Got to be the Class 45 and 46 peaks or the Diesel hydraulic Westerns class 52,s.

Power, noise and great looking machines that did the job asked of them.

Then for electrics the 81 to 85 series all look similar, but made electric traction fast and quiet for the drivers and travellers, and ousted diesel and steam off a lot of routes.

Deltic / Class 55..best name and best looking diesel.

Deltic was an EE design with a front bonnet, like the 37 and DP1, and a few others for export. Basicly to protect the driver in an impact.

I’ve always liked Class 37s, as I grew up listening to them idle late at night.

I think either a 37 or 47, because that’s what I used to see the most as a kid.

I rather like the retro look of this one (SNCF cc 7100), still a few around in the 90’s and a four or five in the noughties but all retired from French rail network now:

Despite its rather non-aero look, it set a world record of 155mph in the 50’s. 😯

This exact one was one of my ‘local’ locos when I lived in the Pyrenees; love the seemingly pointless inverted slope windscreen.

I always liked Class 56’s due to their rarity value on our local lines.

Like the 08 shunter but nearer 60 than 40!

Class 47 is the daddy of them all

Don’t know a lot about loco’s except I like them. Probly the Deltic for me (Plus I like Chris Rea & he had an album called ‘Deltics’)
Mind you I love the sound of a HST 125 as it accelerates out of Durham. (do they use Paxman diesels in them?)
I love the sound of any big diesel loco actually!

40’s, original & best.

And again, lying in bed as a kid listening to them whistle through the night.

Soft spot for Peak’s, Westerns, Hymeks and Warships, but there’s just something about the 40’s.

Got a close up of one of these…

img019 by jimmyg352, on Flickr

& again…

img020 by jimmyg352, on Flickr

Even went in the cab, Guy I stayed with was a conductor (Looked after the load) for CP Rail in Medicine Hat. Fookin trains were sometimes 1.5 miles long!!

Firstly I feel I have to duty to do this

booooooooooooooooooo

I am the son of a steam enthusiast (fanatic) holidays based by railways, the great central staff being my extended family etc, I loved it.

but this

lodious – Member

Deltic / Class 55..best name and best looking diesel.

made me smile. Dad had a real beaut model on his set at home, was perfect and by all accounts quite valuable.
He sold it to get me out of the shit and died before I could get another one.

So thanks for the memories with your nerdy post 😉

need to clean this post up a bit.

esselgruntfuttock helped build the last few engines (Valenta V12) for the hst125 when i was a apprentice at Paxman in Colchester also used to overhaul the marine version of the deltics(used on minesweepers)a beast of an engine seen one chuck a rod and piston thro the crankcase and still keep running on our test beds with very little drop in output power 😯

Essexgruntfuttock I agree it has to be the Deltic, I think I saw something on tv a while ago bemoaning their lack of reliability.I also think they said the engines, as opposed to the locomotives, were called Deltic, built by Napier and were originally built for use in minesweepers. I could of course be wrong 😯

The HST engines I believe are V12 Paxman-Valenta

esselgruntfuttock helped build the last few engines (Valenta V12) for the hst125 when i was a apprentice at Paxman in Colchester also used to overhaul the marine version of the deltics(used on minesweepers)a beast of an engine seen one chuck a rod and piston thro the crankcase and still keep running on our test beds with very little drop in output power
Thats crackers that is!

Still like me steam as well though, remember seeing Mallard, Silver Link & The Flying Scotsman blasting through Durham station when I was a little kid. Happy days.

As a slight aside, I live close to the site of The Great train Robbery, the bridge plate (why the hell do they have those) with its number keeps getting nicked lol

Diesel Day by ian lepp, on Flickr

A pic of some diesels for you lot

That could almost be the Island of Sodor after a hostile take over by Diesels… wheres the Fat Controller?

Last 40 years? Its all faceless stuff and HST’s.

Love Deltic’s, we use to go and see (also hear, as it ‘whistled’) the Hull Pullman as kids, 0719 weekdays – remembering the time is seriously nerdy 🙂

And according to this, that’s pre-1978.

http://www.napier-chronicles.co.uk/hull_executive.htm

They became more unreliable as their maintenance was ‘reduced’ – I believe the engines were ‘leased’; guess someone else will know more?

always liked the intercity 125

I give you the Crocodile, Swiss eccentricity:

I also like Cromptons. Great burbling noise when they pull away. My Dad drove them and would give me cab rides. Had to hide going through stations and going past signal boxes. 🙂

The HST engines I believe are V12 Paxman-Valenta

They were, but all the remaining HST’s have been re-engined with the MTU V16.

I think either a 37 or 47, because that’s what I used to see the most as a kid.

This.

Deltics or 50s for me, without a doubt. Such ace childhood memories. On the rare weekends I’m not biking I have been known to help restore a 50.

Class 50 was an EE model for the west coast speed up , used in tandem, before electrification had finished.

Last 40 years? Its all faceless stuff and HST’s.

Pfft. Give me a 395 anyday.
The Japanese Class E955 has an airbrake.

So does pretty much everything on the main line these days, air brakes on rolling stock are slightly different to air brakes on other stuff… 😉

But back on topic. As a driver wouldn’t mind having a spin in a 92 – ticks most boxes:
Noisy
Big
Heavy
Right number of wheels
British made
Fast enough
Just shy of 7,000hp should do it (continuous)

Even go for a jolly through the tunnel if you wanted.

So does pretty much everything on the main line these days, air brakes on rolling stock are slightly different to air brakes on other stuff…

But it’s an external, aerodynamic drag assisted braking device! I don’t mean pneumatic brakes, an actual we’re-going-so-fast-sticking-a-plank-of-wood-in-the-air-slows-us-down-loads brake!
Isn’t that awesome?
Just me?

East Lancs railway goes past my garden, and they were running the Class 55 deltics all weekend.

There were lots of anoraks with cameras out all weekend trying to get snaps or vids of the beasts at work. They sound incredible. Almost as good as the Warship class diesel hydraulics that sometimes run.

For steamies, in October they are running the Tornado. That’s always worth a look, too.

Gary_C – Member

The HST engines I believe are V12 Paxman-Valenta

They were, but all the remaining HST’s have been re-engined with the MTU V16.
I think some have Paxman VP185s in them now. They also tried Mirrlees in a few Western PCs (mid ’90’s)

Anyway, my two faves
26’s lovely spluttery little 6cyl sulzer engines. Lots of fun with them in my youth.

Then the good old 47’s. Boring according to many, but much maligned. Largest class of loco in the UK by quite a margin. Just had their 50th year and still a few running on the mainline. Loved them on the Glasgow – Edinburgh push pulls and happy summer memories heading down to the South Coast behind them.

Oh and kettles just don’t do it for me. Sorry.

Had a look at that E955, impressive. Probably a bit pointy for us in this country though, the RSSB would have a heart attack and condemn it for the risk of making cows in nearby fields miscarry.

Me on my train 🙂 [well seemed liked mine]

Cant find an original pic anywhere 🙁 They were always paking up near where I live… wish I had a camera back then.

Diesel weekend coming up soon on the SVR.
http://www.svr.co.uk/SpecialEvents.aspx?referer=planningyourvisit
I’ll get to see a Western go right past my house several times. 😀

Tickets booked already, Graham. And bike will be with me for the Sunday.

The yellow engine above is a Yorkshire engine one, we used to run one when i was an apprentice at our steelworks, and i actually made the pattern for the brake block.

40s, just because the dirtier and more shagged out they get, the better they looked. The train equivalent of that big hammer you inherited off your grandad.