Class 67's on coal trains?

[Trev]

A mate of mine who works on King George Dock here in Hull tells me that he saw a Class 67 on the dock lines a few weeks ago. About the only traffic from KGD these days seems to be EWS coal trains, always hauled by 66's. Is it likely that a 67 would have been used on a coal train, or could it have been something to do with the track improvement work that is taking place on the dock lines?

[Dynamo]

I remember when EWS lost the Royal Mail contract and there was talk of using 67's on freight services, but I can't believe they'd use one to pull more than a few coal wagons at a time. The loco's have the same power as a 66, but they were built for speed not pulling heavy loads. Imagine a ferrari towing a large caravan.

[Trev]

Yeah, that's what I thought Dynamo. There is a lot of work being done on the track, so I guess that the 67 had something to do with that. Shame I missed seeing it though.

[LesG]

A class 67 can and is used on any traffic that requires a loco.

Although as has been stated they are built for speed and are rubbish on a freight.

This may also have been a charter train working that the loco was on.

Les

[hairyhandedfool]

67s were used in cornwall on china clay during mail days as a positioning move, often seeing a double-header. No real reason they can't see freight action now.