| British Rail Class 41 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 D600 'Active' at Reading in 1959 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The British Rail Class 41 (earlier D600) diesel-hydraulic locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow during 1957 and 1958. Although they were withdrawn before TOPS was introduced, British Rail classified them as Class 41. [1] All were named after Royal Navy vessels, hence the nameplates each bore a subtitle "Warship Class".
The fleet was ordered by the British Transport Commission (BTC) as direct comparison with the British Rail Class 40, and were not actually wanted by the Western Region, who preferred their production fleet of D800 Warships. The D600s were the result of power politics within the BTC and the WR: the former was unwilling to sanction radical, stressed-skin lightweight construction locomotives at the time, while the latter was equally insistent that at least some of the new Type 4 power range locomotives on order be equipped with hydraulic transmission. They were much heavier than production Warships (almost 120 long tons (122 t ; 134 short tons ) compared to 80 long tons (81.3 t; 89.6 short tons)) and can be regarded as standard 1950s British design diesel locomotives that just happened to contain two lightweight, high-revving diesel engines coupled to hydraulic transmissions rather than one large, slow-revving diesel engine and electrical generator set. For this reason they were practically obsolete in design terms before they had left the drawing board.
Each locomotive was equipped with two MAN L12V18/21A diesel engines, each set to produce 1,000 hp (750 kW) at 1,445 rpm. This conservative rating was partly because NBL was very inexperienced at constructing diesel locomotives and partly because the Voith L306r three speed transmissions available at the time were not able to accept more. MAN had refined the engine design to produce 1,100 hp (820 kW) at around the time the D600 order was placed with NBL. The A1A-A1A wheel arrangement likewise came about because the BTC-mandated heavyweight construction required 6 axles to keep to a 20-ton axle loading, but NBL could not work out how to create a pivotless bogie and driving arrangement for C-C wheel arrangement. There were no C-C diesel-hydraulic locomotives to use as a template in mid-1955. The arrangement produced a continuous tractive effort of 39,600 lbf (176 kN) at 12.6 mph (20.3 km/h). Unusually for a British diesel locomotive, the D600s had spoked wheels. They could work in multiple with each other or up to two D6300 locomotives using the orange square coupling code.
D600 was officially completed on 25 November 1957 but was not handed over to BR until that December. Some trial runs with passenger coaches were done in south-west Scotland before D600 was allocated to Swindon in January 1958. A press run was arranged for 17 February 1958 when D600 hauled a 340-ton train between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads with stops at Reading, Didcot and Swindon.
D601 appeared in March 1958 and was also initially allocated to Swindon. By June 1958, both were based at Plymouth Laira and D602-D604 were then allocated there from new. The allocation of all five locomotives in July 1967 was Laira. [2]
Entering service between January 1958 and January 1959, the class initially worked on the London-Plymouth-Penzance route of the Western Region. On 16 June 1958 D601 hauled the Cornish Riviera Express non-stop from Paddington to Plymouth—the first diesel locomotive to do so. The maximum permitted loads for a D600 on such a run were 375 tons (381 tonnes) westbound (climbing the 1-in-37 of Dainton Bank, west of Newton Abbot, and up Hemerdon Bank's 1-in-42 in the opposite direction). The D600s continued on the fast Bristol/West of England trains until a dozen D800 Warships had been accepted into service. Later they were largely restricted to the line west of Plymouth, finally being withdrawn en bloc in December 1967. They were noted for being capable of over 90 mph (140 km/h) if worked well and did run at 100 mph (160 km/h) during their very early careers. D603 was damaged in an accident and was returned to NBL for repair in 1960: the cast light alloy cabs were replaced with sheet steel as the original NBL subcontractor for these items was not prepared to fabricate a small, one-off order.[ citation needed ] Swindon had a spare cab which was not used and survived long after the locos had been withdrawn before finally being sold for scrap.[ citation needed ]
From new the D600s wore standard BR green with a 4-inch (102 mm) light grey horizontal band between the cabs a few inches above the solebar. [3] By the time of withdrawal D600 was in all-over rail blue with full yellow ends, [3] D602 was blue with small yellow warning panels on each nose [3] and D601/3/4 were still green, albeit with yellow warning panels.
