86101 and 87002 Sold

http://wp.electric-traction.co.uk/blog

No great surprise, but good to see they're staying in this country and not being exported like a lot of other electric locos.

 

Agreed...hope to see the AL6 as E3191 in due course

 

Not sure about that. It would certainly be insane to convert it back to E3191 condition. The main advantage of 86101 is that it can do 110mph, but doesn't require resilient wheels. The difficulty in replacing those was made clear with the issues getting replacements for 86259.

 

I think John meant a cosmetic restoration, repaint and renumber.

 

Exactement!

 

Personally, I think it should stay as 86101 in any of its guises, BR blue or Intercity would be particularly fine with me. I think it's prototype status deserves celebrating, rather than making it look like a regular 86 from the 60s, which would only look correct by swapping the bogies and putting it back to 86/0 status. Great as it looks, we already have 86259 in modern form, but 1960s livery, so why not go for something that's both different and authentic?

 

Ok.

 

"With the Caledonian Sleeper moving to new stock there is no longer a requirement for ETL’s locomotives."

Why does new rolling stock change the traction requirement?

 

Only the sleeper 73s and all but two GBRF 92s can Couple to Mk5s.Also only 92s have a high enough ETH index for a full sleeper rake and a different voltage to Mk3s hence why in recent months it's been converted 92s on the Lowlander and 90s on the Highlander .

 

Because the new stock has different couples (Dellners), and a much higher train supply requirement. Of the locomotives currently in traffic, only the pool of GBRF class 92s (for the WCML legs) and class 73/9s (for the diesel hauled section north of Edinburgh) are compatible. The old MK3s were power hungry, but the new trains are significantly better provided for.

It certainly felt odd at 00:33 this morning stood on Stirling station seeing a pair of class 73s draw in, when the last time I'd seen one of them was (as a 73/2) on the first through railtour to the Bluebell.

 

Except that the Mk3s are now all gone, and it's just the GBRF fleet hauling Mk5s.

 

Except when 67004 is called upon to haul ETHEL/coupling adaptor 739xx.

 

Excellent news