66651 Portbury 3rd July 2024
66651 sits at the Portbury Auto terminal after arriving with 6Z50, the 10:20 from Margam on 3rd July 2024. The train of 20 BYA steel slab carriers would be loaded once the loco was run round. This was one of 20 such trains run in connection with a trial shipload into the The Royal Portbury Docks near Bristol. The first train used a standard 66 but that would not haul the 2000t train away from the dock, turned out the loco had sanding issues and the track was overgrown with vegetation which didn't help. Next few days a pair was used until high tractive effort mod loco was sent to cover the service. This hauled 2200t out in notch 5, quite impressive.
© Neil Higson
iPhone 13 Picture (as shot)
66651 Portbury 3rd July 2024
66651 sits at the Portbury Auto terminal after arriving with 6Z50, the 10:20 from Margam on 3rd July 2024. The train of 20 BYA steel slab carriers would be loaded once the loco was run round. This was one of 20 such trains run in connection with a trial shipload into the The Royal Portbury Docks near Bristol. The first train used a standard 66 but that would not haul the 2000t train away from the dock, turned out the loco had sanding issues and the track was overgrown with vegetation which didn't help. Next few days a pair was used until high tractive effort mod loco was sent to cover the service. This hauled 2200t out in notch 5, quite impressive.
© Neil Higson
iPhone 13 Picture (as shot)