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Recent content by ac6000cw

  1. ac6000cw

    Best Train spotting stations (updated)

    In East Anglia, Peterborough, Ely and Ipswich are all busy places frequented by enthusiasts, with a good mix of passenger and freight workings, plus decent refreshments either on the station or very nearby. Ely is also very good for a walk along the riverside while still keeping the trains in...
  2. ac6000cw

    Youtube links and Video sites

    Video from couple of visits to Ireland in 2000 and 2005, mostly of the (long gone) charismatic class 141 diesel locos on branch/secondary line passenger trains. The larger class 071 and 201 locos are also featured. Classic railway operation, including train run-arounds, accompanied by the...
  3. ac6000cw

    Driver Experiences - Diesel

    I know you asked about diesel driving experiences, and despite me being basically a diesel enthusiast... I've been on several group driving experience days (we were a large enough group to basically hire a heritage railway for the day), and driven a variety of standard and narrow gauge steam...
  4. ac6000cw

    Running round at Cowes

    Agreed - as already mentioned in post #23 above :-) The fatal (for the crew) runaway on Kicking Horse Pass (Field Hill) in Western Canada in 2019 was also basically the same cause, compounded by high air leakage levels in below -25C temperatures - see...
  5. ac6000cw

    GBRF confirms conversion of Class 56s to Class 69s

    Agreed, but I was at Peterborough for most of Friday afternoon and the state of some of the 'named' GBRF 66s passing through wasn't good (see 66773 below). Is this really meant to be the "Pride of GB Railfreight" - I don't see a lot of pride in evidence there, and I don't think it reflects well...
  6. ac6000cw

    GBRF confirms conversion of Class 56s to Class 69s

    :D (Although based on the grimy state of the GBRf locos I've seen recently, they should spend the money on keeping the locos clean instead of more fancy liveries...)
  7. ac6000cw

    Top speed of bi / Tri modal trains on electric

    Yes, but the weight/axle load penalty of carrying around diesel engines and fuel could affect the maximum speeds in electric mode too - that might be why the bi-mode Spanish Renfe Class 730 mentioned above (with an 18t max axle load) are limited to 155mph. But the Americans have 125mph diesel...
  8. ac6000cw

    GBRF confirms conversion of Class 56s to Class 69s

    Gloss black and silver (or white) looks really nice if it's kept clean, but otherwise turns into dirty matt grey brown... as illustrated by the brown patches on the side of this otherwise reasonably clean US loco (but the trailing yellow and black 'Virginian Railway' heritage liveried loco looks...
  9. ac6000cw

    Top speed of bi / Tri modal trains on electric

    Dynamic track forces increase as speed increases, as does energy consumption, so fitting powerful enough engines and carrying enough fuel for a decent range on diesel power becomes a problem due to weight/axle load limits for high speed running.
  10. ac6000cw

    Running round at Cowes

    That's correct, but the force to actually apply the brake shoes (tread brakes) or pads (disc brakes) is compressed air from a reservoir on each vehicle. Because the brake system has rubber seals in it which inevitably leak slightly, the compressed air in the reservoir (and in the brake...
  11. ac6000cw

    GBRF confirms conversion of Class 56s to Class 69s

    Was that ever used on a loco in the past?
  12. ac6000cw

    Question about HSTs seen with Southern (D)EMUs in Youtube video

    It's probably polite/useful to say if a YouTube video is your own content or someone else's. ...or use the 'Quote' tool (the one with the 'double quote' icon) on the toolbar, which gives you a quotation box to type or paste into (as below): It can also be used to turn a piece of existing text...
  13. ac6000cw

    Freightliner 70012

    AFAIK in the US the 'draft gear' is the shock absorbing mechanism behind the centre coupler ('draw gear' in the UK?). It fits in a space in the vehicle underframe (I think this space is sometimes called a 'coupler pocket'). So I guess the 'draft center' is the centre line of the draft gear i.e...
  14. ac6000cw

    Running round at Cowes

    Traditional automatic air brakes don't leak on, they leak OFF if the vehicle/train is isolated from the source of compressed air. That's been the cause of countless runaway accidents around the world over the 150+ years since it was invented, where insufficient handbrakes have been applied and...
  15. ac6000cw

    Freightliner 70012

    I thought that too - a version is still listed on the Wabtec website (as the PH37Ai)

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