COP26 and the RCTS

RCTS member David Cross was involved with a three-day event at Mossend, timed to coincide with COP26 in nearby Glasgow. The event was showcasing alternative lower-carbon locomotive fuels, and was well attended by logistics specialists, COP26 delegates and rail industry trainees.

The event was staged at the Peter D. Stirling Mossend Railhead, near Bellshill in Lanarkshire.  This successful railhead will over the next two-to-three years become the Mossend International Railfreight Park - MIRP.  As part of COP26, the opportunity was taken to showcase progress with the alternative ways of powering locomotives and plant on the modern less-carbon railway.  It was staged between November 8th and 10th 2021, and very well attended by executives from the logistics sector. Several delegates from COP 26 also attended the event, with much of the third day dedicated to training and highlighting opportunities in the sector for young people of all backgrounds and gender.

The event included three naming ceremonies.  The locomotives named were as follows:

  1. GBRf Class 92 92020 named “Billy Stirling“ by his daughter Julie Corr. Billy Stirling  who died in 2019 was a pioneer of Scottish rail freight and father of the present owners in this family business, Peter D. Stirling Ltd.
  2. DB Cargo Class 90 90039 named “The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport“, which added to its ‘backbone of economy' livery it was named by Bill Reeve the head of Transport Scotland
  3. DRS repurposed class 68 68006 to run on cleaner Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel was named “Pride of the North” by Scottish Office Minister Iain Stewart (Con. Milton Keynes).

Other locos and plant on site at the exhibition included:

  • The electric Freightliner loco 90014 “Over the Rainbow” their celebrity loco
  • A DB Cargo celebrity class 66 66004 The Climate Hero loco - the first to be able to use HVO as a fuel
  • The Porterbrook hybrid EMU was there
  • A battery operated loading shovel was also present giving demonstrations, as illustrated.

David Cross is a Fellow of the Chartered of Logistics and Transport and acts as an advisor to the Peter D. Stirling Board on the Mossend International Railfreight Park project. He doubles up as the Society’s nameplate administrator.

Click the images (not the captions) in the gallery to open a slideshow.