Britain's 'nuclear' trains

摘要

Since the opening of Britain's first nuclear generating stations in the early-1960s, many thousands of flasks carrying spent uranium fuel rods have been delivered by rail to Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria . . . safely and efficiently. By the late-1980s, 11 railheads were in use (see table on p16), the majority of which are still in use today The traffic has kept a number of freight-only branches alive and, thanks to the traction policy of specialist haulier Direct Rail Sendees, has continued to provide work for heritage locomotives - notably Classes 20 and 37 - long after most of the UK's freight services have switched to Class 66 haulage.