Freight Trains Through Lincoln Station
I must have spent nearly ninety minutes in total at Lincoln station yesterday and in that time, at least four long freight trains went through.
The reason is that Lincoln station lies on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line, which is a major freight diversion between Doncaster and Peterborough.
- It appears to me, that more freight trains are now using this route since the opening of the Werrington Dive Under.
- All were hauled by a noisy and polluting diesel Class 66 locomotive.
- Some were hauling as many as forty containers.
Articles like this one on Lincolnshire Live, which is entitled Who Had The Crazy idea to Let Trains Run Right Through Lincoln City Centre?, which contains this paragraph.
Then, you’re left with a decision over whether you take your own life in your hands by scuttling over the crossing as fast as you can before being trapped by the barriers, climbing the stairs of one of the two footbridges, or simply waiting at the barrier for the trains to pass (and God help you if it’s one of those freight trains with a seemingly endless amount of carriages).
New footbridges have been installed over the railway, as I wrote about in The Footbridges Over The Railway At Lincoln. But is that enough?
Diesel locomotives are not the most friendly of neighbours and the sooner we start to replace them with quieter locomotives the better.
Lincoln is not the only place, that is plagued by Class 66 locomotives.
- Near me, the North London and Gospel Oak to Barking Lines are regularly used by freight trains hauled by diesel locomotives, despite being electrified.
- Diesel locomotives regularly use the Castlefield Corridor through Manchester.
There must be other places, which suffer from these beasts.
The Anonymous Widower 
GBRf class 99 bimodes must be the target for the long distance intermodals where there is plenty of OLE running available.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | June 30, 2023 |
I feel that the Class 99 could be a real monster.
The on-board 2,400 hp diesel, is almost as powerful, as the engine in a Class 66 and under wires Stadler are quoting 6 MW. But I think, as it’s a new Cummins engine, that this engine will be convertible to hydrogen power.
I wrote about it in this post.
Felixstowe to Nuneaton on hydrogen and then electric all the way to Glasgow.
I also think, the mathematics of a battery-Class 66 running as a pair with a diesel-Class 66 could be interesting.
Comment by AnonW | June 30, 2023 |