Land Recovery collects and moves Class 60s

A start has been made on collecting the 12 Class 60s acquired by Land Recovery from DB Cargo in January.

The locomotives are being taken to a storage site at Radway Green, near the company’s Alsager base. Some could move for component recovery and disposal.

They are being transported by Reid Freight on modular trailers. They are collected at Toton and taken to a layby in the central reservation of the A50 near Uttoxeter for staging, before being escorted by the police to Cheshire.

The first to be collected was 60032 on June 16, followed by 60048 on June 19, 60093 on June 20, and 60078 on June 21 (with the latter spending the weekend in Uttoxeter).

Next to move was 60089 on June 26, with 60052 expected to be the next in line for collection. This will leave 60012/036/037/068/077/084 to move, of which 60012/068/084 were the next likely to be prepared for transit.

RAIL asked Land Recovery what the implications of its takeover by Aggregates Industries are for its proposed rail freight operations (RAIL 1012).

As this issue of RAIL went to press, there has been no response from the company, nor to the question about the possibility of Land Recovery looking to dispose of (some of) its initial purchases and source better quality Class 60s from more recent tender lists - although the movement of the dozen locomotives suggests this is not likely to happen.

RAIL understands the company has been sounding out possible companies to overhaul some or all of the locomotives it has bought