The Best Diesels of British Rail | History in the Dark

[@Tom-Lahaye]

Class 37? How much I like the Deltics, the 37 does deserve a place in this list more than the Deltic, as it is one of the most reliable but also cheapest to run diesel locomotives on BR until the introduction of the class 66. Many 37 still out on the mainline after almost 60 years in service!

[@alanbrown9178]

HSTs are still in regular use on the Highland main lines in Scotland. Scheduled for a few years yet. Why no class 37 mention? Still in use.........and a very successful loco.

[@dominicbarden4436]

An honourable mention at least to the Class 37, surely? I saw a GWR HST set at the Severn Valley Railway's Spring Diesel Gala earlier this year. It was perhaps the strangest train I've seen on a heritage railway, especially because it was a full mainline spec set with the refurbished MK3 coaches and everything! Talking of withdrawing them, GWR withdrew them from express services in 2018 and split them into four-coach sets to run locals on the Holiday Line to Cornwall, East Midlands withdrew them in 2020 and some of those have started ending up on heritage railways, while Cross Country withdrew their HSTs in September this year. Some power cars have ended up with freight companies, which is really odd to see! I think the only TOC left that runs HSTs in their HST form is ScotRail.

[@sambrown6426]

I mean, if you've got a relatively small, light freight train that you want to go really freakin' fast, (as far as freight goes, at least) then it does kinda make sense to use them. I would expect it to look a bit odd though.

[@dominicbarden4436]

@@sambrown6426 To be fair, I'm not entirely sure what freight duties they've been used for. Though I think I saw a video of a couple being used to deliver the new Merseyrail trains.

[@Danse_Macabre_125]

Technically the Midland HSTs left in 2021, however between 2020 and 2021 the only ones that ran were six coach ex LNER sets not the actual EM fleet

[@little_britain]

I feel like the class 37 should have been given honourable mention, English Electric were really, really good.

[@EE12CSVT]

No class 37? Seriously? I'd swap the 47 out for a 37 any day of the week.

[@shekmarcus3797]

Why tho

[@iankemp1131]

Absolutely agree, though I would also put in a good word for the Birmingham/Sulzer family, Class 26/27/33. I remember the Class 26 doing great work in the Far North of Scotland despite their low rated power (6 coach trains on 1 in 60s on a 161 mile line) and the Class 33 on the sharply worked Weymouth-Bournemouth push-pull trains where they stuck an electric unit on the other end at Bournemouth and detached the diesel, every hour, in a few minutes. Again, 8 coach trains up the 1 in 50 out of Weymouth.

[@chompette_]

​@@shekmarcus3797 you're far more likely to see a 37 still in revenue earning service than you are with a 47

[@czeslawmeyer7871]

Class 37 growler easily one of the best ps buy a decent microphone mono microphone oh dear..

[@ALCO-C855-fan]

Agree! THEY ARE LEGEND!!!!! 💖 🥰 😸 💞 One of the most popular and useful engines of British Rail EVER! Periode, end of discussion!😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@casperreininga3253]

Here in the Netherlands we ended up purchasing some 08's back in the early years of diesel. They were so good we build 2 more derivative classes (500/600/700) with the differences mostly in braking setups. Crews loved them too and nicknamed them as Bakkie and Hippel. Some still trundle the vast freightyards of the Rotterdam harbour to this day, and will probably do so for plenty of years to come.

[@johnd8892]

The Dutch locomotives were of the predecessor to the 08 the class that later became the class 11. The most obvious difference are the smaller driving wheels. About 1435mm for an 08 and around 1200mm for the class 11. The smaller wheels may have given the class 11 more tractive effort. I know of this difference since my local Victorian Railways in Australia had versions of the class 11 before the 08 started production in 1953. Searching for the Victorian Railways F class should show you more of these 1600 mm gauge locomotives although now just running infrequently in preservation.

