Class 18 shunters

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The class 08 shunting locomotive has been around as long as I can remember, though modern rail working practise has thinned them out to be a quite a rare sight now. They tend to have been overlooked - just being "there". And so I had overlooked a replacement being trialled - from Railadvent

GB^▸ (Great Britain) Railfreight takes delivery of Class 18 locomotive ahead of trials

A Class 18 locomotive has been delivered to Whitemoor ahead of GB Railfreight carrying out a three-month trial with Beacon Rail Leasing.

The Class 18 hybrid+ locomotive was delivered on the 1st February and will be used as a shunting locomotive as part of the latest expansion to GBRf’s locomotive fleet.

GBRf is looking towards the future of its assets, and these shunting locomotives will allow for low-noise and zero-emission shunting around sidings, yards and depots.

[stuving]

There are already some in service with Tata Steel and at Sellafield. There are loads of pictures here - of real ones, though the piece is about models! Doesn't it look just like a big box of lead-acid batteries (plus another with with a diesel engine in it) on a flat wagon?