Diesel Locomotives - British Rail Class 40 and 43: Illustrated History Books & Guides

Looking Back at Class 40 Locomotives

This book takes a closer look at these plucky and versatile locos in a full-colour photographic album. The images follow the Class 40 locomotives from their introduction in the late 1950s and throughout their service years, continuing to their final demise from everyday service. Inside we look at some of the variations that have appeared over the years and at many of the liveries they have borne.

A varied selection of locations and workings have been chosen from a vast library of colour photographs, which are accompanied by informative captions; they are sure to appeal to both the enthusiast and the modeller alike.

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Class 40 Locomotives

Mainly covering the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, this collection of images offers a fascinating survey of one of the iconic locomotives of twentieth-century Britain: the Class 40. A common sight in Scotland and the north of England in the latter part of the century, the Class 40 continues to capture the imagination of railway enthusiasts everywhere. Used to haul both heavy freight and passenger trains, this book captures a locomotive at the peak of its powers, with previously unpublished images showing Class 40s both at work and rest.

The vast majority of the photographs in this book were taken by the late Keith Holt. He was brought up in West Yorkshire and, like many youngsters at that time, developed an interest in railways as he cycled around the West Riding to visit places of interest. He always took photographs, including many of the iconic Class 40 locomotives.
This book serves as a fitting tribute to his longstanding interest in the railways, and reflects the varied work carried out by the Class 40.

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Class 43 Locomotives

The Class 43 locos were first constructed from 1975 onwards at Crewe Works. At the time, the design was revolutionary, and it would go on to become the most iconic of British Rail locomotives.
Their sleek design would become world famous and, when introduced, they were known as the High Speed Train, or HST, due to their top speed of 125 mph. 197 power cars were built, with the last into traffic in 1982.

When built they were all fitted with the distinctive Paxman Valenta engine, but they have all been replaced with either Paxman VP185, or MTU engines. They have operated over all the former British Rail regions, although they were scarce on the Southern.

The main operators currently are Great Western, East Midlands Trains, Virgin Trains East Coast, Grand Central and Cross Country Trains. The Great Western and East Coast trains already have their replacements on order, and it remains to be seen how long they will remain in service.

Just three power cars have been scrapped, and only then following high-profile accidents; a testament to how well the design would stand the test of time. "Class 43 Locomotives" pays tribute to this iconic class in a comprehensive series of photographs alongside detailed captions and annotation.

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English Electric Class 40 + 50 & 55 Diesel Locomotives

English Electric produced a wide variety of products ranging from the Lightning interceptor jet to everyday consumer electronics, but in the railway world the company is best known for its classic British Rail diesels built in the late 1950s and the 1960s.
The most powerful examples of these were the English Electric Type 4 (BR Class 40), the English Electric Type 4 Co-Co (BR Class 50) and most famously the English Electric Type 5 (BR Class 55 'Deltic').
In the post-steam age these large diesels have won a place in the hearts of a new generation of railway enthusiasts and today there is a thriving diesel preservation movement with many examples operating across the UK.

Martin Hart began photographing diesels in the late-1970s and since then has built up an exceptional portfolio of stunning railway images. A collection of the surviving examples of all three types of these photogenic English Electrics are shown in this publication both in fully working order as well as those still under long-term restoration.

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Type 4 Locomotives of British Rail

The six principal classes of diesel locomotive that once made up the `Type 4' classification - the 40, 44, 45, 46, 47 and 50 - were the survivors of a wider group that can trace its origins to the British Transport Commission's Modernisation Plan of 1955.
Designating a power output of between 2,000 and 3,000 hp, the type once contained representatives of several non-standard and one-off prototype builds, including the Warship and Western diesel-hydraulics, which between them originally numbered over 100 examples.

The scrapping, exporting or accidental writing off of the numerous Type 4 prototypes in the 1960s and early 1970s - with the exception of the ten Class 44 Peaks - left a cohort of over 900 diesel-electrics that became the real backbone of the BR fleet, including the most numerous single mainline class ever built in Britain, the `Brush 4' - or Class 47, as it later became.

This pictorial collection presents a wide-ranging selection of images of Type 4 locomotives from the late 1970s to the present day, photographed and compiled by Andrew Walker and John Walker with contributions from fellow photographer Vaughan Hellam.

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