[@obelic71]

@@johnd8892 Correct the Dutch railway locomotives bought at firts the used rivited 1930's LMS D3/6 locomotives from the War department (NS 501-510). The first order for new ones (NS 511-545) was identical to the original LMS D3/6 but was welded instead of rivited. The second order (NS 601-665) THE export model was a precursor to the BR class 11 and had bigger electric engines, more tractive effort and airbrakes. The Dutch locomotives had pressure airbrakes and BR class 11 vacuüm airbrakes.

[@MrCateagle]

English Electric were quite competent in many areas They are well known for the Canberra and Lightning aircraft and their aircraft division rolled into BAC.

[@harrisonallen651]

The Class 43 Intercity is a British icon, Australia even has their own fleet of Class 43 diesels. As for the class 8 diesels, “They’re Revolutionary!” - Devious Diesel.

[@olly5764]

The 08 story is increadible, not only are there the 08s, but their slightly faster cousins, the 09s, the higher tractive effort 11s and 12s and three class13s which were pairs of 08s, one with the cab removed as a slave unit, for heavy shunting.

[@sambrown6426]

I always found the class 13s to be kinda hilarious, because Here in the U.S, we would've either MUed 2 standard road switchers, (Which is basically just coupling then together, hooking up some cables, and now you have 2 locos controlled by one engineer) or used something called a slug, which is basically a regular diesel-electric with the prime mover and main alternator removed, the carbody cut down, and filled with concrete ballast. Then we semi-permanently couple them to the back of a road-switcher like an SD40-2 and limit the set to low speed. We do this because at low speed they often generate more power than the traction motors need, causing them and the entire electrical system to overheat and fail prematurely. So the slug then takes whatever excess electricity the main alternator generates, and sends it to its traction motors, and now you have more tractive effort and less maintenance, with the only real cost being that the slugs are just dead weight above a certain speed. They're really quite Ingenius.

[@fanofeverything30465]

Were there there any Class 10s

[@olly5764]

@@fanofeverything30465 yes, they looked identical to the others, but they had Blackstone engines rather than English Electric ones

[@g8ymw]

There were some built before the war, with the EE 350hp lump . Look just like 08s

[@markllewellyn93]

You missed out the class 37 😢

[@moelSiabod14334]

Most of the problems which arrose with the HSTs releted to the power unit which untill then had proved reliable in navel ships etc. The problems stemmed from the duty cycle, onboard ship the loads it was subjected to more or less constant , with copious amounts of cooling on tap to absorbe the heat the unit created,in the locomotive the cooling is far more limited and inconsistant. On an early testrun from Kingscross running north a representative of the powerunit builder Paxman commented that in the first seven miles the engines had gone to full power then back to idle no less than seven times and what was needed rather than a throttle was an On Off switch. Each time the driver closes the the throttle the cooling falls to minimum just as the engine is at its hottest putting extra thermal loading on things. Rumour has it that the locos had been designed with future conversion to 25kv electric in mind but sadly that was not to come about.

[@SouRwy4501Productions]

So basically the 08s are like the British equivalent to the GP7/9s. They’re really good and there’s a lot of them left in preservation.

[@sirrliv]

More akin to the SW1200's, but basically same sentiment, yeah. If anything, the Class 20's were more like the British GP9 in terms of historical impact and legacy. They proved that mainline diesels were possible, that steam wouldn't rule unchallenged forever.

[@TB76Returns]

Well at least you faced up to it.....at least give the 37 an honourable mention

[@williamgeorgefraser]

The Class 20s were actually built up until 1968. I began trainspotting in 1965 and saw the D8300 series being delivered new. The original batch ended with D8128

[@squeaksvids5886]

The HST power cars were never originally called Class 43s. They were originally numbered as coaching stock as Class 253 and 254 DMBs (Driving Motor Brake), and were supposed to be kept in fixed formations with Mk3 passenger coaches. The restaurant coaches were numbered 40xxx. First class, 41xxx. Standard class, 42xxx. Power cars, 43xxx. And the later separate guard compartment coaches, 44xxx. But in practice it was impossible to keep the power cars with their fixed sets as they needed more frequent maintenance so it was decided to reclassify them as locomotives, but they kept their original numbers, hence why we had two different locomotives called Class 43s.

