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Caledonian Sleeper discussion

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MylesHSG

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A member of CS staff told me today "for once it wasn't our fault". Assuming must have been infrastructure then.
 

berneyarms

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Whatever it was delayed the freight train in front of it also - the delay happened between Penrith and Tebay.
 

MylesHSG

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Sounds like a reported broken rail then, and at that location and time of day must have taken a long time to get an RDE or RDN to the site.
 

Bald Rick

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Broken rail, yes, but not quite the reason for the length of the delay, as it was a simple break and trains were authorised to pass at 5mph. CS aren't quite blame free. No I won't care to elaborate.
 

TimboM

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Broken rail, yes, but not quite the reason for the length of the delay, as it was a simple break and trains were authorised to pass at 5mph. CS aren't quite blame free. No I won't care to elaborate.

The Freightliner running immediately before it was delayed by nearly 3 hours. Was that authorised to pass the broken rail at 5 mph? If so, why didn't it? Did the sleeper (which was running c.40 mins behind it originally) hold it up somehow (from behind)??
 

43096

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Broken rail, yes, but not quite the reason for the length of the delay, as it was a simple break and trains were authorised to pass at 5mph. CS aren't quite blame free. No I won't care to elaborate.

Broken rail in a neutral section.
 

theironroad

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Broken rail in a neutral section.

I don't sign ole but that sounds like it could have got nasty.

An ole neutral section is a 'gap' on DC lines and the chances of getting through one without coming to a stop is slim tbh. No wonder it need some help.
 

47271

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This evening I've been given a first hand passenger account of last night's incident, although no info on the original track fault since that wasn't apparent to those on board.

1M16 came to a stand just before 4am in a neutral section around five miles south of Penrith, so no juice for around two hours with 3C temperature outside. It was clear that it wasn't a significant overhead line failure since trains were passing at speed on the down line. A bit of distant diesel grunting and lurching around at 545am and magically power - and thank God heat - was restored, and they were off again as if nothing had happened.
 

xotGD

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Red pen to mark off locomotives for haulage, yellow pen (i. e. highlighter) to mark off routes in the rail atlas.

Variants to "red pen' are 'line in the book', 'scratch', etc.
 

TimboM

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...and the sleeper with a full length freight train tagged on the back - albeit for only 10 metres - is the stuff of red pen dreams.

Shame it was dark and in the middle of nowhere!


By the way, do they owe Freightliner for the spot hire of the Class 70?
 

najaB

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The haulage ability of the is impressive, that after all is what they were built for.
I seem to remember watching a video a while ago of a 59 pushing a HST while also pulling freight.
Sam
Indeed. But that was 'only' an 8+2 HST. This was 16+1, plus whatever it was already hauling.
 

najaB

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In fact, what *was* the Class 70 hauling? Is it possible there was a new record set for longest train?
 

TimboM

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In fact, what *was* the Class 70 hauling? Is it possible there was a new record set for longest train?

Presumably a rake of containers. I'm sure someone can find out exact length/tonnes for us...!

I suspect it will still be some way shorter than the High Output Ballast Cleaner train, which can be just under half a mile long.
 

TimboM

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Impressive that a Class 70 was able to move that much mass.

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that in terms of getting something moving from a standing start they're the most powerful locos in the UK (excluding the Le Shuttle locos).
 

gsnedders

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I do want to know how many people had to sign off on that manoeuvre before it happened!

I presume to some degree Freightliner (even if it was just rescuing the next train on the line by propelling it briefly!) and the signalman (given the authority to do the propelling manoeuvre), but I wonder how many people in each organisation were involved.
 

TimboM

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I do want to know how many people had to sign off on that manoeuvre before it happened!

I presume to some degree Freightliner (even if it was just rescuing the next train on the line by propelling it briefly!) and the signalman (given the authority to do the propelling manoeuvre), but I wonder how many people in each organisation were involved.

I'm guessing it took about 1.5 hours to identify it as the best solution and approve it - i.e. sleeper was 2 hours late in the end and can't have taken more than 30 mins to put the plan into action.
 

TimboM

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What I'm trying to work out and I'm sure someone will be able to explain, but per RTT 4M49 went through Penrith (last recorded point before the broken rail/delay) 43 mins ahead of the sleeper and was timed to stay ahead of it.

However, it seems it ended up behind the sleeper to give it a push.

Given it was diesel hauled, I'd have thought it would have just passed over the broken rail at the allowed 5mph (as per previous posts), had no issue with the neutral section and carried on its merry way.

Unless it reversed back up the Down Line (v unlikely) presumably it went into a passing loop at some point to let the sleeper past - although that doesn't make sense either if it was running well ahead and on time? Or did someone foresee the sleeper would get stranded and might need a handy Class 70 behind it to give it a shove?!
 
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