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GUEST MOTIVE POWER 2011

  
 

 

    
 

The week before at Eastcombe however I had mentioned to my good friend Roger Webb that if he wanted to run any of his diesels on Toucan Park and perhaps take some pictures then he would be more than welcome. Imagine my pleasant surprise however when Roger and his son Robert approached me in St Margaret's Hall with a whole crate of locomotives - many of them made by Heljan with particularly smooth motors!

  
 

 

    
  For the first operational public exhibition of my mainline diesel layout Toucan Park at Cheltenham in October 2011 I had planned to run the quartet of Class 47s that I had used to test out the electrical systems and practice shunting movements.  As these were in variants of the 1988 three tone Railfreight grey I had proposed to date the presentation to 1990 when they would all - just about - have been running at the same time.

The week before at Eastcombe however I had mentioned to my good friend Roger Webb that if he wanted to run any of his diesels on Toucan Park and perhaps take some pictures then he would be more than welcome.  Imagine my pleasant surprise however when Roger and his son Robert approached me in St Margaret's Hall with a whole crate of locomotives - many of them made by Heljan with particularly smooth motors!

This unparalleled act of kindness immediately persuaded me to take Toucan Park back to its 1960s roots for the weekend and in this article to look into the history of some of the locomotives represented in the Webb family fleet.

  
 

 

    
 

While the English Electric Type 3s - as illustrated in the first picture of this article - have been explored in their own Railspot Reloaded feature, the Mainline model at the front left of the quartet above represented not only a diesel electric class that I grew up with but an individual locomotive that visited Gloucester Rail Day in 1990 and has happily since been preserved.

  
 

 

    
  While the English Electric Type 3s - as illustrated in the first picture of this article - have been explored in their own Railspot Reloaded feature, the Mainline model at the front left of the quartet above represented not only a diesel electric class that I grew up with but an individual locomotive that visited Gloucester Rail Day in 1990 and has happily continued in preservation.

D100 "Sherwood Forester" was based on the original "Peak" diesels of 1959.  Numbered D1-10, the "Peaks" weighed 133 tons apiece and featured 2 300 bhp Swiss built Sulzer powerplants.  These Derby built locomotives were the heaviest and most powerful diesel electric class of British Railways at the time and the strongest single-engined units in Western Europe.

Stylistically they combined the the snub-nosed body of Ivatt's 10000 / 10001 with the 1Co-Co1 underframe born of Bulleid's Southern Railway diesels.  The nose doors were more rounded however, and the bodyside grilles more tidily grouped.  This allowed British Transport Commission design consultant Jack Howe to create a simple yet highly sympathetic green livery for what was to become Class 44 under TOPS.

What was to become Class 45 emerged in 1960.  The new locomotives, numbered D11-137, shared the same basic shape and wheel arrangement as their BR designed forbears and were also known as "Peaks".  Of the Class 45s, only D11-49 were built at Derby with D50 to D137 being erected in Crewe Works. 

They retained Crompton Parkinson generators and traction motors but boasted a range of new features. The largest of these was the engine.  Based on experiments with charge-air cooling aboard D2 "Helvellyn", the Sulzer 12LD28B - built under licence by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow in Furness - could offer 2 500 horsepower.  On the nose ends, disc headcodes were replaced by four digit indicators which were either of the split box type or, later, grouped centrally.

  
 

 

    
  Crewe-built D100 was the first member of Class 45 to be named. Renumbered as 45 060, it moved from Cricklewood depot to Toton in the late 1970s and was withdrawn from there in December 1985. Preservation followed in 1987 and after a time at Matlock "Sherwood Forester" is now based at Barrow Hill near Chesterfield.  
 

 

    
 

In September 1961 the four month old 17A Derby based D100 became first member of Class 45 to be named. Renumbered as 45 060, it moved from Cricklewood depot to Toton in the late 1970s and was withdrawn from there in December 1985.  Preservation followed in 1987 and after a time at Matlock "Sherwood Forester" is now based at Barrow Hill near Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, the Class 45/1 sub class was created in 1973 when 50 "Peaks" were fitted with electric train heat instead of their original train heating boilers.  Similarly, D138 - 193 became Class 46 on renumbering due to the substitution of Brush electrical gear for Crompton Parkinson during construction at Derby works from October 1961 to January 1963.  This change of equipment was to pave the way for the Class 47 Co-Cos, the 2 750 bhp engine of which was proven aboard D57. 

The last "Peak" in BR revenue earning service was 45 106 which was withdrawn after catching fire in February 1989.

  
 

 

    
 

While Derby would not build a Type 4 diesel electric after D137 - later "The Cheshire Regiment" - was rolled out in December 1961, Crewe would be busy from 1964 to 1966 building the Brush designed Class 47, the Heljan model of which is seen below sporting a 6B64 headcode. These Type 4 Co-Cos - and D1200 "Falcon" seen below with the headcode 1A32 - have been discussed in depth elsewhere on this website, unlike the Golden Ochre liveried Class 31 pictured above and below.

