Not 60039 ‘Sandwich’ of course, but the D.B.S. class 60 diesel locomotive sporting the same number.
By Steve Philpott
This article is a pictorial record of the removal by road of a stricken D.B.S. class 60 diesel locomotive that had come to grief in the Grantham area a couple of weeks before the recovery operation shown in this sequence. The problem had been due to an alleged axle bearing collapse on the main line north of the town. It was found that the damage was so severe that the locomotive could not be moved under its own power. A wheel skate was therefore required to prevent any further major damage to both locomotive and permanent way, necessitating the need for it to be dragged into the up yard at Grantham for further assessment and eventual removal by road to Toton TMD.
The initial incident took place around the 18-19th February 2013 with the class 60 not being moved until the 5th March. As can be seen in the following pictures, Allely’s Heavy Haulage were the contractors used to take the locomotive away with the mobile D.B.S. engineers in attendance to oversee the operation. This operation effectively took most of the day with the final part being undertaken at around 16.30. Due to the height restrictions in place for the railway bridges in Grantham, the only viable route to get the class 60 back to Toton was via Spittlegate Hill. The rest of the journey took 60039 onto the A1 southbound, through Colsterworth and then the A47 towards Leicester and eventually the northbound M1 to Sandiacre, Notts.
Here are the photographs I took showing the stranded loco in the up yard and later the subsequent removal from Grantham.
