Filthy freight wagons

[HSTEd]

Who knows - if you spent a small amount of cash on keeping things looking reasonably clean it might translate into another lucrative new business contract.

Very few rail freight contracts are at all "lucrative". And of those that are, almost all will be the kind of material where cleaniness is inconsequential (biomass, coal etc) or are containers where there is little to keep clean in the first place.

The industry only survives due to huge indirect subsidies via Network Rail.

 

[twpsaesneg]

The Silver Bullet clay trains were a well know sight in the West and were a sight to see. They were kept in this condition for many years
View attachment 140561
Photo:Arthur Stopow.

Now for many years they’ve looked like this
View attachment 140562
Photo:Adrian Nicholls.

In fairness there are many pictures online from the 1990s which show them in similarly grubby condition. In fact I remember when they came in various pieces in modelling magazines about how to get the requisite grubbied up chrome colour on various scratch built models

I think we sometimes have very rose-tinted glasses about what it was like in the latter days of British Rail. I don't remember freight trains being well known for their sparkling appearance!

It's entirely up to the wagon owner or lessor whether they want to spend the time cleaning them; I guess someone has done the sums to work out if the money spent on making things shiny outweighs the additional business that shiny trains may bring.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I think we sometimes have very rose-tinted glasses about what it was like in the latter days of British Rail. I don't remember freight trains being well known for their sparkling appearance!

Not so much rose tinted glasses ,but an example of lessening quality.

 

[furnessvale]

Very few rail freight contracts are at all "lucrative". And of those that are, almost all will be the kind of material where cleaniness is inconsequential (biomass, coal etc) or are containers where there is little to keep clean in the first place.

The industry only survives due to huge indirect subsidies via Network Rail.

Once again you bring up subsidy to railfreight but forget the MASSIVE subsidy road haulage receives from the private motorist.

 

[robert thomas]

Once again you bring up subsidy to railfreight but forget the MASSIVE subsidy road haulage receives from the private motorist.

from the taxpayer rather than the private motorist

 

[HSTEd]

Once again you bring up subsidy to railfreight but forget the MASSIVE subsidy road haulage receives from the private motorist.

That doesn't change the reality that there is very little that is "lucrative" for the operator about these operations.
The extra staff required to repeatedly wash wagons is going to eat into margins like crazy.

Labour intensive operations like that are simply not economic any longer.

 

[furnessvale]

That doesn't change the reality that there is very little that is "lucrative" for the operator about these operations.
The extra staff required to repeatedly wash wagons is going to eat into margins like crazy.

Labour intensive operations like that are simply not economic any longer.

Happy to accept what you say, provided subsidy is removed from BOTH modes.

As for labour intensive, I think one 2000 tonnes train trumps the alternative 50 HGVs any day.

 

[dk1]

When I worked for the BTP years ago we had a very effective incentive against vandalism. We got prison sentences imposed on a number of graffiti "artists". The problem virtually stopped in my area.

Sadly, the powers that be decided the specialist squad I created and ran was no longer required and disbanded it. The problem has now returned with a vengeance.

What a pity I absolutely despise graffiti.

 

[90019]

The state of many wagons is absolutely disgraceful. Most road hauliers keep their vehicles extremely clean, I recently worked on a new corporate identity scheme for a major road-based logistics company and they jet-wash their vehicles every day, and many vehicles are polished by their drivers when they have time to buff the trucks up to a gleaming mirror finish

The difference with HGVs is that you have, in many cases, a single driver looking after a unit.
Plus, since they're only pulling one trailer at a time, it's a lot easier to keep on top of keeping them clean and presentable.

 

[AndrewE]

A lot of science and investment has gone into cleaning passenger rolling stock over the years, and if trains doen't currently go through washing plants frequently enough then that must be down to either unit/diagram disruptions or stock being too intensively diagrammed.

As for freight vehicles, I'm sure that some companies like Tesco will want their stuff to be clean all the time, but for minimum-price bulk haulage, remember the WW2 story:
A German general was looking at a captured Soviet tank and he said something like "Look at that poor finish, they will never win the war!"
The real point was thet the Soviets did win the war, because they didn't waste effort machining or polishing parts which didn't matter if you weren't on parade.