  
 

 

    
  While Derby would not build a Type 4 diesel electric after D137 - later "The Cheshire Regiment" - was rolled out in December 1961, Crewe would be busy from 1964 to 1966 building the Brush designed Class 47, the Heljan model of which is seen below sporting a 6B64 headcode.  These Type 4 Co-Cos - and D1200 "Falcon" seen below with the headcode 1A32 - have been discussed in depth elsewhere on this website, unlike their older sibling the Golden Ochre liveried Class 31 D5579, modelled by Lima and pictured above and below ready to haul working 7J45.  
 

 

    
 

While Derby would not build a Type 4 diesel electric after D137 - later "The Cheshire Regiment" - was rolled out in December 1961, Crewe would be busy from 1964 to 1966 building the Brush designed Class 47, the Heljan model of which is seen below sporting a 6B64 headcode. These Type 4 Co-Cos - and D1200 "Falcon" seen below with the headcode 1A32 - have been discussed in depth elsewhere on this website, unlike the Golden Ochre liveried Class 31 pictured above and below.

  
 

 

    
  The first green-liveried Class 31 - D5500 - left the Brush works in Loughborough in October 1957.  It was only the second design of diesel to be produced under the Pilot Scheme of the British Transport Commission.  The first design - later to become Class 20 - was a single cab 1 000 horsepower freight machine but D5500 broke new ground with a cab at each end, a 1 250 horsepower engine and and a steam boiler for train heating.

Unfortunately its extra equipment made D5500 tip the scales at 104 tons - over 20 tons more than either the Class 20 or any of the subsequent designs in the Type 2 ( 1 000 to 1 475 bhp ) power bracket. To spread the weight of the locomotive, an A1A-A1A wheel arrangement was used rather than the the more common Bo-Bo.  These six wheeled bogies were as ruggedly built as the rest of the Brush machine however, so what it lost in power over weight it was to make up for in longevity.

The exterior of the class was styled by Wilkes and Ashmore of Horsham, and although this had to incorporate connecting gangways in each end it set the pace for the next three generations of Brush locomotive - including the Class 56 and Class 60.

Despite the success of the 20 Brush Pilot Scheme diesels - D5500 to D5519 - further modifications were needed before a 243 unit order could be built.  Externally a four-digit route indicator replaced the air horn grill above the windscreens, the marker discs were deleted, footholes were cut in the sealed-up gangway doors and the grab-rail provision was expanded.  Internally the electro-magnetic multiple-unit wiring was replaced by the more widespread "Blue Star" electro-pneumatic type and the engine was replaced.

The Pilot Scheme machines had Mirlees Bickerton and Day 12 cylinder powerplants of either 1 365 or 1 600 bhp but these were soon supplanted in the Sixties by English Electric engines of similar format, generating 1 470 horsepower more reliably.  Indeed, D5500 - D5519 were withdrawn by the end of the 1970s ( and D5500 preserved by the National Railway Museum ) having been identified as Class 31/0 under TOPS while later production models were split into sub classes 31/1 for non-passenger duties and 31/4 with electric train heat.  Examples of both Class 31/1 and 31/4 still operated on Network Rail in 2011

D5579 was outshopped from Loughborough as works number 178 in January 1960 and first allocated to 30A Stratford depot before being renumbered as 31 161 in December 1974 and again as 31 400 in May 1988.

The Golden Ochre was part of a short lived experiment to find the best livery for diesel and electric locomotives for maximum lineside visibility, other possible shades being the Electric Light Blue applied to fellow Class 31 D5578, Desert Sand on D1000 "Western Enterprise" when first delivered in 1961 and a different version of Golden Ochre on the brand new D1015 "Western Champion".

In the end Monastral Blue became the British Rail corporate colour and 31 400 was withdrawn in July 1991 and cut up in August 1993 at CF Booth of Rotherham.  However,since then the Golden Ochre livery of D5579 has been applied to D5830 preserved on the Great Central Railway.

  
 

 

    
 

The Golden Ochre was part of a short lived experiment to find the best livery for diesel and electric locomotives for maximum lineside visibility, other possible shades being the Electric Light Blue applied to fellow Class 31 D5578, Desert Sand on D1000 "Western Enterprise" when first delivered in 1961 and a different version of Golden Ochre on the brand new D1015 "Western Champion".

  
 

 

    
 

Looping back to the first line up in front of the shed door meanwhile, Classes 25 (right) and 35 (left, with headcode 1A45) provided some radically different approaches to diesel locomotive design and construction.

  
 

 

    
  Looping back to the first line up in front of the shed door meanwhile, Classes 25 (right) and 35 (left, with headcode 1A45) provided some radically different approaches to diesel locomotive design and construction.

Introduced in 1961, the Class 25 Bo-Bos were a 1 250 bhp development of the 1 160 bhp Class 24, introduced in 1958 as the diesel equivalent of a GWR "Hall" or LMS Black Five.

