A lifetime on Merseyside, the first diesel on Liverpool docks No. 32 was bought to replace a fireless locomotive destroyed in a German bombing raid. For 26 years the engine plied its trade around the dockyards of Liverpool, handling freight in and out of the docks’ railway system. From the coast to the backbone of…
A lifetime in Bristol docks The KWVR has three locomotives, one steam and two diesel that have served docks in England. No. 23 ‘Merlin’ saw service from 1951 at the Port of Bristol Authority before moving on. Bristol to Carnforth to Haworth Starting life on Bristol docks, D23 was sold into a new life in…
A short lived class of shunter Evaluated in the 1960s by British Railways, D2511 was quickly sold out of service as being considered unsuitable, as the nature of the national network changed. An ideal diesel shunter for light work D2511 had only a short life in BR service, and following an almost equally short life…
The most numerous class in BR service and in preservation The roots of the Class 08 can be traced back to LMS and it is quiet staggering that the development of a class of locomotive dating back to 1945 is still operational in numbers across today’s railway network and in preservation 75 years later. An…
Not one of the most successful prototypes of modernisation plans Not all prototypes submitted for consideration for mass production as British Railways looked to modernise in 1955. Many fell by the wayside and were unceremoniously sent for scrap after a short life. Changing circumstances leading to a successful life D0226 was not unsuccessful in its…
The answer to passenger transport in rural byways? Most rural branchlines had low passenger carrying figures and the answer seemed to come in the way of single car diesel railbuses – effectively a bus on rails. However these did not stem the tide of closures and both the railbuses and the branchlines they served disappeared…
The first production class of DMU introduced in West Yorkshire Built between 1958 and 1961, Class 108 Diesel Multiple Units were designed primarily for use on local and branch line work with sets operating on the Worth Valley branch right up to closure in the early 1960s. Split up but re-united on the KWVR Paired…
The second longest-lived class of First Generation multiple units First introduced in 1956, the last of the Class 101 multiple units was not withdrawn until 2003, 47 years after its introduction. Found almost everywhere, the use of the class was notably concentrated on services in the east of Scotland, West Midlands, North East and West…
History The Class 144 Diesel Multiple Unit was built in 1986 to operate local services in West Yorkshire. It was a joint venture between British Rail (who built the underframes in Derby) and Walter Alexander & Co (who built the bodies in Falkirk). Final assembly and fitting out were done in Derby by British Rail….
A member of arguably the most successful class of diesel Introduced in 1959, the Class 37 (British Railways Type 3) has outlasted almost all the other classes of mainline locomotives introduced as part of the BR modernisation plan of 1955. Members of the class, introduced over 5 years, members of the class can still be…
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