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United Kingdom freight operator orders diesels from GE Transportation
Jeez, that locomotive is almost as ugly as the Wisconsin Talgo cab cars!
It’s awful
It’s awful
It’s awful
It’s awful
The class 70 is ugly no doubt but it does sound good, I’m pleased to see that Colas has ordered a batch of these locos, it might give EMD food for thought as this is the second operator not buying their products threatening their monopoly of supplying freight locos to the UK
I saw 2 of these in early 2013, riding on flatcars, at the head of a Freight Train headed South one night, on the CSX West Shore Line in Harrington Park, NJ. My first thought was, what was Freightliner?
I am just glad to see the Erie plant has orders to keep making locomotives.
Good to see U.S.A. power going world wide again even if only Great Britian… So far. As far as looks … no comment.
You have to hand it to GE, though, for pleasing its customer by coming up with a modern design that retains that homely British look.
Do the Brits specify such ugly locomotives, or does GE just throw something together with leftover parts?
I agree with PATRICK GALLIGAN from CALIFORNIA. But there is something that is even uglier: a Goosie!!!
These locos haven’t had good reliability with Freightliner, several (4 locos I believe) being involved in fires on the locomotive blocking main running lines for hours at a time. One has just returned to service after a year being repaired for fire damage. Hope the new batch are more reliable, if Freightliner lose a loco for repairs for a year they have enough locos on hand to maintain a service, Colas only being a small operator may not have the luxury of having spare locos. They do sound great though.
Maybe the unions in ERIE are happy the engines are not being built in FT.WORTH…An other thought-WOW-SOMETHING IS ACTUALLY BEING BUILT IN AMERICA!!!
Maybe the unions in ERIE are happy the engines are not being built in FT.WORTH…An other thought-WOW-SOMETHING IS ACTUALLY BEING BUILT IN AMERICA!!!
FWIW Class 70s look pretty much like a lot of UK freight locomotives since the 1980s. They’re relatively squished compared to US designs because of a much restricted loading gauge (a little over 9 feet wide by 12.5 feet high. US trains generally have 10.5 feet of width to play with, and locomotives outside of the NEC are usually 16 feet high.)
There are some beautiful UK designs, classes 37, 40, 47, 50, and, of course, 55, being amongst them. You’ll notice though these are all cab units.