I notice John Smith didn't mention the use of batteries, and perhaps I have confused myself with the class 93 which has AC electric, battery and diesel generation. AIUI the 93 can jointly use diesel and battery power for the short term acceleration from a standing start. I am assuming the 99 won't have this ability, but has a hunker of a bigger engine instead !!
Correct. The 99 is an electro-diesel; no traction batteries.
1:37.7 (peda-pedantically....)
In the video John Smith mentions specifically "Intermodals ... West Coast ... East Coast", but says they're still working out where to use them.
I noticed that. Part of me thinks "why order a batch of rather expensive locomotives if you don't know what you are going to use them on. a completely different scenario to TOC world where every single pair of wheels is diagrammed and timetabled down to the "N"th degree,
There may also be some commercial confidentiality involved here, especially if the end-customer wants to do a press launch about how these new locos are helping reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chain.
Indeed. Just because he isn't specifying something publicly doesn't mean he doesn't know where they will end up. They are not going to commit £millions without prior planning.
Quite
I was at a talk given by John Smith some years ago (well before the cl. 99 order was announced), and someone asked a question about bi-mode locos. The response was basically 'yes, we've been talking to suppliers about them for a while but we can't make the numbers work financially at present' - obviously that situation changed later on.
I'd add to the responses above that, at least in part the logic of getting the 99s was that they wanted more 66s but couldn't get them (new build isn't possible, and there is only a limited supply of existing 66s available).
I agree with this sentiment. After all the busiest sections of UK rail tend to be electrified already. So the areas where performance is critical will largely be electrified already. There should be plenty of scope for the class 99s to get use unless the diesel performance really falls short of what is expected.
With the immense cost of retrofitting, surely that’s a no-brainer?
Given the limited opportunities to use ETCS, I wouldn't be surprised if they were delivered as 'for but not with' or 'ETCS-Ready' state. It's possible they will be delivered with ETCS already enabled to allow them to work ECML trains when the ECDP transitions to signals away.
Don't forget some freight contracts don't last that long. DRS 88s were nearly fully utilised at one point with multiple Daventry - Mossend intermodals, the Ford train and inter-yard infrastructure moves on West and East coasts. Most of those contracts are now with other freight operators (including GBRF)
There is also the need to be suitable for diversionary routes when electrified routes are ‘blocked’ eg Settle/Carlisle, Gainsborough/Lincoln/Spalding
One day there will be plenty of spare 66s one hopes !.
You need drivers and infrastructure capacity to do drags/swaps as well, of course. Both of those are getting increasingly full as spare capacity is seen as wasted money by politicians/corporates.
Is that a camera I can see at either end on the bodyside? Or perhaps something else - either way, it looks like something is sticking outBumping this with a tweet I've seen with pictures of the Class 99. https://x.com/superalbs/status/1852477714793390349
Presumably because it has the diesel engine and fuel which is banned in Eurotunnel?
Maybe it does not have a complaint signalling system on board. Fuel can't be the issue as dead 66s got towed to France; unless of course they had their tanks drained.
Likely to be look back cameras as I don’t think it will be possible for the driver to stick their head out the window.
It almost certainly doesn't have TVM installed.
yes it is a camera and it also has "forward" facing ones for coupling in the window above the Stadler logo on the front
