Diesel Loco Operating Costs

Now if I came in to some money and ended up the lucky owner of a small main line diesel - say a class 33 or 25 and wanted to run it, how much of the cost of owning be fixed, and how much is mileage related?

I can understand that for example fuel & lubricant use is related to running also some mechanical wear - tyres brake blocks etc but what about the rest?

 

Personally I'd be much more concerned first about the costs and practicalities of ensuring that it is kept under cover, in the dry, a ready supply of spares and having the necessary engineering expertise and labour to hand to ensure that it doesn't just sit there rotting before even the first thought about running costs.

As many have found out before, and many more will no doubt do in the future, small or not, main line diesel locomotives are technically complex beasts which have a nasty habit of sitting down if one part doesn't work and of rusting solid and then crumbling to dust if they do not have large amounts of labour and money thrown at them on an ongoing basis. The phrase 'sprinting to stand still' springs to mind.

I have always had a small fantasy about owning a Class 73. But in that fantasy is enough eality to know that it would never be anything other than stuffed and mounted!

 

Repairs and refurbishment of body will be a big fixed cost as will insurance. Axles will need NDT on a regular basis probably annually Motor / generator flashovers are not uncommon and need to be budgeted for

Dont forget the old adage "how do you end up with a small fortune owning a loco - start with a big one"

 

Air tanks need periodic certification as well. Don't forget modern diesel is full of additives - I know Martin Walker had lots of problems with the fuel on 55022, so the tanks needed regular cleaning.

 

The dreaded Diesel Bug, perchance?

 

Once you have your Diesel loco all set up nice.
Now stick a number of tonnes of added steelwork on board and get it to vibrate at a high rate, add in Hydraulic systems working at 2 - 3000psi and more air systems along with a computer package.
Then get the whole thing moving only to stop it at every sleeper while the rams try and bury themselves in the ground.
While it is doing this the whole machine is trying to shake itself to bits.
Mr Pirtek and his trusty staff need to be on your speed dial for hose repairs that will happen at 02.30 in the morning miles from anywhere.
And that Hydraulic oil you just lost from a burst pipe will cost you about £1K per 45 gallon barrel.
As well as needing to mop up any spillage before it gets into a watercourse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=73&v=RVZDCzYuAko

 

Martin's problem lay with the bio-fuel where diesel was "diluted" with chemical to reduce emissions - but at the expense of "gunge" that increased maintenance requirements.

 

How do costs compare with steam?

 

If I'd won £57million on the Euro Lottery I'd commission a new build Deltic.

 

In my experience, in the main they are costing less than steam. However, rather paradoxically funding is also often less, so they are equally hard (if not harder) to fund as appeals etc generate far less than steam schemes have. Before anyone jumps in with examples of very expensive diesel repairs, I fully accept there are several examples that do not support the above, but I'm talking more generally. There are a lot of preserved diesels out there that haven't yet suffered major generator failures etc, so (in railway terms) they have given a good few miles for relatively modest cost.

However I feel things will be different in the future. As diesels get older and spares manufacture (as opposed to swapping with second hand spare units) becomes more prevalent, I feel the playing field will level out and the two types (steam/diesel) will possibly end up costing around the same, which will be a problem for diesel as they are generally less popular!

In the 1970's/1980's preservation used up the residual life of it's of steam engines and benefitted from cheap overhauls. Diesels have been the same in the 1990's/2000's but time is running out I fear!

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Isn't D182 out of service with a dead generator?

 

Just dreaming................I wonder what a Class 55 would have been like with a couple of 'screaming Valentas' dropped in to replace the Napiers.

 

I don't think there'd have been the room for two Valentas. By which time you'd have just got a very noisy 40!

 

Noisy as hell! I do believe though that there was a plan for a Napier powered HST...

 

pointless I'd say. The worst of both worlds, a ruined Deltic and nowhere near as good as a class 43 (either version...)

 

with apologies to @Landshrew for using his photo, but this happened today, God bless Jeremy Hosking, a bloke with deep pockets and even deeper arms! Very grateful for blokes like him!

 

Just dreaming.

 

There's been a lot of effort put into that to turn it out looking like that. Top marks to whoever has done it.