SHUNTERS
Shunters headed to new locations during February and March.
Big month for RSS fleet moves.
RECENT weeks have been another busy time for Railway Support Services as it continued to move its fleet around to service contracts.
No. 08752 kicked things off at the end of January with its planned move to Crewe Carriage Shed, although limited road access meant it had to be delivered to Crewe Heritage Centre and then moved across courtesy of DRS, with No. 57307 towing the ‘08’ the short distance.
The release of No. 08441 from Bounds Green following the end of the contract there saw it move to Norwich Crown Point, releasing No. 08683 to be moved to Eastleigh, which in turn allowed No. 08511 to be returned to Wishaw for maintenance.
No. 08480 left Wolverton in early March to take up a new duty at the oil refinery in Killingholme, North East Lincolnshire – its use there reportedly requiring a large risk assessment before it was all cleared to go.
After a bit of a delay, No. 08846 moved from Wishaw to Whitemoor Yard (Cambridgeshire) – arriving there on March 4 and allowing No. 08730 to be released back to the RSS base at Wishaw (Warwickshire) for works attention. No. 08922 is still destined to take up duties for DRS at Garston, but remained at the Chasewater Railway throughout March.
One unplanned move in March was that of No. 08580, which had to be moved at short notice from Wishaw to the Axiom site at Stoke-on-Trent after the Thomas Hill 4wDH shunter there suffered a torque convertor failure.
The move should only be a stopgap, however, as No. 08580 is one of two planned to go to Asfordby working for GBRf as part of its new contract to operate the Rail Innovation & Development Centre (RIDC) Melton, for Network Rail, which also includes the Old Dalby test track. With the move to the RIDC for
No. 08580 planned for mid-April, various options to cover for the Thomas Hill are being looked at, including using an industrial diesel from the Chasewater Railway.