All five locomotives were withdrawn on 30 December 1967. By this time they were non-standard, even for hydraulic designs, although according to Laira staff reliability was not a problem as many have thought. BR had been ordered to reduce the number of mainline locomotive classes from 28 to 15 by 1974, primarily by eliminating types which were known to be unreliable, had high maintenance costs or were so few in number as to be non-standard. As the table below shows, there was a substantial gap between delivery of D601 and D602 because NBL had to equip itself to construct the engines and transmissions for these three locomotives. By then the first Swindon-built D800s (later Class 42) had entered service, these being the lightweight and more powerful diesel-hydraulic locomotives they had requested.
D600 and D601 were sold to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. D600 was broken up within a couple of years but D601 remained intact until 1980. Preservation for D601 was denied on the ground that it was too far gone to be restored to operational condition and was not considered to be worth preserving for display only. The last Class 41 unit was broken up at Barry Scrapyard, while D602-D604 were sold to Cashmore's of Newport who broke them up far sooner due to the former concentrating on easily processable wagons before locomotives. As the fleet only lasted eight years in revenue-earning service, D601 actually spent more time in the scrapyard than it did hauling trains on the main line.
No Class 41s were preserved, nor were any mainline North British diesel or electric products save for Class 84 25 kV AC electric locomotive No. 84001.
| Number | Name | Date to traffic | Date withdrawn | Cut up | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D600 | Active | 24 January 1958 | 30 December 1967 | March 1970 at Woodhams, Barry [4] | Date of order 16 November 1955 Maker's order no. L76. |
| D601 | Ark Royal | 28 March 1958 | 30 December 1967 | July 1980 at Woodhams, Barry [4] | |
| D602 | Bulldog | 3 November 1958 | 30 December 1967 | November 1968 at Cashmore's, Newport [3] | |
| D603 | Conquest | 21 November 1958 | 30 December 1967 | November 1968 at Cashmore's, Newport [3] | |
| D604 | Cossack | 20 January 1959 | 30 December 1967 | September 1968 at Cashmore's, Newport [3] | |
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(November 2012) |
A 00 gauge kit has been available from Silver Fox models and this was also available as a ready to run model (made to order but now discontinued). In 2019 Kernow Model Rail Centre [5] released its limited edition OO RTR models of the class - D600 BR blue full yellow end & headcode boxes, D601 BR Green with headcode discs & original louvres, D602 BR blue yellow warning panel & headcode boxes, D602 BR Green with small warning panel & headcode boxes, D603 BR Green with yellow warning panels & headcode discs and D604 BR Green with headcode discs. An additional run is planned for November 2020 availability comprising previously un-released number/livery variations including a weathered green example.
Worsley Works produces a body kit in 'N', 2 mm & 3 mm scales.
D0280 Falcon was a single prototype diesel-electric locomotive, built for British Railways in 1961. It was one of a series of three prototypes: Falcon, DP2 and Lion, eventually leading to the Class 47 and Class 50. A requirement was expressed by the BTC at a meeting on 15 January 1960 for new Type 4 designs of Co-Co arrangement, which would be lighter than the earlier 1Co-Co1 locomotives such as the Peak classes, produced under the Pilot Scheme.
The British Rail Class 52 is a class of 74 Type 4 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built for the Western Region of British Railways between 1961 and 1964. All were given two-word names, the first word being "Western" and thus the type became known as Westerns. They were also known as Wizzos and Thousands. The final Class 52 locomotives were withdrawn from service in 1977.
The British Rail Class 01 diesel locomotive is a short wheelbase 0-4-0 diesel-mechanical design intended for use in areas with tight curves and limited clearance.
The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways' Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was trip working movements between local yards and short-distance freight trains. The good all-around visibility from the cab and dual controls also made them capable of being used for shunting duties. The order was expanded from 26 to 56 in mid-1963, before work had started on the first order. They were numbered D9500-D9555.
The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel electric locomotive. A total of 200 were built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962. They were numbered D200-D399. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples were entering service they were already being replaced on some top-level duties by more powerful locomotives. As they were slowly relegated from express passenger uses, the type found work on secondary passenger and freight services where they worked for many years. The final locomotives ended regular service in 1985. The locomotives were commonly known as "Whistlers" because of the distinctive noise made by their turbochargers.
The British Rail Class 24 diesel locomotives, originally known as the Sulzer Type 2, were built from 1958 to 1961. One hundred and fifty-one were built at Derby, Crewe and Darlington, the first twenty of them as part of the British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan. This class was used as the basis for the development of the Class 25 locomotives.