[@kevinsomosot9976]

I expected the Class 37 to appear here...?

[@ashleyjiscool]

Same

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Probably number 6 due to being noisy. I wonder if Darkness doesn't gloss over the 20's traction motor and speedometer problems? Swap the 20 for the 37?

[@CriminalJay8304]

@@robertwilloughby8050maybe, but the noise of the 37 is the best part. although the design is brilliant too

[@milksheihk]

Intercity 125s are currently still in use in NSW Australia, called the XPT here.

[@milksheihk]

They were a weird choice here since the rail networks here don't allow them to reach much more than half their top speed.

[@Tiger351]

@@milksheihk the design was modified and built under licence by Comeng, top speed achieved was 184 km/h in testing but they were regularly hitting 160 km/h in service on certain straight stretches (Cowan bank and Tuggerah/Wyong straight just to name a few).

[@milksheihk]

@@Tiger351 On Dubbo to Sydney they rarely go above 100km/h

[@GOPGonzo]

British Rail: Complete failure or god tier. There will be no average locomotives.

[@davidty2006]

mhm theres completely shit and the ones so good they last atleast 30 years. Not to mention due to british loading gauge being so small it shows how much power can be put into a small engine.

[@iankemp1131]

I'd say there were plenty of good-to-average locos not mentioned here; classes 24-25-26-27-33, 40, 44-45-46, 31 and 50 (when teething troubles had been sorted), 81-85-86-87, etc. Class 37s should have been in the "top" list from the start, while the Western Hymeks (35s) and Westerns (52s) were pretty reasonable though non-standard (opinions differ wildly!)

[@darrylnoonan5282]

I road a 125 from Bristol to London about four years ago and they were still very smooth and quick after all those years of service. 👍

[@MrSleepy677]

There was a Class 43 in The Railway Series called Pip and Emma.

[@Trainboy587-2]

I know that :)

[@MRTransportVideos]

They do say that talking about your fears is good therapy - and, it has to be said, you did a really good job of it, sir. Re the Class 08 family - the family lineage actually goes back to before World War II: in fact, the LMS built largely similar units as far back as 1934, while their immediate predecesors (the Class 11) were built for BR, the Netherlands and Australia, and some have been in active preservation for over 50 years. Another point about the Class 43s is that a number of them have been sold to companies within Great Britian to be used as high speed "shunters", transferring rolling stock (usually freshly-built) between sites - thanks to their amazing power-to-weight, they can not only haul rolling stock, but do it REALLY QUICKLY!

[@obelic71]

Oh yes the 0-6-0 English Electric diesel electric shunters. They are like cockraches. They are still some in revenu service 75 years after delivery! The UK and the Netherlands had them in large quantities. When you look at the survivor percentage of LMS D3/6-BR-12 family of shunters it could be the highest percentage of a volume locomotive class.

[@davidty2006]

They do be the diesel version of the hunslet saddle tanks.

[@chrislaarman7532]

Indeed, here in the Netherlands we had them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Class_600 is more limited than nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_500. (Yes, there were classes 500, 600 and 700.) A few are still active here, with heritage railways and (from memory) with private rail construction companies. - To my knowledge, they went as their work did. Ever less shunting, and NS itself concentrated on passenger traffic (and within that on the use of EMUs in maybe a year from now). - Interesting: these shunters would haul trains on the exclave line between Terneuzen and Zelzate (B), but lost their job to more powerful locos, today probably the Belgian class 7700/7800.

[@obelic71]

@@davidty2006 There were even 2 of those (ex WD) in service in the early 1980's in the Netherlands. They lasted so long because they were sold 3th hand by the Dutch railways in the early 50's to the the coal mining industry and other industry. After closure of the coal mines (1975) they were used to demolish the entire coal industry and even ended up a few years at a big sugar plant as shunters and mobile steam boilers. Not one was scrapped and all became static monuments at several factories and former raillyards. Those static monuments are more and more getting their 6th career as functional heritage locomotives.

