ETL studies electric options once GBRf contract ends

THREE veteran electrics could be exported once a contract with GB Railfreight ends this May.

Electric Traction Limited (ETL) has supplied 86101 Sir William

A Stanier FRS and 87002 Royal Sovereign to GBRf for more than a decade. It added 86401 Mons

Meg when GBRf started operating the Caledonian Sleeper contract in April 2015.

Owned by the AC Locomotive Group, the locomotives will be removed from Caledonian Sleeper duties when new Mk 5 coaches are introduced. This is because they are not fitted with Dellner couplings, and the cost of fitting the components has been ruled out by the passenger operator.

GBRf hired the ‘86s’ and ‘87’ to haul empty coaching stock from Wembley depot to London Euston, and from Polmadie to Glasgow Central. In future, modified Class 92s will carry out this work.

With the work due to end, ETL said in a statement: “From the perspective of ETL this will leave three locomotives with no regular work to cover their operating expenses.

“Having successfully operated locomotives on the railway since the return to service of 86101 12 years ago, ETL has seen considerable change in the industry and knows that standing still is not an option.

“ETL is exploring opportunities within the UK and abroad in order to assure the locomotives an operational home. It is expected that there will be a gradual run-down of the ETL locomotive operations between March and May 2019.”

Currently the ‘87’ is the only operational example in the UK, with 87001 Royal Scot and 87035 Stephenson both preserved but not operational. A further 21 of the 36 built are abroad in Romania and Bulgaria.

Of the ‘86s’, ACLG 86101 was the first main line-certified preserved electric to return to the main line, when it hauled a charter in 2007. It has since been used by Hull Trains between London King’s Cross and Doncaster, as well as by GBRf on its Royal Mail contract until 2010.

The ‘86/4’ was the first Class 86 to be preserved when it was bought from EWS in full working order in June 2004. It spent much of its early preserved career at Long Marston, but was selected for the CS contract and returned to the main line in August 2015.

While Freightliner is the largest user of ‘86s’ in the UK, 16 have been exported to Hungary and Bulgaria.

SIMON ROBINSON. Caledonian Sleeper 87002 Royal Sovereign stands at Preston on February 20, hauling the 2353 London Euston-Glasgow Central Sleeper. It replaced 92014, which had failed with a GSM-R problem. The ‘87’, along with two ‘86s’, is hired from Electric Traction Limited, but faces an uncertain future once the CS Mk 5s are introduced. The possibility of export means there would be no operational ‘87s’ left in the UK.