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British Rail Departmental Locomotives
Before the TOPS Class 97 was issued to self-propelled locomotives in departmental (non-revenue earning) use, British Rail had such locomotives numbered in a variety of series, together with locomotives that were no longer self-propelled. Southern Region series SR departmental locomotives are the locomotives of departmental (non-revenue earning) stock originally introduced by the Southern Railway. Both departmental locomotives and carriages were numbered in a series commencing at 1S. The series was retained by the Southern Region of British Rail, but amended so that the numbers carried a 'DS' prefix instead of an 'S' suffix. This page lists the locomotives numbered in this series, including steam, diesel and electric locomotives. Eastern Region series In 1952, the Eastern Region of British Railways introduced its own series for departmental (non-revenue earning) vehicles, including locomotives. Numbers were allocated from 1 to 1000, with blocks of 100 numbers allocated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with about 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except High-speed rail in Russia, those in Russia, High-speed rail in Finland, Finland, High-speed rail in Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan, and some line sections in High-speed rail in Spain, Spain. The distance between the inside edges of the heads of the rails is defined to be 1,435 mm except in the United States, Canada, and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in Imperial and US customary measurement systems, U.S. customary/Imperial units, British Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches", which is equivalent to 1,435.1mm. History As railways developed and expa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Class 03
The British Rail Class 03 locomotive was, together with the similar , one of British Railways' most successful 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunters. 230 were built at Doncaster Works, Doncaster and Swindon Works, Swindon works between 1957 and 1962, and were numbered D2000–D2199 and D2370–D2399 (later 03004 to 03399). D2370 and D2371 were used as departmental locomotives and originally numbered 91 and 92 respectively. Overview The fleet of 230 locomotives entered service between December 1957 and June 1962. Like other shunters of this size, the Class 03 was built for light duties where a larger locomotive was not needed, especially for shunting at locomotive and carriage depots and as station pilots, or where larger or heavier locomotives could not be used. The reduction over time in the demand for shunting locomotives meant that they were progressively withdrawn from 1968 onwards, many being sold to private industry, including three that were exported to Belgium. However, some r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Class 84
The British Rail Class 84 was a 25 kV AC electric locomotive that operated on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) of the London Midland Region. The ten strong class was one of five prototype classes of electric locomotives built in the early stages of WCML electrification. Built between 1960 and 1961, the type was not a success, as they were beset by technical problems, and after several lengthy periods of storage, and unsuccessful attempts at resolving these problems, British Rail decided to withdraw the entire fleet between 1977 and 1980. History As part of the modernisation of the West Coast Main Line, which included electrification, 100 locomotives of five types were acquired from different manufacturers. Ten Class AL4 locomotives numbered E3036 - E3045 were built in 1960 by the North British Locomotive Company in Springburn, Glasgow, to a design by General Electric Company plc, GEC. Locomotive E3040 worked the inaugural AC electric-hauled train from Manchester Piccadilly sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Class 08
The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel–electric shunting locomotives built by British Railways (BR). As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, the class became a familiar sight at major stations and freight yards. Since their introduction in 1952, however, the nature of rail traffic in Britain has changed considerably. Freight trains are now mostly fixed rakes of wagons, and passenger trains are mostly multiple units or have driving van trailers, neither requiring the attention of a shunting locomotive. Consequently, a large proportion of the class has been withdrawn from mainline use and stored, scrapped, exported or sold to industrial or heritage railways. As of 2020, around 100 locomotives remained working on industrial sidings and on the main British railway network. On heritage railways, they have become particularly common, appearing on many of the preserved standard-gauge lines in Britain, with over 80 preserved, including the first one built. ''wn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Carriage And Wagon Numbering And Classification
A number of different numbering and classification schemes have been used for carriages and wagons on Britain's railways, and this page explains the principal systems. Carriages and wagons (either not self-propelled, or part of a multiple unit which has power units distributed throughout a semi-permanent formation of carriages) have frequently had similar arrangements for classification and numbering, so are considered together. There are also links to other pages that deal in greater depth with the particulars of individual types. Note on classification Carriage and wagon classification has never been quite the same as locomotive and multiple unit classification. For most railways, specific types were identified by their Diagram Number. This could simply be arranged by consecutive number, or there could be some greater organisation of numbers so that similar types were grouped together. However, carriages and wagons have rarely been referred to in general terms by their Diagram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway