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

Remember that during WW 2 the powers that be decided that post war, steam was the foundation of not only Britian's railroads but they were sure the world would line up to buy their steam locomotives. Never mind that diesel electric locomotives had been perfected.

[@sirrliv]

Point of order on the Class 43's, and not meaning to ruffle feathers as I'm a fan of theirs too, but the key part of the phrase is "...they WERE just that good." When they were built in the 1970's they were unbeatable. Now though, they're pushing 60 years old. These are old trains, often with a plethora of old train problems; maintenance can only go so far as major structural parts wear out, rust, corrode. The sets sent to Mexico in particular have been described by insiders as absolute rust buckets with much of the wear covered up with paint and bondo. Much more worrying is that their crash durability is appalling; these things do not hold up well in an accident as shown by recent disasters such as Carmont and Ufton Nervet; even a low-speed collision with a modern Class 800 Azuma trainset left the Azuma lightly crumpled while the HST's cab was destroyed. This is especially concerning with the Mexican export units as they're apparently being expected to operate alongside ex-American GE and EMD freight locomotives, which absolutely dwarf them! If an HST were to get in the way of a Dash-8 headed tanker train, the Dash-8 could probably plow through the HST without even realizing it was ever there until someone noticed the driver's brains smeared on the pilot plow. In short, they were great trains and absolutely deserve their top spot on this list, but people, even people in power, seem to forget how old they are and the dangers that age brings. They're about as fit for purpose now as the Gresley A4's and their teak coaches were when the Class 43 was new.

[@EE12CSVT]

The Mk3s have excellent crash protection. The power cars weren't designed with modern crash worthiness standards in mind. All that protects the driver is a fibreglass shell. The coaches are far more durable. The problem the HST sets face is rust. Almost all are coming to the end of useful life without the superstructure being rebuilt to swap out all the corroded bits, but it would be cheaper to buy new than to do such a big rebuild job without the necessary jigs that BREL used.

[@iankemp1131]

Fair point about age, but they still give a very comfortable passenger experience so that you would never guess it. And to describe crash durability "appalling" is a gross overstatement. Yes, the driver's cab is a little weaker than a modern Azuma or a huge American engine. But the bodyshell is very strong and protects passengers well. Remember that Ufton Nervet, Great Heck, Ladbroke Grove and Cramont were accidents at 75-125 mph with overturning, fire and/or major drops resulting. Earlier rolling stock, or other stock from many companies including British Rail, would have been extensively damaged with a far higher death toll.

[@Philip271828]

Did you listen to the Well There's Your Problem episode on this? They're known to use hyperbole for comic effect but it sounds like a bad idea badly implemented.

[@DrRacer78]

Since we're talking about the best locomotives from Railways, here's a suggestion: The 5 best Steam Engines From Norfolk & Western.

[@centamangila1217]

Or the 5 best locomotives of the Pennsylvania or Santa Fe or other railroads...

[@JAGUAR-GT]

Deltics are also one of the best sounding locomotives.

[@g8ymw]

Loud with it, especially on the ECML front-line services. Stood next to them while they stopped at Grantham

[@TheRoyalScotsman6100]

Finally! A British rail vehicle where he doesn’t give them any negativity!

[@zepheris_]

Woooooo. Hell yes 😋

[@nicolek4076]

Please accept a bouquet for nailing the pronunciation of "Derby".

[@Delt1c9013]

The 43 HST are still In front line service with Scot rail in Uk

[@clevelandmaker386]

Man...I knew this was...... SUPER HARD FOR YOU!!! I THOUGHT THAT THE MALLET WAS IT

[@AgencyScum]

Your research is spot-on sir. Personally, I'd swap out the hideously complicated-but-beautiful behemoth Deltic and slot in the near-immortal ( in train terms ) class 37. We never even bothered recording their numbers when I was a train spotting kid; they were so common ( and never had name plates in the 70s ). Today, there's one working only a mile away from me at Bristol Temple Meads with the track maintenance crews.

