Yes, it’s certainly true – hybrid traction is getting everywhere now!
The latest news is that Snowdon Mountain Railway’s owners, Heritage Great Britain, have decided to replace their diesel locomotives with two diesel hybrids specially made for them by Clayton Equipment Ltd to run on the UK’s only rack and pinion railway.
The railway will be saving fuel as well as noise and pollution with the new diesel engines which comply to Euro 5 standards and are more efficient than locomotives they are replacing. They will also be able to recover much of the energy used to go uphill by using the electric motors to act as brakes as they descend, recharging the batteries at the same time. This will substantially reduce the railway’s carbon dioxide emissions while enabling more passengers to be carried.
For railway locomotives with the space and the sturdiness to carry lead-acid batteries, diesel hybrids are clearly the way to go if high speed is not a requirement.