Class 68s complete Greater Anglia duties
CLASS 68s finished working for Greater Anglia on September 8.
Since July 2016 GA had hired two locomotives from Direct Rail Services to cover for unavailable diesel multiple units (DMUs). The ‘68s’ were used between Norwich and Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft, with 13 booked passenger trains and one empty coaching stock trip per weekday.
That deal has now come to an end as the number of available DMUs has increased, combined with the end of the additional summer services that placed added demand on the GA DMU fleet.
Initially the ‘68s’ were used to cover for 170204, which spent more than a year out of traffic after it was involved in a crossing accident near Thetford in April 2016, and required extensive rebuilding.
When that returned to GA during the summer, the deal for the ‘68s’ was then extended to cover a programme of fitting wheel slip protection to the Class 156 fleet, in preparation for this autumn. With that project nearing completion, the contract for the Class 68s is now no longer required.
The two locomotives were used in top and tail fashion, hauling a rake of three air-conditioned Mk 2s supplied by DRS that were hired from Riviera Trains. Maintenance was carried out at weekends at Norwich Crown Point, with the ‘68s’ swapped when exams were required.
Most of the ‘68s’ in the UK were used on the trains, with 68001005/009/016-019/021-025/027/ 028 all putting in appearances. Of these, 68009 Titan was used for only a day and a half, while 68027 failed on its first day with GA and was returned to DRS. Titan was also the only locomotive modified for use by Chiltern Railways to operate for GA.
The final locomotives used by GA on September 8 were 68001 Evolution and 68028. The first pair in traffic, on July 11 2016, had been 68016 Fearless and 68023 Achilles.
With the end of the Class 68-hauled trains, this leaves GA using one rake of Class 37-hauled
stock on the Wherry Lines. The Type 3s are also hired from DRS, as is the stock. For the week commencing September 11, on hire to GA were 37425 Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob and 37716.