Image 88005 & 68015, 14.20 DIRFT-Mossend (4Z45, 9E), Hyde Roade bridge
88005 & 68015, 14.20 DIRFT-Mossend (4Z45, 9E), Hyde Roade bridge
88005 & 68015, 14.20 DIRFT-Mossend (4Z45, 9E), Hyde Roade bridge In glorious late-spring sunshine, which is unusual as it's a Bank Holiday weekend, 88005 'Minerva' leads 68015 through Roade cutting taken from Hyde Road bridge. The 4Z45 14.20 Daventry to Mossend 'Tesco Express', as it is dubbed, is on a lengthy diversion running south to London, then taking to heading north again on the ECML adding considerable mileage to its journey. Whilst the Class 88 is in DRS Compass livery the Class 68 is one of Chiltern's that are leased from DRS. These services have all had a diesel tucked in behind the leading electric so I wonder if there is part of the journey where the overhead power is switched off for engineering works...advice anybody? I have been advised by my spotting companion Mike that the Class 68 is in the consist due to power supply issues in the northeast. When this diversion ran last week the working timetable was much reduced so there was less of a demand on available power that could be supplied from the catenary but now that traffic has increased to around 75% the diesel is used to ease the train through the troublesome areas that Network Rail have yet to upgrade. Keywords: 88005 68015 14.20 DIRFT-Mossend 4Z45 Hyde Roade bridge DRS Direct Rail Services Tesco Express Minerva
88005 & 68015, 14.20 DIRFT-Mossend (4Z45, 9E), Hyde Roade bridge In glorious late-spring sunshine, which is unusual as it's a Bank Holiday weekend, 88005 'Minerva' leads 68015 through Roade cutting taken from Hyde Road bridge. The 4Z45 14.20 Daventry to Mossend 'Tesco Express', as it is dubbed, is on a lengthy diversion running south to London, then taking to heading north again on the ECML adding considerable mileage to its journey. Whilst the Class 88 is in DRS Compass livery the Class 68 is one of Chiltern's that are leased from DRS. These services have all had a diesel tucked in behind the leading electric so I wonder if there is part of the journey where the overhead power is switched off for engineering works...advice anybody? I have been advised by my spotting companion Mike that the Class 68 is in the consist due to power supply issues in the northeast. When this diversion ran last week the working timetable was much reduced so there was less of a demand on available power that could be supplied from the catenary but now that traffic has increased to around 75% the diesel is used to ease the train through the troublesome areas that Network Rail have yet to upgrade. Keywords: 88005 68015 14.20 DIRFT-Mossend 4Z45 Hyde Roade bridge DRS Direct Rail Services Tesco Express Minerva


In glorious late-spring sunshine, which is unusual as it's a

Bank Holiday weekend, 88005 'Minerva' leads 68015 through Roade cutting taken from Hyde Road bridge. The 4Z45 14.20 Daventry to Mossend 'Tesco Express', as it is dubbed, is on a lengthy diversion running south to London, then taking to heading north again on the ECML adding considerable mileage to its journey. Whilst the Class 88 is in DRS Compass livery the Class 68 is one of Chiltern's that are leased from DRS. These services have all had a diesel tucked in behind the leading electric so I wonder if there is part of the journey where the overhead power is switched off for engineering works...advice anybody?

I have been advised by my spotting companion Mike that the Class 68 is in the consist due to power supply issues in the northeast. When this diversion ran last week the working timetable was much reduced so there was less of a demand on available power that could be supplied from the catenary but now that traffic has increased to around 75% the diesel is used to ease the train through the troublesome areas that Network Rail have yet to upgrade.