in. Also, on the topic of Jarvis, they excelled themselves with the upgrades at Stoke-on-Trent, news of which came out after they announced they were giving up the maintenance side because of 'falling profit margins' and were specialising in new works. NR wouldn't accept the line back on the basis of the amount of material left lying around (rails, sleepers, etc.) and the condition of the 'upgraded' track. I can relate a few firsthand experiences, but not here.
I can't help thinking good riddance. Considering the KX derailment was one of three similar situations I've heard about involving Jarvis, (and that's through the railway press, I'm sure the grapevine has plenty more! ) I've just realised I didn't finish this thread off... stay tuned for more... [ 06. November 2003, 22:51: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
Another hike across the next headland got me to the other end of the worksite, here we find another 60, 60031 "ABP Connect" waiting with a spoil train, the worksite is in Parsons tunnel, which runs through the headland in the background. 60031 has had a little shunting mishap at some point, if the dent in the front is anything to go by... There were also three class 66's between Parsons Tunnel and Teignmouth. Happily there is a public footpath along the seawall here, so photography was, well, "fish in a barrel" comes to mind! 66201 has a train of fresh concrete ties. 66244 is on the next spoil train. 66032 has a train of fresh ballast, and is parked on the very photogenic curve off the sea wall at Teignmouth.
Martyn or any one of you UK fellows- What is the status of ownership on the RR , EW&S, that Wisconsin Central owned? Now that Canadian National bought their lines here in the USA, I don't know if WC actually still exists? Seems a little confusing to me. Boxcab E50
EWS still exists, and CN has kept the stake it inherited from WC, see http://www.cn.ca/Index/companyinfo/cnsnapshot/companyprofile/en_AboutInternationalOps.shtml CN initially said it would sell EWS, but seems to have changed it's mind, however neither have they "proclaimed ownership" in any other way (loco repaints, website branding etc)
