(Old) News

Amendment to 58015’s passenger workings...
It has been brought to our attention that 58015 worked 1A18 0600 Carlisle - Euston from Birmingham New Street NOT Wolverhampton on the 26th Feb 1990. Apparently the guard wanted 50033 to work the train as it had ETH but was told to take the 58 or they would find another guard...!



58035 finally returns from France!
The last ‘Fertis’ 58 remaining in France, 58035, has finally been returned to the UK having been noted in Dollands Moor on the 5th of May 2007. Two Class 56s - 56078 and 56106 - were also to be returned from overseas, and indeed one of them has also been noted in the yard at Dollands Moor, leaving only one Type 5 left to return...



Other Type 5 News: 56057 - a return to mainline?
56057 in preservation at the Nene Valley Railway has been bought by RVEL at Derby for possible return to mainline use as the latest addition to the Jarvis Fastline fleet, 56304 if the rumours are to be believed. The BR Blue large-logo loco worked a farewell trip on the Nene Valley Railway on Saturday (26th May), working the 1620 departure from Wasnsford to Peterborough and return. Loadhaul liveried 56003 was also in action on this day working the 1140 and 1400 round trips from Wansford.



“THAT WHICH SURVIVES” (ACTS ‘58’ tour) - Saturday 7th July 2007
The Class 58 Locomotive Group were pleased to support “That Which Survives” – Mercia Charters’ 10th year anniversary train which ran in The Netherlands on Saturday the 7th of July 2007.
The route taken was: Rotterdam CS - Dordrecht - Lage Zwaluwe - Moerdijk - Lage Zwaluwe - Oosterhout - Lage Zwaluwe - Breda - Tilburg - s'Hertogenbosch - Geldermalsen - Tiel -Kesteren - Elst - Arnhem - Velp -  Dieren - Loenen (VSM) - Apeldoorn - Amersfoort - Utrecht - Gouda - Rotterdam CS.
Photos from the “That Which Survives” charter which features 5814 (58038) can be found on the C58LG’s fotopic site. A YouTube video of the 58 departing Rotterdam with the ECS at the end of the day has also been posted and can be viewed by clicking here. Happy viewing! 



News Report Special: 58005 moves from Leicester!
On the 11^th of July, 2006, after almost six years of storage (October 2000), 58005 was transferred from the now-closed Leicester depot. Following an FTR exam, ‘005 was towed to Toton behind EWS ‘Executive’ liveried 67029 and between three OBA wagons (providing brake force as 58005 was through-piped) as 6F54, departing Leicester at 16.00 and arriving Toton at 16.56.

Engineering Support Group, a subsidiary of EWS, has won a contract from Siemens Transportation Systems on behalf of Network Rail to fit Global Systems for Mobile communications for Railways (GSM-R) signalling equipment to locomotives.

GSM-R is a combination of fixed and mobile telecommunication infrastructure and provides voice and data communication between track and trains.

Engineering Support Group will install GSM-R signalling equipment to ten different Classes of freight locomotive; namely 37, 47, 56, 58, 59, 60, 66, 67, 90 and 92.  One of the first locomotives to be fitted is a Class 58, No. 58005, even though it is unlikely the locomotive will return to traffic. An EWS spokesman explained that the 58 is being used to help designers with the fitting of the equipment within the cab environment. Even though the trials are also going to be carried out on other classes which EWS does not now use, the data can be exchanged with other operators.

Engineering Support Group has contracted Axiom Rail to install it to each different type of locomotive at their facilities at Toton (Nottinghamshire) and Crewe.  These trial fitments will be undertaken in parallel with the fitment of GSM-R to 25 Class 66 locomotives in the Strathclyde area as a pilot trial of GSM-R to ensure that the equipment will be suitable for the freight environment and will operate well when national implementation occurs.

Graham Meiklejohn, EWS spokesman explains that the work on the ‘58’ was expected to be complete early next year and the locomotive might be hauled to Motherwell depot as part of the trials.

Engineering Support Group were also responsible for the modification, testing and approval of the Class 58 locomotives to allow them to operate in the Netherlands for the ACTS contract which involved the installation and testing of the ATBL train safety system, significant vehicle modification work and the approval (certification) of the locomotives to operate outside the UK on Dutch metals.

More information about the GSM-R trials can be found on the internet at various rail sites, including http://www.rssb.co.uk/gsmr.asp and on the informative Wikipedia site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM-R.