I often have wondered what a diesel electric or a electric loco costs from a capital point of view. There are a number of new steam builds going on at the moment for, say, £2-3M (same cost as a non UK built electric loco?) and surely there comes a point where burning some local ‘eco’ fuel (maybe sewage gas for example) plus the increased labour for maintenance is going to be cheaper than importing both electric loco‘s and fuel?

UK balance of payments is dire, yet we seem content is acquiring everything from outside the UK. According to the IMF the UK net worth in 2020 was -$3225678 million… note the minus sign. It sounds dire. (data.imf.org/regula.asps. 

Although I am electrical engineer not an accountant!

I often have wondered what a diesel electric or a electric loco costs from a capital point of view. There are a number of new steam builds going on at the moment for, say, £2-3M (same cost as a non UK built electric loco?) and surely there comes a point where burning some local ‘eco’ fuel (maybe sewage gas for example) plus the increased labour for maintenance is going to be cheaper than importing both electric loco‘s and fuel?

UK balance of payments is dire, yet we seem content is acquiring everything from outside the UK. According to the IMF the UK net worth in 2020 was -$3225678 million… note the minus sign. It sounds dire. (data.imf.org/regula.asps. 

Although I am electrical engineer not an accountant!