Diesel locomotives - British Railways Class 47: books (2/2)
Illustrated books on the history, types and technology of British Rail Class 47 diesel-electric locomotives (2/2).
Sulzer Type 4 Locomotives
NEW
The BR modernisation plan of 1955 envisaged the replacement of steam traction with diesel and electric locos by around 1975. Chief among the requirements was a loco more powerful than the 2,000-hp locos that had been produced before then. The Sulzer Company in Switzerland were able to provide an engine of 2,300 hp, which was used in the Class 44. An updated 2,500-hp version was used in classes 45 and 46.
There were 127 of these locos built at Crewe and Derby between 1960 and 1962, but they were overweight so a lighter co-design that would become Class 47 was developed using an uprated Sulzer engine producing 2,750 hp. A total of 512 of these were built between 1962 and 1966.
This book of mostly unpublished colour photographs by George Woods shows the locos in service from 1966 to 2019, working many different types of traffic throughout the BR system.
Author:
George Woods
Specs:
96 pages, 23.5 x 16.5 cm / 9.25 x 6.5 in, paperback
The Class 47 diesel locomotive was a mainstay of British Rail, with 512 built in the 1960s. As such, they were a daily sight throughout the UK, working express passenger and heavy freight trains as well as more mundane local passenger and wagon-load freight all over Britain. BR originally referred to these locomotives as Brush Type 4.
This book records 1982 to 1985 and many days spent trying to travel behind all 507 of the Class 47s that were still in traffic at that time. There were triumphs and disasters in the course of these travels, but you got to go the length and breadth of the country and the book contains a wide variety of colour photographs of Class 47s at work from Inverness to Penzance.
Author:
Ian McLean
Specs:
96 pages, 24 x 17 x 0.9 cm / 9 x 6.7 x 0.35 in, paperback
Covering many locations not seen in the first two volumes, this book is a continuation of Ian McLean's series on the popular Class 47 loco. Beginning in 1987 and continuing through the following year, it features many previously unpublished photographs of Class 47s in operation the length and breadth of the UK. The informative captions detail this period of great change, when the years of Corporate Blue livery gave way to a myriad of more colourful liveries.
