Path for tomorrow's early morning move to Tyseley
Real-time train running information for 0Q66 0424 departure from Crewe South Yard to Tyseley T.M.D. on 17/05/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
No, static testing was done at Crewe earlier this year, other than that (and electrical testing at UKRL Loughborough Works which was a road move each way) the loco has not been outside of Worksop. Has moved on diesel in the UK (may have done AC moves within Crewe yard as part of its static testing), and moved on all three systems in Spain but not been on the main line.
As I understand it from manufacturer sources, the locomotive primarily runs off battery power, to give instant traction, with the diesel engine kicking in to provide the electrical power above a certain speed, below that it kicks in purely to charge the batteries. Very different beast from other AC locos in its operation. Has a lot of potential, but ROG are nine months late (and counting) on their original plan for doing dynamic testing on the WCML, which it still has not done yet. All ten were suppose to be in the UK by Christmas 2023, and there's no sign of 93002-93010 (that are all complete and stored in Valencia) coming to the UK.
Logic would suggest we are on the verge of dynamic testing, especially if ROG want to show this off at Rail Live, otherwise a lot of people are going to be asking awkward questions such as "so you have a UK first, modern tri-mode energy efficient multi-million pound locomotive ... why aren't you doing anything with it? Whats the problem?"