The British Rail Class 50 is a class of diesel locomotives designed to haul express passenger trains at 100 mph (160 km/h). Built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968, the Class 50s were initially on a 10-year lease from English Electric Leasing, and were employed hauling express passenger trains on the then non-electrified section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Scotland. Initially numbered D400–D449 and known as English Electric Type 4s, the locomotives were purchased outright by British Rail (BR) at the end of the lease and became Class 50 in the TOPS renumbering of 1973.
The British Rail Class 28 diesel-electric locomotives, known variously as 'Metrovicks', 'Crossleys' or 'Co-Bos', were built under the Pilot Scheme for diesel locomotives as part of the British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan.
The British Rail Class 43 diesel-hydraulic locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) from 1960 to 1962. They were numbered D833–D865.
The British Rail Class 20, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, is a class of diesel-electric locomotive. In total, 228 locomotives in the class were built by English Electric between 1957 and 1968, the large number being in part because of the failure of other early designs in the same power range to provide reliable locomotives.
The British Rail Class 42 Warship diesel-hydraulic locomotives were introduced in 1958. It was apparent at that time that the largest centre of expertise on diesel-hydraulic locomotives was in West Germany. The Western Region of British Railways negotiated a licence with German manufacturers to scale down the German Federal Railway's "V200" design to suit the smaller loading gauge of the British network, and to allow British manufacturers to construct the new locomotives. The resultant design bears a close resemblance, both cosmetically and in the engineering employed, to the original V200 design. Warship locomotives were divided into two batches: those built at BR's Swindon works were numbered in the series D800-D832 and D866-D870, had a maximum tractive effort of 52,400 pounds-force (233,000 N) and eventually became British Rail Class 42. 33 others, D833–D865, were constructed by the North British Locomotive Company and became British Rail Class 43. They were allocated to Bristol Bath Road, Plymouth Laira, Newton Abbot and Old Oak Common.
The British Rail Class 33, also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton, is a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives, ordered in 1957 and built for the Southern Region of British Railways between 1960 and 1962.
The British Rail Class 35 is a class of mixed-traffic B-B diesel locomotive with hydraulic transmission. Because of their Mekydro-design hydraulic transmission units, the locomotives became known as the Hymeks. They were numbered D7000-D7100.
The British Rail Class 21 was a type of Type 2 diesel-electric locomotive built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow for British Rail in 1958–1960. They were numbered D6100-D6157. Thirty-eight of the locomotives were withdrawn by August 1968; the rest were rebuilt with bigger engines to become Class 29, although those locos only lasted until 1971.
The British Rail Class 22 or "Baby Warship" was a class of diesel-hydraulic locomotives designed for the Western Region of British Railways and built by the North British Locomotive Company. They were very similar in appearance to the Class 21 diesel-electrics, although shorter in length by almost five feet. The nickname Baby Warship related to the similarity in appearance to the British Rail Class D20/2 or Class 41 Warship Class. The Class 22s were numbered D6300-D6357.
The British Rail Class 46 is a class of diesel locomotive. They were built from 1961 to 1963 at British Railways' Derby Works and were initially numbered D138–D193. With the arrival of TOPS they were renumbered to Class 46. Along with the similar Class 44 and 45 locomotives, they became known as Peaks.
The British Rail Class 23 were a class of ten Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives built by the English Electric Company (EE) in 1959. The power unit used was a Napier Deltic T9-29 9-cylinder engine of 1,100 bhp (820 kW) driving an EE generator, which powered the four traction motors. They were numbered from D5900 to D5909.
British Rail's Class 27 comprised 69 diesel locomotives built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW) during 1961 and 1962. They were a development of the earlier Class 26; both were originally classified as the BRCW Type 2. The Class 27s were numbered D5347-D5415.
The British Rail Class 29 were a class of 20 diesel-electric Bo-Bo locomotives produced by the re-engining of the NBL Type 2 units. The units were designed for both passenger and freight trains.
Laira Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot is a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Plymouth, Devon, England. The depot is operated by Great Western Railway (GWR) and is where their fleet of Class 802 InterCity Express Trains and remaining Castle Class trains are overhauled. Other trains visit for daily servicing including some operated by CrossCountry.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
