BR Diesels And Gas Turbine Prototypes

Only one main line diesel locomotive existed at Nationalisation on 1st January 1948, the LMS 1,600hp diesel-electric 10000 which was only completed in December 1947. Trials with diesel shunting locomotives began in the 1930s, and the first wide-scale use was on the LMS which handed 40 production diesel-electric examples over to the LMR at nationalisation. The other three companies had followed suit and a handful of broadly similar designs were operating on the other Regions by the early 1950s. English Electric supplied the engines and electrical equipment for all of these with its well-proven ‘6KT’ engine adopted as standard. When British Railways announced its Modernisation Plan in December 1954 the section on diesel traction said “Hitherto, the diesel main-line locomotives on British Railways have comprised a handful of prototypes, and various ‘teething troubles’ have been experienced. Much useful experience has, however, been gained and, in view of the high degree of reliability attained in other countries where diesel traction has been widely adopted, there is no reason to doubt that equally satisfactory results will be realised here, once the decision has been taken to make diesel traction a standard feature’. Thus was the plan for a range of diesel locomotives from Type 1s of 800hp to 2,000hp Type 4s introduced on the back of the limited experience gained with only seven prototype diesels. The initial orders under the Pilot Scheme included ten English Electric Type 4s based closely on the third SR locomotive 10203 and ten Type 1s which were essentially the same as the North British 10800. There was also a brief exploration of the use of Gas Turbines for possible development into modern traction and this book covers the three prototypes that were being developed in the UK.