Irchester is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire, two miles (3 km) south-east of Wellingborough and two miles south-west of Rushden. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was 5,706 and estimated in 2019 at 5,767. Little Irchester and Knuston also lie in the parish. Toponym Irchester was spelt ''Yranceaster'' in 973 and ''Irencestre'' in the 1086 Domesday Book. A. D. Mills wrote that name was formed from the Old English personal name ''Ira'' or ''*Yra'' with the suffix ''ceaster'' denoting a Roman station, but another theory is that ''Iren Ceastre'' was an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "iron fortress". In the 11th century, it was spelt ''Erncestre'' or ''Archester'' and had evolved to ''Erchester'' by the 12th century.Parishes: Ir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
0-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were connected by a single gear wheel, but from 1825 the wheels were usually connected with coupling rods to form a single driven set. The notation 0-4-0T indicates a tank locomotive of this wheel arrangement on which its water and fuel is carried on board the engine itself, rather than in an attached tender. In Britain, the Whyte notation of wheel arrangement was also often used for the classification of electric and diesel-electric locomotives with side-rod-coupled driving wheels. Under the UIC classification used in Europe and, in more recent years, in simplified form in the United States, a 0-4-0 is classified as B (German and Italian) if the axles are connected by side rods or gearing and 020 (French), independent of axle motoring. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruston (engine Builder)
Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. It is now a subsidiary of Siemens, its Diesel business went to MAN Energy Solutions that in 2025 still provides support for Ruston-engines. Background Proctor & Burton was established in 1840, operating as millwrights and engineers. It became Ruston, Proctor and Company in 1857 when Joseph Ruston joined them, acquiring limited liability status in 1899. From 1866 it built a number of four and six-coupled tank locomotives, one of which was sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1868 it built five 0-6-0 tank engines for the Great Eastern Railway to the design of Samuel Waite Johnson. Three of these were converted to crane tanks, two of which lasted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Fowler & Co
John Fowler & Co Engineers of Leathley Road, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England produced traction engines and ploughing implements and equipment, as well as railway equipment. Fowler also produced the Track Marshall tractor which was a Caterpillar track, tracked version of the Field Marshall. British Railways Engineering Department locomotives British Rail departmental locomotives#Engineering Department series, ED1 to ED7 were built by Fowler History John Fowler was an agricultural engineer and inventor who was born in Wiltshire in 1826. He worked on the Agricultural machinery, mechanisation of agriculture and was based in Leeds. He is credited with the invention of steam-driven ploughing engines. He died 4 December 1864, following a hunting accident. After his death, John Fowler & Co., was then continued by Robert Fowler and Robert Eddison. In 1886 the limited company of John Fowler & Co., (Leeds) Ltd., was formed. It merged with Marshall, Sons & Co., Ltd., of G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London, Midland And Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally used in historical circles. The LMS occasionally also used the initials LM&SR. For consistency, this article uses the initials LMS.) was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, the Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (which had previously merged with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922), several Scottish railway companies (including the Caledonian Railway), and numerous other, smaller ventures. Besides being the world's largest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motor Rail
Motor Rail was a British locomotive-building company, originally based in Lewes, Sussex, they moved in 1916 to Bedford. Loco manufacture ceased in 1987, and the business line sold to Alan Keef Ltd of Ross-on-Wye, who continue to provide spares and have built several locomotives to Motor Rail designs. History The origins of the Motor Rail company can be traced back to the patenting of a gearbox by John Dixon Abbott of Eastbourne in 1909 ("Change speed and reversing gearbox suitable for use in motor-trams", UK Patent 18314). In March 1911, he formed The Motor Rail & Tramcar Co Ltd, with his father John Abbott and brother Tom Dixon Abbott. The stated aim of the business was developing the gearbox and incorporating it in tramcars and railcars. At about the same time operations moved to Lewes, Sussex and rented space in the Phoenix Foundry of John Every, where they developed a narrow-gauge rail vehicle around the Dixon-Abbott gearbox using a twin cylinder water-cooled Dorman eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR Diesel Shunters
The Great Western Railway purchased two diesel shunters, and ordered a further seven immediately prior to Nationalisation, which were delivered to British Rail in 1948–49. The two shunters used by the GWR were numbered 1 and 2, while a series commencing at 501 was planned for the new locomotives ordered in the 1940s. British Rail renumbered both its inherited and new locomotives in a series commencing from 15100. 1 This locomotive was built by Fowler in 1933 and was used at Swindon Works. It was an 0-4-0 diesel mechanical shunter with a engine, diameter wheels and a wheelbase of . It was very similar to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway's (LMS) departmental locomotive number 2, which was built a couple of years later. It was withdrawn in 1940 and sold to the Ministry of Supply. 2 / 15100 This locomotive was built by Hawthorn Leslie in 1936 and allocated to Swindon. It was a 0-6-0 diesel electric shunter, very similar to the LMS 7069 class (later British Rail Class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
