Pan Up
‘One can’t believe impossible things’ said Alice when she went through the looking glass. The Queen believed six impossible things before breakfast
• A UK railway locomotive has been delivered on time
• It was built in the UK
• It has a power assisted three-link coupler
• The customer is happy and wants some more
• It cost less than £1 million
• It works
1. ON TIME (THIS IS NOT A TYPO)
If you missed the March issue (what were you thinking?) you may be unaware that Clayton Equipment has built a 90-tonne hybrid loco in Burton-upon-Trent. I couldn’t say at the time, but the loco is for Tata Steel at Port Talbot, and when I visited the loco was in an array of bits around the workshop. Although I put the testing date in my diary, I wasn’t all that confident; then I phoned up on the day and there it was. As is well documented in these pages, absolutely every train being delivered in the UK is late – even the ones just being modified. This loco is on time. Wow – and they didn’t even have any help from the Department for Transport.
2. BRITISH BUILT
The loco was designed and built in Burton-upon-Trent, not part of a worldwide group, not owned by some finance house, a straightforward family-owned company with no…
