Being from the US, I find it impressive that the locomotives are kept in such good condition aesthetically yet the obviously tired prime movers are allowed belch all that white and blue smoke without an overhaul in sight. Here it's the other way around - locomotives look like they have been drug from the scrap heap, but are not allowed to smoke continuously aside from some smaller lines still running a few remaining Alcos or similar units unfit for class 1 service.
Steam is romantic so diesel fumes are... ugh! Good, all-electric is appreciated then. British Rail is all charming. American Rail is just... brute force. Thanks SK from USA.
Great video but somewhat disturbing when you see modern class 70 locos smoking. I accept that older heritage diesels almost smoke by default but when you consider the pressures on road transport to ever reduce emissions or pay penalties it is unforgivable in my book. Those who have delayed electrification schemes should be made to watch this film. While it is exceptional we are effectively allowing these potentially air polluting machines in or near our city centres. Don't get me wrong I am a devoted enthusiast and love Steam and diesel especially the 37s and the Deltics. I presume Network Rail or ORR have a watching brief to ensure the operating companies keep pollution to a minimum. Please don't let this oldfart's rants detract from a splendid and much enjoyed 57 minutes or so. I am now reaching for my asthma inhaler lol.
In terms of locomotives in regular use it’s only the class 70s that smoke up the place, the others are a bit Smokey and our EMD locomotives tend to be rather clean.
Relatively speaking everyday locomotives on the whole don't smoke this bad, 66's don't clagg that much but the ones that that are still in regular use are very few and far between, maybe 3% of locomotive power in the UK, most of the preserved locos engines are for the want of better words, knackered, don't be fooled buy people saying " oh the smoke builds up in the headers when on idle" (apart from the napier unit) or " its burning the carbon off inside the headers", they are worn out after zillions of miles of service, the class 70 @ 30:00 is fooked as well, that's not normal, compare it to the one @ 31:30, that's normal black clagg, in good condition.
Is it just me or do those class 70s follow GEs everywhere and smoke it up quite a bit compared to some of your other more modern locos? Of course they've got a way to go to match an Alco. You (un)lucky Brits missed those. In New South Wales we called it the "Haze of efficiency", as a kid I called them "Steam-diesels". In India they put them on youtube with some seriously gnarly smoke, and in California, they've apparently been banned altogether for several decades, so smoky they were. If you don't believe me, watch this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DzQ4DJ6sH68.html. BTW love those old diesel hydraulics. The deltics certainly sound like a loco not to be messed with. too. Certainly an innovative and effective iron horse, but I do wonder how many decibels they'd put out passing a platform flat out at 125mph!
Much as I love watching Heritage locomotives, you can't deny with the Governments drive towards ultra low carbon emissions these rail icons days are well and truly numbered 😞
Ironically, much of the clag on here is as a result of an EU regulation stipulating an almost unattainable emission requirement for new loco's, but heritage equipment is exempt from this - hence the explosion of historic loco's back onto the network. Great for spotters, not so great for the environment, but as we're sharing a planetary atmosphere with countries who really don't give two hoots about their output, and whilst the actual net effect of these loco's - which are shown on here in a 'worst case/heavy load' scenario (and spend around 95% of their operations at minimal/idle throttle) isn't a good thing, it would be a shame if they disappear and some basic remedial work on the exhaust would be my personal preference...
Most of the heritage stuff is knackered, anything blowing blue from the exhaust is worn out (deltic excluded) , such as that class 56 for example seen @ 24:00. Heritage diesels belching Black is normal, blue/white/grey is worn out. 33:50 is normal it's just old technology belching black smoke same at 8:20 but 24:00 is fooked.