Eventually 151 class 24 locomotives were constructed but after the delivery of the first few units it became apparent that the speed ceiling of 75mph was unduly restrictive and the provision of a bit more power would be advantageous. In the course of normal development the power output of the Sulzer six-cylinder engine had been increased to give a continuous traction output of 1,250bhp at 750rpm by the introduction of charge air cooling and the first locomotives to use this became known as class 25 locomotives.

Apart from the engine, the most noticeable new feature on the Derby designed Class 25s was the 4 digit headcode box over each windscreen, replacing the earlier Class 24 array of marker discs.

Despite a tendency towards draughty cabs, the "Rats" (as trainspotters called them) had outlived several other designs in the Type 2 power bracket by the mid 1970s and were a common sight in Gloucestershire.

Also introduced in 1961, the 101 Class 35 Hymeks resulted from a three way industrial partnership - Coventry based Bristol Siddeley providing the 1 700 bhp 16 cylinder Maybach MD870 engine, Stone-Platt building the Mekydro transmission under licence (its HYdroMEChanical layout giving TOPS Class 35 its name) while the B-B Type 3s were erected at the Gorton, Manchester, works of Beyer-Peacock.

Not only were the Hymeks part of a non standard diesel hydraulic fleet but they were very different from the other Western Region diesel hydraulics.  Built up from sturdy underframes and mounted on Commonwealth bogies, they eschewed both the stressed skin styling of their Swindon stablemates and the stolid curving shapes produced by North British Locomotive.

Externally developed by instead by Wilkes and Ashmore of Horsham, the Hymeks were influenced by the Brush Type 2s of 1957 - such as D5579 - and also set the pace for Classes 47, 50, 58 and 60 as well as D1200 "Falcon" and HS4000 "Kestrel".

Good design always transcends colour schemes and Hymeks turned heads in both blue and green right up to their withdrawal in 1975. The Heljan model Class 35 presented the original livery with white window surrounds and a lime green lower body stripe against a greater mass of Brunswick.  It also had small yellow warning panels, although full yellow ends with the yellow extending into the cab window surrounds also produced a pleasant rakish effect.

  
 

  
  
 
 All other diesel electric and hydraulic designs notwithstanding however - even the Class 42 Warship in pre-warning panel plain green with the headcode 9B25 seen at the end of this feature - the Heljan model that I most enjoyed operating was the Class 14 numbered D9521: the same identity as the Swindon built diesel hydraulic 0-6-0 which had spent 2011 on the Dean Forest Railway. This had appropriate marker lights for each direction of travel and best of all a lovely controllable slow speed movement: dare I say even more responsive to the touch than D9539, the real Class 14 I drove on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway some years ago!


All other diesel electric and hydraulic designs notwithstanding however - even the Class 42 Warship in pre-warning panel plain green with the headcode 9B25 seen at the end of this feature - the Heljan model that I most enjoyed operating was the Class 14 numbered D9521: the same identity as the Swindon built diesel hydraulic 0-6-0 which had spent 2011 on the Dean Forest Railway.  This had appropriate marker lights for each direction of travel and best of all a lovely controllable slow speed movement: dare I say even more responsive to the touch than D9539, the real Class 14 I drove on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway some years ago!


The 1964 vintage "Teddy Bear" Class 14s were in fact the last standard gauge locomotives built in Swindon Works and several were based at Gloucester to work some of the last coal trains in the Forest of Dean. Designed to replace the GWR built steam pannier tank engines, they were soon made obsolete themselves by changes in railway operation towards block freight trains and the closure of rural branch lines. The last of the 56 strong class were withdrawn in 1969 but due to large numbers later serving with British Steel and the National Coal Board eight have been saved for preservation.



  The 1964 vintage  "Teddy Bear" Class 14s were in fact the last standard gauge locomotives built in Swindon Works and several were based at Gloucester to work some of the last coal trains in the Forest of Dean.  Designed to replace the GWR built steam pannier tank engines, they were soon made obsolete themselves by changes in railway operation towards block freight trains and the closure of rural branch lines.  The last of the 56 strong class were withdrawn in 1969 but due to large numbers later serving with British Steel and the National Coal Board eight have been saved for preservation.

At the end of the exhibition weekend, Roger was talking excitedly about acquiring one or more of the Class 22 B-B diesel hydraulics due to be unveiled at the forthcoming Warley show at Birmingham while Robert mentioned that he also had a 4mm scale 00 gauge "Western" that he could bring along to a future all-Western Region diesel hydraulic presentation on Toucan Park.

Only time will tell how this idea will turn out, but it sounds like a plan to me!

 

At the end of the exhibition weekend, Roger was talking excitedly about acquiring one or more of the Class 22 B-B diesel hydraulics due to be unveiled at the forthcoming Warley show at Birmingham while Robert mentioned that he also had a 4mm scale 00 gauge "Western" that he could bring along to a future all-Western Region diesel hydraulic presentation on Toucan Park.