Atomic Systems

Whilst sat in Eastleigh yard today, 66703 had its cab wiring ripped out and brake lines cut!

YAY

I like the 66's - impressive bits of engineering, the black 5s of their day. Only pity is that they're Canadian.

Was this an act of vandalism or is it scrap!

jasonclarke wrote:Was this an act of vandalism or is it scrap!

The latter I reckon - but I think you might have slipped on the keyboard and added and extra letter!

Whilst sat in Eastleigh yard today, 66703 had its cab wiring ripped out and brake lines cut!

Well thats really good news (being sarcastic). Sadly, GBRF the owner of 66703 may not see the funny side of this incident, as it will cost a fair bit to get 66703 back in traffic, and will probably mean cancelled trains due to lack of motive power, therefore also affecting GBRF's customers.

I know enthusiasts don't like 66s but they are the tools for the job, and as much as I would prefer an pair of 37s, they are also here to stay for a considerable time.

Therefore the only thing I can say to the mindless idiots who did this is

Yeah I agree, joking aside.

As an enthusiast, I would of course always prefer a bit of quality thrash to some cheap American plastic. However, as a supporter of the railways and my belief in them as a cause - which always takes precedence above the enthusiast side of me - I support the introduction of 66s. They may be ugly and cheap and are ridding this country of great locos - but they are reliable, standardised and able to deliver a quality service. If railfreight is to succeed - they are just what is required. Order more.

(Shoot me now!)

duncharris wrote:Only pity is that they're Canadian.

What's wrong with that?

It's good to know we're exporting something other than lumber and or maple syrup!

Jeff

"Leaping from tree to tree in the mightly forests of British Columbia."

Although I don't particulary like the 66's, they are to all intents and purposes the modern equvilent to the Class 47.

I quite like them - could be worse we could have loads of thoses freight Multiple unit things (multiple pupose vehicle i believe they are called) - at least the 66s are locos - Rather have 37s and peaks any day though

ThinLizzy wrote: Re: Joy to the world, a 66 is dead

Whilst sat in Eastleigh yard today, 66703 had its cab wiring ripped out and brake lines cut!

So lets get this right, a member of the forum who is well known to work for SWT (and has already expressed discust at some vandalism to SWT stock) is now condoning damage to the loco of another TOC?

Well thats going to reflect well on your employer then isn't it ? I'm sure that would go down well.

And also as it was sat well out of public access it must of been carried out by a staff member of the railway.................


So MR Skate... Where were you all day then??


Talk about leaving yourself open to be arrested..............


Wheres that phone book...ahhh there it is... 9 9 9...

British Transport Police please!

champy wrote:Wheres that phone book...ahhh there it is... 9 9 9...

British Transport Police please!

Hang on - you forgot the 'your call is important to us-please hold'. Except the BTP probably don't even consider it worth answering

Steve - I don't agree - any act of vandalism is a crime against another person or persons. Speaking theoretically, if someone was to smash in your car window, you'd be damn well annoyed, and it doesn't matter whether that car was a Ferrari or a Ford Escort - there is still a victim.

I wasn't brought up on 37s and Peaks, personally 50s and 33s are my thing, along with 58s later on. So I don't feel disgusted when I see a '66'. If I see a Shed on a freight, I don't think "that's another 37 gone to the scrappers", I think "thats another 30 lorries off the road". GBRf will be hit badly by this - it's not as if the 66 replaced anything, GBRf are a new open access TOC. But to see ~5% of GBRf's fleet vandalised, makes me angry.

mattvince wrote:If I see a Shed on a freight, I don't think "that's another 37 gone to the scrappers", I think "thats another 30 lorries off the road".

Well said - they're not exciting, but they do a job, and they do it moderately well. OK, if we still had nationalised railways things might be different, but, as much as we love them, class 37s et al are 4 decades old and time has moved on.

Just pause and think where rail freight would be if the freight TOCs were solely reliant on what they'd inherited from BR.