Err thank you TA, I think, but I knew all that.

What I wanted was an answers to the question as to why the 66 series locos built in Canada for the UK would have been tested with different gauge trucks, which were then changed before shipping. As I thought Canada and the USA had the same gauge as the UK.

However it seems the same style loco was sold to other countries where the gauge was different.

There are still a few oddball gauges in North America Bernie, both tourist lines and working lines.

As you said, I guess the ones I saw leave on flatbeds were bound for obscure corners of the globe. BTW, we had one leave by Antonov several years ago. Made the local news. Apparently it was going to Ireland.

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Oooh T.A, you're gonna get shot :-)

"If Sirius had posted that in the train thread, I would have vehemently disagreed with him. But he knows better, and I know that in this thread, it's just a joke."

Yep.

In the US at least at the beginning, there was not a standard gauge. Each line picked its own. This caused every shipment to have to be removed from the boxcars, carted across town to the rival companies station, and loaded on that line's boxcars. This eventually got fixed, but the negotiations would not allow any of the rival companies to have their gauge chosen as that would give that company an advantage. As this width had not been used by anyone, and it was (at least supposedly) the standard width of a roman chariot, and so had some reference in history, it was chosen as the US standard gauge.

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BOINC WIKI

Err thank you TA, I think, but I knew all that.

What I wanted was an answers to the question as to why the 66 series locos built in Canada for the UK would have been tested with different gauge trucks, which were then changed before shipping. As I thought Canada and the USA had the same gauge as the UK.

However it seems the same style loco was sold to other countries where the gauge was different.

There are still a few oddball gauges in North America Bernie, both tourist lines and working lines.

As you said, I guess the ones I saw leave on flatbeds were bound for obscure corners of the globe. BTW, we had one leave by Antonov several years ago. Made the local news. Apparently it was going to Ireland.

I think I mentioned that one a few days ago. It was the first of the order. They flew it there to meet the delivery deadline. The rest of them went by ship.

After standard gauge, the most common in North America is three-foot. A lot of lines were built to this size in the Rocky Mountains; two pieces of the Denver & Rio Grande Western remain as tourist lines, Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic. The White Pass & Yukon running from Skagway, Alaska, into Canada is also 3'. After that is probably two-foot. Lines were built to this size in northern New England and other places. (Modelers of these railroads tend to cheat and use N scale track, which is about 2.5' in HO scale.)

IIRC, Phildelphia streetcars to this day are five-foot, because the city fathers didn't want regular trains to be able to roll down the street. Bay Area Rapid Transit is also this size. Russia did it to deny European invaders easy access to Moscow.

Another popular gauge around the world is meter-gauge.

It is true that Standard is used in North America because the first locomotives were imported from England.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Oooh T.A, you're gonna get shot :-)

"If Sirius had posted that in the train thread, I would have vehemently disagreed with him. But he knows better, and I know that in this thread, it's just a joke."

Yep.

In the US at least at the beginning, there was not a standard gauge. Each line picked its own. This caused every shipment to have to be removed from the boxcars, carted across town to the rival companies station, and loaded on that line's boxcars. This eventually got fixed, but the negotiations would not allow any of the rival companies to have their gauge chosen as that would give that company an advantage. As this width had not been used by anyone, and it was (at least supposedly) the standard width of a roman chariot, and so had some reference in history, it was chosen as the US standard gauge.

I was looking for something else and ran across this link about The Days They Changed the Gauge

---

Apparently it was going to Ireland.

Export to Ireland would explain the truck (gauge) change: Ireland - now Eire, Republic of Ireland - uses its own national gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in).

Rail transport in Ireland

I see that Ireland imported its inter-city fleet from Spain, which uses an even broader (but comparable) gauge of 1,668 mm.

Rail transport in Spain

Oooh T.A, you're gonna get shot :-)

"If Sirius had posted that in the train thread, I would have vehemently disagreed with him. But he knows better, and I know that in this thread, it's just a joke."

Yep.

