The Prototype Page - Section 1

I felt this article would be useful , especially to newcomers to Railways (real & model) in explaining a little bit about the many classes of British Locomotive Traction.

There is a wealth of information on the Internet, especially by loco preservation groups and enthusiasts, that I felt it would be more appropriate to link to their sites rather than have long-winded explanations here.

The first section will be: -

BRITISH DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES.

I know many modellers favour them for their layouts and collections. There will be future sections on Steam, Electric Locos and Multiple units.

THE DIESELS

British diesels are grouped into types according to their ‘horsepower’:

Shunters – under 800 hp             ----       Classes 01 to14

Type 1    - 800 to 1000 hp         ----       Classes 15 to 20

Type 2    - 1000 to 1365 hp       ----       Classes 21 to 31

Type 3    - 1500 to 1750 hp       ----       Classes 33 to 37

Type 4    - 2000 to 2700 hp       ----       Classes 40 to 53

Type 5    - Over 3000 hp           ----       Classes 55 to 67

Many of the classes ordered as a result of the 1955 modernisation plan barely survived the end of the steam era in 1968. Part of this problem was due to significant numbers of certain classes , notably the Clayton Class 17s, being ordered in large numbers straight from the drawing board.

In hindsight, it could well have been that had Dr Beeching become chairman of BR a few years earlier, very few, if any of the Type 1s would’ve been built. Much of their work, which was mainly branch line and trip freights, disappeared directly as a result of his rationalisation policy of 1963 that saw the eventual closure of many branch and secondary routes.

For a neat summary of each class, I have found  Wikipedia - Class 01  to be very useful.

Please Note : The photo link is set up for Class 01 – for any other diesel loco class, just change the last 2 digits to the class you require.

Here is a summary of the types - Click on the picture for summary information from Wikipedia

Type – Shunters  ---- Classes 01 to 13

Without doubt, the most successful class in this group and the most widely produced was the 08 and its more powerful sister 09, many of which survive in service today. Many of the other classes disappeared early on as non-standard and apart from the 08/09s, only the 03,06,07 and the speciality 01 & 13 classes saw anything much of a career with BR.

This is a brief summary of the classes . The pictures form a link to the Wikipedia article for each class .

HP= Horsepower ;   No.= number originally built for BR or owner ;   last w/d is the year the last loco was taken out of service by BR ;    remain = No. of preserved examples ;    Recommended site is the website that I have found to provide the most information on the class, bearing in mind that some classes have disappeared altogether !!

HAVE FUN !!!!

Class	Year built	Picture	Builder	Transmission	HP	Weight tonnes	Wheel arr.	No.	Last w/d	Remain	Comments
01	1956-8		Andrew Barclay	Mechanical	153	25.5	0-4-0	5	1981	2	2 survived in BR service working on Holyhead Breakwater 01 001 & 002
02	1960-1		Yorkshire Engine	Hydraulic	170	28.6	0-4-0	20	1973	7	Restricted loading guage - 8 ft 6 in
03	1957-62		British Rail Swindon & Doncaster	Mechanical	204	29	0-6-0	230	1987	53	Withdrawn from BR in 1987 - a small number were later reinstated
04	1952-62		Drewry -subcontracted to Vulcan & R.Hawthorne	Mechanical	204	27.7 to 29.1	0-6-0	50	1971	Large number	Many were sold by BR when they standardised on the 03
05	1955-61		Hunslet Engine Co.	Mechanical	204	31.4	0-6-0	120	1985	2	05 001 was retained in the Isle of Wight
06	1958-60		Andrew Barclay	Mechanical	204	37.3	0-4-0	35	1986	1	Built for Scottish Region
07	1962		Ruston & Hornsby	Mechanical	275	43.6	0-6-0	14	1977	7	Southampton Docks
08							0-6-0
09							0-6-0
10							0-6-0
11							0-6-0
12
13							0-6-0 +0-6-0

 

Other good shunter links :    

   

: preservedshunters.co.uk	Covers over 800 locos with 3000 photos	: Shunter Spot	For working and preserved shunters and how to find them
: Southern E-Group	For locos which appeared on the Southern

Type 1 ----------------- Classes 14 to 20

As mentioned earlier, many of the classes of this type became surplus to requirement due to the Beeching plan. Only the Class 20 survived in service for a long period mainly because they could be run in multiple. This allowed them to be used on type 3 and 4 duties.

The Class 17 was a commercial howler – some 117 were built and all had been stored by 1968.

Class	Year built	Picture	Builder	Transmission	HP	Weight tonnes	Wheel arr.	No.	Last w/d	Remain	Comments
14	1964		BR Swindon	Hydraulic	650	50	0-6-0	56	1969	23	Most were sold into private use and consequently many have been preserved.A major foopah by BR as lines were being closed as they were being built
15
16
17
18
19
20

 

Type 2 ----------------- Classes 21 to 31