Dieselloks - British Rail (bis 1980): Bücher (1/2)

'I remember how excited I was when I saw my first diesel. I was waiting for the usual West Country Class to come through Hampden Park when a Class 33 arrived instead. It was the talk of all the trainspotters at the junior school.' Author Mick Hymans' excitement soon turned to resentment as diesels replaced his beloved steam engines.

They became rarer and rarer until in 1968 they disappeared altogether. Today the diesel engine enjoys a vast following in its own right. Preserved railways now run 'diesel days', steam-free days, which prove to be some of the most popular events in their calendars.

Covering the whole railway system from the north of Scotland and Wales right down to Cornwall, British Rail Diesels presents a wide collection of photographs illustrating a lost world on the nation's railways.

Identifies the major detail differences and livery variations that have appeared on all British Rail, ex-British Rail and privatized railway diesel and electric main line classes from 14 to 92.
The book provides a record of the main specifications of each class of locomotive, and details of variations, including: numbers, liveries, headcodes, headlights, wheel arrangements and bogies, brakes, names and - where appropriate - details of refurbishment programmes.

When British Railways (BR) initiated its Modernisation Plan in 1954 it had little experience of diesel locomotives thus initiated a Pilot Scheme to trial combinations of the three elements comprised within a locomotive - the engine, transmission and body.
The initial orders for 174 locomotives were placed in November 1955, but even before the first locomotive had been delivered, changes in Government policy led to bulk orders for most designs being trialled. It was only in 1968, once steam traction had been removed from the network, that BR was able to review the success, or otherwise, of its diesel fleet and decide which designs to withdraw from service.

The nascent preservation movement of the time was concerned to preserve steam locomotives whilst only buying diesel shunting locomotives for support roles on heritage lines and it wasn't until 1977 that any effort was made to preserve main line diesels.
Once it was confirmed that diesel locomotives had an appeal to enthusiasts, further purchases were made that resulted in examples of most of the BR diesel classes being represented within the preservation movement.

Fred Kerr's book details those classes which are represented on heritage lines, identifies where possible their location as of December 2016, shows many of them at work and shows what is involved in the restoration, maintenance and operation of diesel locomotives by the volunteers whose efforts are vital but rarely acknowledged.

British Railways' Modernisation Plan of the 1950s started, sensibly, with small orders for a variety of diesel locomotives, intended for different purposes, from a range of manufacturers including its own workshops at Swindon and Derby. This was the Pilot Scheme, and the idea was to analyse the reliability and performance of these 174 locomotives of fourteen types in service before placing larger orders.

Unfortunately, in its haste to eradicate steam traction, the railway then ordered large quantities of many of these designs before they had been thoroughly tested. This resulted in failures, early withdrawals and even the re-equipping of one large class with new engines at great expense and inconvenience. Some of the designs (e.g., some of the Class 20s and 26s), however, were ultimately successful and perpetuated, lasting in service until the 1990s in some cases.

The railway itself was not fully prepared for its expensive new toys, and the new diesels had to share facilities with steam locomotives - not an ideal environment for such temperamental machines.

This book showcases the work of numerous railway photographers, curated and annotated by Colin Alexander, covering the chequered career of the Pilot Scheme Diesels from the 1950s to their present-day life in preservation.
All the author's profits from the sale of this book will be divided equally between the group restoring D5705 to working order and the group creating the eleventh 'Baby Deltic', D5910, at Barrow Hill.