TimboM
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- 12 Apr 2016
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It's Load 7 currently, which is far from the limit of a single 73/9. A single 73/9 has hauled Load 8 and its dead mate over the HML a number of times without anyone really noticing - and that's 120 tonnes more.I must say I wouldn’t want a single 73 hauling load 8 over the HML on a regular basis- it‘s definitely at the very limit of a single 73’s capability. Needs must I suppose.
Good that we’re getting a 66 tonight!
Single 73/9s regularly work Load 6 over the WHL without any bother. A solo 73/9 once took a Load 8 + 2x 92s from Polmadie to Edinburgh, which is the equivalent of a Load 14 weight wise - and there's a 1 in 100 climb on that route out of Carstairs.
Anyhow, you get the picture...!
It lost 15 mins between Stirling (138L) and Dalwhinnie (153L) - noting 3 mins additional dwell time at Perth detraining the passengers for intermediate stops and 9.5 mins extra stopped at Dunkeld to allow 1B08 to pass, that's a couple of minutes lost up the hills (aka usual timing fluctuations) not nearly half an hour.1S25 dropped to 153 minutes late at Dalwhinnie, then made up time downhill by omitting stops. So the single 73 lost nearly half an hour going up the hills, then regained some of it by a swift gravity-assisted descent.
I wonder if it will have a 66 in multiple tonight out of Inverness, or whether they will get another 73 up and running by then?
The "gravity-assisted" descent from Dalwhinnie also includes the very steep climb to Slochd summit - hardly downhill! Slochd to Tomatin includes the climb to the summit and was done a minute or two faster than the timings.
The timing differences are more to do with the station stops (lengthened or omitted); missing out loopings (e.g. Tomatin, 8 mins saved) and the slack there is the timings anyway on the run into Inverness.