Pan Up
How come we can’t build a new freight loco? Or are the regulations a much-needed kick in the tender to clear the air for the next generation?
These days my greatest excitement is going out with my grandchildren for a socially distanced walk, and occasionally I work this to be by a railway. The other day we were walking around the Stenson Junction area, where the freight line from the charmingly named Sheet Stores Junction joins the Derby – Birmingham line. Occasionally there is a change from nearly empty Voyagers and Turbostars (Grandad’s trains – bought in our kitchen) when a freight makes a dash off the branch for the main line, usually accompanied by a burst of smoke as it powers up. It’s easy to look at that and think emissions regulations for railways are a good idea.
We are walking by the Trent and Mersey Canal, built in 1777 for vehicles of one horsepower (hp). Over it goes the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, opened in 1839, where the occasional freight passes on about 3,000hp. Over that goes the A50, carrying a constant stream of cars and lorries, typically 500hp in the lorries, under 100hp in the cars, but with increasing numbers of 200hp pointless SUVs. Over that go flights fr…