[@iankemp1131]

I would include both the Deltic and the 37 - both very successful for the different roles for which they were designed, and the 37 was highly versatile. I first encountered them on the Liverpool Street to Cambridge/Kings Lynn expresses and they were effective and reliable.

[@ordovicianinnova]

I actually love the Deltic though, after all they are the 747 of British Railways

[@The_Yokshireman_In_The_Hat]

I wouldn't usually use Wikipedia but the railway stuff is often accurate (although I've not fact checked this). The New South Wales railways also operate rollingstock based on the class 43 HST (intercity 125). This is called the XPT and initially used the Paxman Valenta engine though I believe this has been replaced by a different Paxman engine. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_XPT Here in the UK GWR and Scot Rail are running the HST as 4 car sets derated to 100mph. GWR will be getting rid of their sets shortly as they are cascading down other stock to replace them. They were only ever designed to be a stop gap until the APT was ready. As we know history consigned the APT to the dustbin and the HST worked all over the network. I can't see the replacement 8xx Hitachi sets still being around in 40 years. TBH I can't see them lasting their design life of 25 years.

[@iankemp1131]

Numerous people have rightly commented that the Class 37 should be included. I would also put in a good word for the Birmingham/Sulzer family, Class 26/27/33. I remember the Class 26 doing great work in the Far North of Scotland despite their low rated power (6 coach trains on 1 in 60s on a 161 mile line) and the Class 33 on the sharply worked Weymouth-Bournemouth push-pull trains where they stuck an electric unit on the other end at Bournemouth and detached the diesel, every hour, in a few minutes. Again, 8 coach trains up the 1 in 50 out of Weymouth. The BR equivalents of the Class 26/27, also Sulzer-engined, were pretty effective too.

[@iankemp1131]

Obvious omission is the Class 37, which were widely built, and were very successful and reliable. Some are still going strong over 60 years later because of this. The Modernisation Plan did have some sense; lots of engines from different manufacturers built in small batches, then replicate the good ones (Class 37, 20, 24/25, 26/27/33, 45, 47, 81/85), eliminate the unsuccessful ones (Class 22, 29, 84 etc) and improve others (Class 31 re-engined). Note, there are actually quite a lot of good classes, including the Birmingham/Sulzer family (26/27/33) which I remember working well from the North of Scotland to Southern England.

[@Biker_Gremling]

Darkness, you're OK? Blink twice if you're being held hostage!

[@douglasengle2704]

The Deltic with its opposed piston configuration designed as an equal lateral triangle with a crankshaft at the vertex's and opposed pistons operating along the tangents was a fantastic compact and should be efficient running diesel. I'd never known they'd just made 22 of these! That's not enough to have a people growing up wanting to be their mechanics! Not if they know just a few of them exist. They don't require higher ability than servicing a more traditional diesel, but they are a different animal requiring knowing a lot of different knowledge.

[@iankemp1131]

But they do have an important disadvantage in that they were two-stroke engines. Hence the high power-to-weight ratio and excellent performance, but also the tell-tale blue cloud of exhaust smoke (and accompanying smell) and higher fuel consumption. Definitely engines for the demanding top-of-the-range jobs rather than everyday workhorses. A single-Deltic design (Class 23, the Baby Deltic) was put into use on suburban services and was notably unsuccessful, just 10 being made and withdrawn quickly, only averaging 10 years service.

[@andrewbowen4544]

Really thought the BR Class 101 would be on here.

[@robertwilloughby8050]

I think that might come under "The 5 Best Modernization Plan British DMU's"! Class 101 (obvs), Class 108 (STUNNINGLY reliable!), Class 110 (Well, maybe a little bit er, firery, but once that was cured, a truly fantastic unit, and very powerful), Class 120 (Coolant problems notwithstanding, a very reliable and quick unit), Class 123/124 (Although rather maintenance dependant, these two extremely similar designs were very good, very nippy, and the 124 version was borderline beautiful!)

[@davidty2006]

@@robertwilloughby8050 some of the gen 1 DMU's ended up being better than the gen 2's.... Despite having manual gearboxes...

