Opinion

Blog : Remembering the Westerns…

With around 2200hp available and weighing less than 80 tons, these locomotives, seemed to prove the point about the superior power to weight ratio of the diesel hydraulic over the diesel electric. The 2000hp Class 40 diesel electric weighed in at 133 tons. But the Western Region needed more power and this was to lead to the development of the ‘Westerns’.
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Opinion

Blog : Let’s hear it for the Class 37…

The Class 37 has had an even longer career than the Brush Class 47, but because it was more of a mixed traffic locomotive, and less powerful, it never hauled the crack expresses. The locomotive was a product of the English Electric company, which in the 1950s was riding high. During World War II, English Electric had built Handley Page Halifax bombers under licence at their Warton plant. […]

Opinion

Blog : Let’s hear it for the Class 47…

I get the impression that editor Keith and Mike Humble are big HST/Inter City 125 fans. Perhaps they had the Hornby model as kids?
But I think the Brush Type 4 or Class 47 is a more remarkable locomotive. Introduced in 1962, some 30 are still in service in 2015, an amazing 53 years. The HST has only put in a mere 39 years service! […]