A switcher locomotive, shunter locomotive, or shifter locomotive is a locomotive used for maneuvering railway vehicles over short distances. Switchers do not usually move trains over long distances. Instead, they typically assemble trains in order for another locomotive to take over. Switchers often operate in a railyard or make short transfer runs. They may serve as the primary motive power on short branch lines or switching and terminal railroads.
The British Rail Class 03 locomotive was, together with the similar Class 04, one of British Railways' most successful 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunters. 230 were built at Doncaster and Swindon works between 1957 and 1962, and were numbered D2000–D2199 and D2370–D2399. D2370 and D2371 were used as departmental locomotives and originally numbered 91 and 92 respectively.
The British Rail Class 05 is a class of 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunters built by Hunslet Engine Company from 1955 to 1961. They were used on the Eastern and Scottish Regions of British Railways. The first two batches were delivered as 11136-11143 and 11161-11176. Subsequent locomotives were delivered, new, as D2574-D2618.
The British Rail Class 07 diesel locomotive is an off-centre cab 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunter type built by Ruston & Hornsby in 1962 for the Southern Region of British Railways. The 14 members of the class were primarily used at Southampton Docks and later also at Eastleigh Works.
The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotives built by British Railways (BR). As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, the class became a familiar sight at major stations and freight yards. Since their introduction in 1952, however, the nature of rail traffic in Britain has changed considerably. Freight trains are now mostly fixed rakes of wagons, and passenger trains are mostly multiple units or have Driving Van Trailers, neither requiring the attention of a shunting locomotive. Consequently, a large proportion of the class has been withdrawn from mainline use and stored, scrapped, exported or sold to industrial or heritage railways.
The British Rail Class 11 was applied to a batch of diesel shunting locomotives built from April 1945 to December 1952, based on a similar earlier batch built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) between 1934 and 1936.
The British Rail Class 12 is a diesel locomotive built primarily for shunting duties around London.
The British Railways Class D3/7 is a class of 0-6-0 diesel electric shunting locomotives built as LMS Nos. 7080–7119. The class were built from May 1939 through to July 1942 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at their Derby Works using a diesel electric transmission supplied by English Electric.
A road switcher locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railcars in mainline service and shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar types have been used elsewhere.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) pioneered the use of diesel shunting locomotives in Great Britain. The variety of experimental and production diesel shunters produced by the LMS is summarised below.
In rail transport, a cow-calf is a set of diesel switcher locomotives. The set usually is a pair; some three-unit sets were built, but this was rare. A cow is equipped with a cab; a calf is not. The two are coupled together and equipped with multiple unit train control so that both locomotives can be operated from the single cab.
Tinsley was a railway marshalling yard near Tinsley in Sheffield, England, used to separate railway wagons from incoming trains and add them to new trains. It was sited immediately west of the M1 motorway, about one mile north of the Catcliffe junction. It was opened in 1965, as a part of a major plan to rationalise all aspects of the rail services in the Sheffield area; it closed in stages from 1985, with the run-down of rail freight in Britain. It was also the site of Tinsley Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD), which was closed in 1998; at its peak, 200 locomotives were allocated to this depot.
British Rail class D3/12 was a class of three experimental diesel-electric shunting locomotives designed by Richard Maunsell of the Southern Railway in 1937. They quickly proved their effectiveness, but the Second World War prevented more of them being built. Oliver Bulleid based the British Rail Class 12 on them in 1949.
British Rail Class D3/10 was a single experimental diesel-electric shunter locomotive commissioned by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in England, and later taken over by British Railways.
The New Zealand DA class locomotive were a class of diesel-electric mainline locomotives operated on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. Consisting of 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to ever operate in New Zealand, with five more than the AB class steam locomotive.
The New Zealand DSG class is a type of diesel-electric shunting locomotive used in New Zealand. The class shares a central cab design with the smaller DSC class shunting locomotive, and is twin-engined. Meanwhile, the very similarly designed, single-engined DSJ class, has a cab that is offset from the centre.
The New Zealand DSC class locomotive is a heavy shunting locomotive used throughout New Zealand. The class was built in seven batches, the first 18 locomotives being built by British Thomson-Houston of the United Kingdom, with the further 52 locomotives being built by New Zealand Railways (NZR).
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0+0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of an articulated locomotive with two separate swivelling engine units, each unit with no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. The arrangement is effectively two 0-6-0 locomotives operating back-to-back and was used on Garratt, Double Fairlie, Meyer and Kitson-Meyer articulated locomotives. A similar arrangement exists for Mallet steam locomotives on which only the front engine unit swivels, but these are referred to as 0-6-6-0.
The 79 class is a diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric, Erie, United States for the Department of Railways New South Wales in 1943.
The DL class is a class of diesel locomotives built by Queensland Railways, Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and Walkers Limited for Queensland Railways between 1939 and 1961.