[@iankemp1131]

@@robertwilloughby8050 Nice summary. I travelled on a Class 110 power-twin and was amazed at the way it battled up the 1 in 45-50 out of Bradford. Nowadays with modern units you hardly notice. I agree about the appearance of the Class 124s. Like the 303s (Blue Trains), the wrapround windscreens from the Design Panel looked good and modern, but sadly were tricky to maintain.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The Class 43s suffered from overheating problems in their early days primarily during summer due to the mode of operation.

[@Danse_Macabre_125]

That's why they had a little cut into the side vents. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6u2iXanjc6Vm9Esi=af594Ytag1wwOdYP It's quite easily visible here

[@HFStuart]

In regular service they didn't exceed 125mph......well once they put the 129mph limiters on that might be true. Prior to that 130mph + running was not unusual.

[@JackCarsonsRailroadVideos]

Oh dear.

[@K8thebest_Gaming]

10:33 im pretty sure in either the 80s or 90s Australia also made their version of the HST called the XPT which looks identical to the british version

[@davidty2006]

XPT is slightly different. notably modifications to comply with australian railways and the mark 3's swapped out for stainless steel coaches.

[@oliverbrigstocke1306]

I would replace the 20 with the 37 personally, the 37 is the perfect do-it-all locomotive, and the 20 was good, but just not as good as the 37

[@iankemp1131]

I would definitely include them both - each were perfect for their designated tasks and power range.

[@NYCS19339]

37 is really one that should be here

[@srajfnly2]

Give me the 08, 20, 37, 47, 55, and the 43, and you can run a railway

[@robertwilloughby8050]

And possibly the Peaks (Class 44/45/46) and the Rats (Class 24/25) and half of the McRats (Class 26 - but in no way the Class 27!)

[@dominicbarden4436]

@@robertwilloughby8050 I'd add in the Western Region hydraulics as well. Might not be the best but they sound good (plus I admit that I have a bias towards Swindon). And what about 31s and 33s?

[@robertwilloughby8050]

@@dominicbarden4436 31's? Reliable, likeable but slow (and the Drivers window wants to kill you!). 33's? Pretty good, but the electrics? Man.... also weirdly expensive on shed. Western hydraulics? Will give you the Hymeks in a heartbeat (but watch for bodywork problems) and maybe the Westerns if (and only if) they can solve the engine coupling problem and get a decent ETH system in there.

[@iankemp1131]

@@robertwilloughby8050 Yes, useful to have a 24/25/26 for that power range where a 37 is overkill and a 20 not enough. I have fond memories of the 26s battling away on the Far North line and sometimes exceeding their nominally rated horespower.

[@iankemp1131]

@@dominicbarden4436 Good point about the 33s. They were ideal for the Southern Region with their light weight, higher power, electric train heating and push-pull capability. I remember their snappy performance on the Weymouth line, including the rapid engine change at Bournemouth while the 4-REP was taken off the other end (a remarkably ingenious low-cost electrification).

[@roberthuron9160]

There's an addendum,that should be added,as Alco was in Britain,before EMD! Margum(?)Iron Works in Wales was running Alco S-1's,and I think maybe English Electric got the idea for the Class 20! Those 539's,were and are rugged,and set standards for reliability! Anyway,a bit of a side trip! Thank you 😇 😊!

[@tidepoolclipper8657]

Class 55 Deltic was arguably the first truly good British Diesel capable of rivaling steam engines. It's also one of my favorite diesels.

[@EE12CSVT]

As far as express steam was concerned, yes. The Class 47 took over for most other passenger work, and the 37 displaced the LMS Black 5 for mixed traffic.

[@davedear929]

Brilliant choice Joshua you got them totally correct. I fully agree with you this time. Many thanks from a BR fan from England.

[@thekayakingpyromaniac9876]

The deltics also sound awsome running under load

[@southern207hobbies]

Can you please do the history of the cheasapake and Ohio rr or the Baltimore and Ohio?

[@classicforreal]

Very literally on the very first frame I was not disappointed.

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

Almost amazed that British Rail decided to name one of their most successful diesels after a previous really unsuccessful diesel.

