mushroomchow
Member
I find it mildly amusing that companies like UKRL have made a living from the Grandfather Rights which mean old locomotives don't have to meet the same emissions regulations as brand new models. Since the 66 was killed off by IIIB regs, spot hire has had a field day as the fleets of larger operators have been stretched thin. There's only really DRS who have really gone for it in terms of getting compliant locos in their 68s and 88s (which AFAIK are the only dual or diesel-power IIIB compliant locomotives available for the UK market at present) - the rest are treading water waiting for more affordable models powerful enough to replace the 66s to become available.
I don't like to bring politics into discussions, but there's no question that EU Emissions regulations have, ironically, made the railfreight industry in the UK less environmentally friendly thanks to our restrictive loading gauge forcing perfectly good designs out of production. Nobody is competing to make IIIB compliant models specifically for the UK market, and as a result there's a lack of options for operators.
It's great for spotters like us seeing so many 56s, 37s, 47s and the like still earning their keep long after we expected them to go to the cutter's torch, but let's not pretend the state of the UK railfreight and spot-hire industry isn't anything short of farcical. We've even seen a Deltic and, more recently, a Hoover drafted into short-term mainline work in the recent past based purely on a lack of other suitable motive power on the network. As fun as it is to see Thunderer every time I pull into Leicester, it's slightly absurd that it is even necessary to consider using a 50-year old locomotive which was withdrawn and preserved 25 years ago on revenue-earning services.
I don't like to bring politics into discussions, but there's no question that EU Emissions regulations have, ironically, made the railfreight industry in the UK less environmentally friendly thanks to our restrictive loading gauge forcing perfectly good designs out of production. Nobody is competing to make IIIB compliant models specifically for the UK market, and as a result there's a lack of options for operators.
It's great for spotters like us seeing so many 56s, 37s, 47s and the like still earning their keep long after we expected them to go to the cutter's torch, but let's not pretend the state of the UK railfreight and spot-hire industry isn't anything short of farcical. We've even seen a Deltic and, more recently, a Hoover drafted into short-term mainline work in the recent past based purely on a lack of other suitable motive power on the network. As fun as it is to see Thunderer every time I pull into Leicester, it's slightly absurd that it is even necessary to consider using a 50-year old locomotive which was withdrawn and preserved 25 years ago on revenue-earning services.
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