In the US at least at the beginning, there was not a standard gauge. Each line picked its own. This caused every shipment to have to be removed from the boxcars, carted across town to the rival companies station, and loaded on that line's boxcars. This eventually got fixed, but the negotiations would not allow any of the rival companies to have their gauge chosen as that would give that company an advantage. As this width had not been used by anyone, and it was (at least supposedly) the standard width of a roman chariot, and so had some reference in history, it was chosen as the US standard gauge.

I was looking for something else and ran across this link about The Days They Changed the Gauge

I didnt know that. I would love to see the History Channel make an episode of that. Thanks for the link.

---

[/quote]

Old James

Talking of the class 59 (as we were) yesterday spotted from a bridge near East Croydon heading north, was 59103 Village of Mells



This was a loco from the second batch built, shipped and in service in 1990.

How do I know it is 103? because rather than have huge numbers like other operators, Hanson have little stars in the middle of the front yellow section and there are 3 and as Hanson operate 101 to 104 that makes it 103

It also has the distinction of being the only one of the 15 class 59's to have been damaged in an accident.

While working the 6A20 Whatley to Acton (West London) stone train locomotive number 59103 and the first ten hopper wagons derailed at 23:20 on 12 September 2000 between Great Elm Tunnel and Bedlam Tunnel on the single track branch line to the Hanson Quarry at Whatley. The locomotive and the first two hoppers rolled and 59103 came to rest on the parapet of a small bridge on the driver's side (left by direction of travel) with the trailing bogie partially torn off by the following hopper wagon. The locomotive was pulled upright on 19 September 2000 and removed to Whatley Quarry where an initial assessment of the damage was made and repairs made to make the locomotive safe for removal by road. The locomotive was then moved by road to Derby on 2 November 2000 for further assessment before moving to Eastleigh for repairs

Also On 26 May 1991 class member 59005 set the European haulage record for a single locomotive, with a stone train weighing 11,982 tonnes (11,793 long tons; 13,208 short tons) and 5,415 feet (1,650 m) long

And all based on an EMD SD40-2

Today through the railings next to the footpath near South Croydon station I managed to get a shot of 66529



Hauling a long consist of hoppers, which were immediately obscured by a passing passenger train on the down fast!!

I did manage to get a shot as the end wagons rolled by.



PS both pics were obtained by me holding the camera through the fence, I did not trespass on railway property. Safety first!!

---

Freight scheduled via South Croydon today.

Purley Foster Yeoman - Acton T.C. 11.08

Purley Foster Yeoman - Bardon Hill Quarry Fhh 11.37

Newhaven Day Aggregates - Acton T.C. 13:45

Acton T.C. - Purley Foster Yeoman 13:55

TC stands for Terminal Complex or "yard"

This is an almost daily occurrence.

Foster Yeoman

"Foster Yeoman transports most of its stone product from Merehead to various UK distribution points using the services of jointly-owned rail company Mendip Rail, with Hanson plc."

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Bardon Hill is up in Leicestershire so North London, as is Acton.

That's a new one on me. I always thought that Acton was West London.

Nice pics, Bernie, and thanks for the info about 59103's "oopsie."

Over here, the three stars wouldn't cut it. The reporting mark and the number are required to be prominently displayed, and the number boards illuminated at night.

SD40-2s are being relegated to yard switcher status (frequently radio controlled), but crews still love 'em.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Same in Canada, the SD40-2 is rarely seen outside of a yard now, and even there they are fading.

Never realized the "European" style locos I watched coming out of the Electromotive plant for so many years were just re-packaged SD40s. I guess the European right of way clearances didn't permit the big cab that North American crews loved?

---

Norfolk Southern has released a video explaining why PTC will not be ready in time. It's aimed at the general public, but those who are interested and not already familiar with it will learn something.

(The narrator's voice got on my nerves.)

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Never realized the "European" style locos I watched coming out of the Electromotive plant for so many years were just re-packaged SD40s. I guess the European right of way clearances didn't permit the big cab that North American crews loved?

