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Old 22nd August 2019, 14:53
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JEB-245584/2 JEB-245584/2 is offline  
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Trafford
Posts: 659
Let's see if I can help.

First off let me explain about the two main areas of locomotive "hire" and how the agreements work .
What you have to remember is most locomotives whether it be steam or diesel are not owned by the operating railway.
Option one is a maintenance agreement, what happens here is that the owning group sign over their loco to the said railway and they get to use it whenever they need it, however the owning group get no funds paid into their bank account during the period of the agreement. What does happen though is that all running repair costs are covered by the railway and at the end of the agreement which is usually ten years the railway will pay for a full overhaul. I must add these agreements are now quite rare.
The second option and the one we have 45337 on is a hire contract. At the end of each year you sit down with the railway and agree on how many days the loco will run the following year. For each day you run you get a fee. The railway does however pay for consumables such as fire bars and brake blocks, any other repairs are paid for by the owning group.

On to fuel, from what I know all fuel costs are lumped together and only sketchy records are kept on what loco uses what. A lot is down to the individual crews and how they drive. I've been on our footplate at the end of the day and seen our tender a ton of coal lighter than it was the previous day, even though its duties were identical on both days.

To summarise the overhaul cost of fuel might differ slightly but if you said that to a railways accountant they would come back to you with the answer that your fare is also paying for the upkeep of the carriages and the track, not just the locomotive on the front!

Cheers John
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