The West Coast Main Line is the principal main line linking London to
the West Midlands, the North West and Scotland. The majority of rail
freight on the line is container traffic. Some of this traffic is marine
containers from the southern ports of Southampton, Felixstowe and the
recently opened London Gateway to the North West and Scotland. In
addition there are domestic containers from Daventry to Scotland. The
route also sees other traffic on various sections including cars,
cement, china clay, coal, limestone, nuclear flasks, oil, steel and
timber, as well as Royal Mail trains linking London, Warrington and
Glasgow. On the route there are freight yards at Wembley, Crewe,
Warrington, Carlisle and Mossend. The route includes the well-known
climbs up to Shap Summit in Cumbria and Beattock Summit in the Southern
Uplands of Scotland. On this electrified route freight is hauled by a
mixture of diesel and electric locomotives from all the main rail
freight operators in Britain. Electric locomotives include Class 86s
from the 1960s as well as more modern Class 90s and 92s, through to the
recently built Class 88s. Diesels locomotives are mainly Class 66s
although some older British Rail-era diesels still operate on certain
workings.
