Bessie’s Bulletin
After years of dreaming about a moment like this, I finally ticked a goal off the bucket list: Driving a loco on the main line.
“We’re doing a ‘run round’ today,” my mentor peered through his safety glasses at me and smiled.
“I did that last week,” my fellow trainee told me. “Bess, you’re going to love it.”
He was right. I did.
To my absolute joy, a ‘run round’ consists of taking a loco from one end of the terminal, out on to the main line at permissible line speed and back in to the terminal at the other end.
Permissible line speed is 20mph on the stretch of track some call ‘The Engine Line’. That’s 15mph more than I’d ever driven before, what with the speed in most yards and depots being 5mph (3mph if you’re setting back or driving through a washer.)
Now, 20mph might not sound like a lot, but the first time felt like warp speed while being the one in full control of a 129 tonne beast with 3700bhp, hurtling down a line I’d only ever seen on paper. My inner monologue was just screams for the whole experience.
This was the exact moment I fell in love with the Class 70s.
When I’d first met one, I found it to be quite ugly and filled with more screens than I liked. Since 70008 was the first loco to take me over Network Rail infrastructure, I suddenly found them charming and clever, and a joy to drive.
Every day I’m doing something completely new, like driving a loco I’ve not yet driven (and keeping a note of each one I have), or meeting a colleague I’ve not yet met and hearing about the fantastic years they’ve had in their career so far. I look forward to being in their shoes one day, telling my history to the wide-eyed trainees of the future. But until then, I’ll carry on enjoying my exciting training.
Follow Bessie on Twitter: @per