67004 slipping to a stand north of Blair Atholl

67004 hauling the 8-coach Inverness portion of the 20:00 sleepers from Euston slipped to a standstill at MP41, north of Blair Atholl. It is seen here attempting to restart the train, then coming to a stand once more, on full power. The loco did eventually manage to work the train forward to Dalwhinnie, where 66107 assisted forward to Inverness.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• 67
• Class
• Diesel
• GM
• Highland
• Sleepers

[Paraffinmeister]

Agreed about the foamers and experts!:P Fact is 67's were built to scuttle about with light weight mail trains at high speeds, not slog it out in the Highlands with relatively heavy sleepers. Chances are the 37 would have come to a grinding halt there too, only it would have done it through lack of power, not grip.

[jeffhawken]

@Paraffinmeister

The 37s proved themselves more than capable of hauling significant loads over this route - on both passenger and freight services. The primitive wheelslip protection on a 37 would actually have stood a better chance in restarting the train - albeit with some damage to the railhead - whereas the modern electronics of the 67 simply couldn't cope.

[Paraffinmeister]

I learn something new every day! Afraid I don't know much about wheelslip protection. Something I meant to say but forgot, the 67 is more likely to loose it's footing in the first place due to too few axles!

Just out of curiosity, am I right in thinking they were origionally designed with 3 axle bogies in mind?

[jeffhawken]

The 67s have more weight on each axle than the 37, so slipping of any individual axle should be less likely. 67s were designed with a maximum speed of 125 mph, and no 3-axle design was available. All modern locos capable of this speed have 2-axle bogies - the most recent exception being the class 89.

[formidable38]

Yet more armchair experts and foamers coming out the woodwork, GM crap etc etc. If the rail head is piss poor it matters not what fuckin loco you have, 37 or otherwise. There all slippery as hell.

[tom201090]

bring in the replacement steam locomotive

[hiyadroogs]

@Paraffinmeister Depending on the model, the 37's had a starting tractive effort of between 55500 to 62680 lbs. A 67 has a starting TE of a mere 31750, (less than a class 7 steam loco) because it is of course designed for high speed work, not low speed slogging. Therefore all traction conditions being equal, a 37 would easily outpull a 67 (at standing start) through tractive power alone.

[Paraffinmeister]

Aye, I was just wondering because I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were originally designed with 3 axle bogies, however that wasn't possible for some reason which is why they now have such a high axle load and are prone to loosing ther footing (too much power for just 4 axles to deal with).

I could just be wrong and talking crap here mind you!:P

[jeffhawken]

@class313 The Mk 3 sleepers weigh about 43 tonnes, so about 10 tonnes heavier than the hauled Mk 3s.

[class313]

So how much heavier are they compared to usual Mk3s then

[Paraffinmeister]

Sleepers by their very nature are heavy coaches with all the fixtures and fittings, the extra bulkheads between the cabins, all the extra plumbing etc etc......

Mail vans (which 67's were designed for) are just boxes on wheels so don't weigh very much).