What were you up to last night whilst it snowed?...

[Isimmo]

This was about midnight.

Ghost engine running... Which basically involves rushing about on your own with a loco all night trying not to get stuck.

Quite an enjoyable pastime really...

[kerker21]

snow what feckin snow ??????????????

[john johnson]

Is that so that the operator can say oh yes we do use the line when they really just send an empty service down it do that no one else can nab it ?

[Isimmo]

Originally Posted by john johnson

Is that so that the operator can say oh yes we do use the line when they really just send an empty service down it do that no one else can nab it ?

Not for snow clearance, they go back to running it like the old railways, making up pathways as they go, sending the locos down in front of the overnight service trains to help them get 3rd rail contact and clear any accumulations... The 73 loco is ideal for this as it's got robust shoegear and can pull some serious amperage... It's incredibly spectacular, like intense lightning, illuminating the snowscape for literally hundreds of yards. The downside of this practice is, it melts the collector shoes and in time, forms small ball bearing sized globules across the contact.

[rtz62]

Thats not snow;
Dropped daughters boyfriend off in Clay Cross last nite after negotiating a steep downhill near us. I say negotiate, actually sliding from kerb to kerb.
Tried to get back up and.... er no, having none of it!
So, drove a few miles out if my way to take a flatter route, and still had to reverse up one section (and wet myself laughing at a twat in a FreeLoader that had got stuck; LandRover Freelander? Shit 'em!

[rtz62]

Forgot to add, I'M the twat; forgot we've got an impreza WR1 with DCCD on the drive....

[geneandbolly]

Originally Posted by Isimmo

This was about midnight.

Ghost engine running... Which basically involves rushing about on your own with a loco all night trying not to get stuck.

Quite an enjoyable pastime really...

YES!! A TRAIN THREAD AGAIN!! WOO HOOO!! (or should it be CHOO CHOO?!)
i had no idea that the class 73 was still on the go. having never seen one in the flesh living wayyyy up here in the olllld countrrrry our mainstay back in the early 80s was all class 08, 25. 26, 27, 37 and 47 plus the west coast mainline flybashed electrics that operated out of glasgow central.

so you work on one of these for a living ANNNNND you own a classic audi?







you lucky bar steward!!

[john johnson]

This is a darfffffttt question but can you see ahead quite well in the dark ? Reason I ask is I was out late one night this week ( thurs I think ) in the woods in the dark and the railway line runs through it and a 66 trundled past in the darkness and I was quite surprised how it lit up the front with its lights . It was totally dark though

[Isimmo]

Originally Posted by john johnson

This is a darfffffttt question but can you see ahead quite well in the dark ? Reason I ask is I was out late one night this week ( thurs I think ) in the woods in the dark and the railway line runs through it and a 66 trundled past in the darkness and I was quite surprised how it lit up the front with its lights . It was totally dark though

Some locos are better than others and 66's are pretty good. The 73 is poor, especially with snow all over the headlight. The headlights are sometimes a hinderance with reflecting back off snow/fog etc and are designed so the train can be seen rather than any meaningful illumination. Anyway, when you are bombing along in something that can't stop in a hurry, you're better off not knowing what you're going to hit... Its quite serene sometimes, trusting green signals at 75mph, when you can only see a windscreen full of snow.

[audivw]

we was in kettering ........... in the Quattro oh what fun