[@HistoryintheDark]

To be fair, that number was only available under the TOPS system because the older ones were so bad they were retired as soon as possible and likely best forgotten about.

[@Gordanovich02]

Slightly amusingly (or not?), the prototype version of the HST power car was given TOPS class 41; that number had been set aside (but never applied) to the five D600 North British diesel-hydraulic "Warships". So both the prototype and production HSTs re-used TOPS codes which had been assigned to two different NBL-built unsuccessful diesel-hydraulics.

[@centamangila1217]

​@@Gordanovich02speaking of North British Locomotive, too bad it closed in 1962; it owed my country several 4-6-4T tank Hudsons...

[@iankemp1131]

@@centamangila1217 A pity, they would probably have been good locos, like most NBL steam locos; it was the transition to diesel and electric where they sadly failed totally.

[@Ozzy66733]

Hey Darkness I love your series on the train manufacturers and the individual rail line histories. But I would love to see a few of the Western Railways histories covered such as Santa Fe, Up, Burlington Northern and Southern Pacific

[@DeusExMJ12]

Isn't that like picking the best five diseases?

[@ChrisCooper312]

No. These are all genuinely great designs. I mean one of them is the fastest diesel train in the world. BRs problem wasn't buying bad locos, it was that they bought so many different types instead of standardising on ones that actually worked.

[@leonwalsh1978]

Missed 25, 37 and 50

[@tamworthtrainnut285]

Australia also got the HST InterCity 125 class 43 but it was heavily modified for Australian conditions and was named the XPT which is currently owned and run by NSW TrainLink Regional from Central to Brisbane, Casino, Grafton, Dubbo and Melbourne

[@g8ymw]

The Brush type 4 and the EE D400s (and DP2) were limited to 2750 hp and 2700 hp respectively because of the DC main generators They couldn't stand any more without flashing over and having to be rebuilt . Alternators don't have that problem but they didn't come in until the Class 56 entered service

[@chris_3636]

Can't argue with your list at all. Some could argue that the Class 37 has been more successful than the class 20, but the 20 has worked for nearly 70 years with a minimum amount of modification. The HST, 47s and 08s are deservedly included, and the Deltic is the most iconic British diesel locomotive ever built.

[@CplBurdenR]

Interesting that the Class 55 Deltic was essentially replaced by the Intercity 125. So, it took something that good to replace something that good (and you could argue the same with the Class 55, because they replaced the equally superlative Gresley A3s and A4s and Peppercorn A1s)

[@sandwichtan]

These are two of the class 43 locomotives in Ixtepec City, in their new home in Mexico kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaHGk5eOl6-Cp8Usi=yVsOBym5zpp7ciDq&t=24

[@legatvsdecimvs3406]

British Rail seems to have had one major flaw - no understanding of the concept of "Standardization". Which is key for a successful Nationalized Railway. I can't imagine the logistics of trying to maintain dozens of different "Classes" of locomotive with non-interchangeable parts, dozens of engine, generator, motor, and transmission configurations from different manufacturers not working to standardize operations. Dozens of different chassis/body and frame designs that could not be mass manufactured. What is the point of building 20 locomotives of one class and then building 20 very different locomotives of a different class for the same purpose? They could have built 5 standardized classes of Diesel Locomotive for specific purposes: Class 5 - 500 hp - Light Shunter(Switcher) Class 15 - 1500 hp - Medium Shunter(Switcher) Class 20 - 2000 hp - Light Mainline Locomotive Class 25 - 2500 hp - Purpose built Passenger Service Locomotive Class 30 - 3000 hp - Heavy Mainline Locomotive All suppliers would be chosen to supply the standardized parts for each specific model. Each model would be designed from the beginning for upgrades or configurations with "drop in" parts. Each model would be mass produced until all requirements are met. All prototype models would be tested over thousands of kilometers of track with different trains. Various Steam Locomotive models would only be replaced when a suitable replacement is in mass production. That would seem logical. It would have been cheaper and would have been completed on schedule within a budget. Why do the opposite - makes no sense to me.