From the Wiki on the original 59/0's

Derived from the EMD SD40-2, the cab layout was based on the British Rail Class 58 for easier driver assimilation. To meet the British loading gauge, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 man-hours of design work was carried out by EMD. Some compromises were required; the large exhaust silencer required to meet BR noise levels left no room for Dynamic Braking equipment. However, it was possible to retain the all-important Super Series wheel creep control, which because of its superior traction can eliminate the need for double heading. Foster Yeoman therefore reduced their original requirement from six to four locomotives, ordering four in November 1984, and a fifth in 1988. All five locomotives were custom built by General Motors Diesel Division at its La Grange, Illinois plant.

The 59/1's and 59/2's and all the 66 class were built in London, Ontario.

---

Never realized the "European" style locos I watched coming out of the Electromotive plant for so many years were just re-packaged SD40s. I guess the European right of way clearances didn't permit the big cab that North American crews loved?

From the Wiki on the original 59/0's

Derived from the EMD SD40-2, the cab layout was based on the British Rail Class 58 for easier driver assimilation. To meet the British loading gauge, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 man-hours of design work was carried out by EMD. Some compromises were required; the large exhaust silencer required to meet BR noise levels left no room for Dynamic Braking equipment. However, it was possible to retain the all-important Super Series wheel creep control, which because of its superior traction can eliminate the need for double heading. Foster Yeoman therefore reduced their original requirement from six to four locomotives, ordering four in November 1984, and a fifth in 1988. All five locomotives were custom built by General Motors Diesel Division at its La Grange, Illinois plant.

The 59/1's and 59/2's and all the 66 class were built in London, Ontario.

Having Super Series makes them more akin to SD50s than SD40-2s. EMD introduced the 50 series when Super Series traction control was ready (or so they claimed; it still had a lot of bugs) but the 710 engine was still a few years from being released. Super Series used radar to measure the actual speed to determine whether the wheels were spinning and even allow them to do so a tiny bit. The radar detector in my car goes off whenever a 50 goes by me.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Finally got a freight going south, all the others have been going north

This is 66150 running as 643E, Didcot to Crawley New Yard and it was running 4 minutes late (isn't the internet wonderful)



As you can see I was just next to South Croydon station as this passed,so another "hand through the fence" job.

This is a still from a video,normally these trains crawl along in this area as they are often held at signals as this is a very busy passenger line. However this one obviously running on greens!!

66150 Pulling 17 Hoppers

---

Hey, for the cost of a gallon of gas...the Trainz Simulator 12 bundle is on sale for $4.

---

Hey, for the cost of a gallon of gas...the Trainz Simulator 12 bundle is on sale for $4.

Hmm, i'll have to check that out tomorrow when I'm more awake.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Hey, for the cost of a gallon of gas...the Trainz Simulator 12 bundle is on sale for $4.

$4 a gallon? Cripes!

---

Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Iron Maidens singer Bruce Dickinson has many hobbies.
One is to collect locomotives. Not toys. Real ones!
Locomotives are Heavy Metal.
Im sorry to say that there are videos about this that I have seen but there accounts on Youtube has expired.
Bruce Dickinson on Ultimate Trains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2hhMY94VHA
Bruce Dickinson is also a pilot:) Pic from Flight 666.

Helping to save the day after the collapse of the tour operator XL.
Said in an earlier bullitin he had a flight deck full of croissants.

Hey, for the cost of a gallon of gas...the Trainz Simulator 12 bundle is on sale for $4.

$4 a gallon? Cripes!

It varies around the country and according to the whim of whichever retailer feels like their profits were low last week. Excuses for it jumping 35c can be because the price of crude oil went up, the price of oil went down, our military did something, someone else's military did something, President Obama sneezed, the King of Saudi Arabia farted, a butterfly landed on a tanker truck, or a refinery manager didn't get laid last night. Or nothing at all. Last night, I saw prices for regular 87 octane ranging from $3.629 to 3.799.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.