[@miles_thomas]

didn't mention that Class 43 HSTs had a mid-life engine (prime mover) replacement, Paxman Valenta to Paxman VP185. (Paxman changed hands a few times over the years and are now part of MAN group of Germany). A potential challenge with the Class 43's going to Mexico is the VP185 has been out of production for some years, so potential there may be some issues in getting spare parts although I expect that rebuild/refurbishments with some used parts from other units will be possible. What's your view of the modern Class 66 and derivatives? Class 66 are a repackaging of EMD loco tech from the US into a loading gauge that suits European rail, mostly used for freight, and sold to some European railroads as well. (I wonder if Genesee has both Class 66 Freightliner UK locos in their orange livery and the equivalent EMD in the US in same livery)

[@briangriffiths1285]

The Class 43 HSTs revolutionised the railway in the UK. Reliable and fast. The acceleration was similar to electric trains. The original Paxman engines were replaced at 20 years old and the new refurbished units were capable of pulling an extra coach on the East Coast Main Line. Cascaded to the Western main line and now to Scotland. The Scots complained of getting old 2nd hand rolling stock, but these probably are the best long distance diesels in the world. I travelled Aberdeen to London one day 550? Miles… the trip was 07:30 to 14:00 and as I walked out the barrier the sign said Aberdeen 14:20, 1100 miles in the day with a quick turnaround and restocking of the dining car. Fantastic and comfortable for the passengers.

[@stephendavies6949]

Love the "43" humour! Whilst the "Warships" were/are much loved, they were a bit of a blind design alley for BR. Of course, the introduction of HSTs was one of the reasons the Deltics were downgraded to secondary duties in the late 1970s. There's a good arguement to support the 43s being mentioned in the same breath as the venerated Gresley A3 & A4 pacifics.

[@richardmarshall4322]

Its not a zero eight, its an '0' 8. Deltic power units were not supercharged, they had a scavenge blower. Class 55 are superb locos but were very high costly to maintain and were coseted to say the least. Class 37 would be a better choice. Class 40 also very reliable

[@theromanorder]

please do a video on the porters steam loco the Japanese class d5, the Chinese QJ 2,10,2 or just exsamples of asian trains how do gear trains work something on saddle bolier and side tanks (like the big water boxes) tank engines double ended diesel trains what to do if the train stalls one talking about the different types of steam funnles and there uses, a video on steam locomotive combination breaks (steam and vacuum brakes) a short video on how a Armstrong turn table works what did train flagman do what did trains (mostly steam) do when going in tunnels, ive heard of gas masks or just useing a wet cloth, or did they bring in other engines like later on they used electric trains, or were there no bigv tunnels. evaluation of electric trains why are some trains wagion tops (the stream lining thing to boilers) railway terms abd slang one on the meaning of flag and lantern colors like green on rear engine means theres another one coming soon, the different types of cut offs/reversers/Johnson bar some are a big lever, some are a big valve wheel, and ive also seen some that are like rods, one exsample is train sim world 3 and im not sure where to find the other reverser and how much water do steam trains take usually, and how much would the crew drink

[@stevekenilworth]

it was if it still not Newest Railway Station in the UK. Corwen North wales opened a new station this year. been a very long time since train went al way to Corwen the line extended and place old station was not viable as another company owned it so they built another station at the other end of town. Steam / heritage railway. the first train to do the full route Llangolen to Corwen was the Austin 1 steam loco as it was the first train to run on Llangollen Railway after they put the tracks back in 70's, railway was abandoned most track missing bit by bit the line got longer, now they got to Corwen, extending line to east or west which ever way looking at 100's millions £. the achievement so far getting to Corwen, Llangollen station is located next to the town center, this is the original station that was re-opened in 1975 by the Flint and Deeside Railway Preservation Society with just 60 feet (18.3m) of track. now The journey is a relaxing 10 miles travelling through some of the most beautiful scenery in Wales. The line, located within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), remains close to the waters of the river for most of its length as it gently meanders through the Dee Valley.The new station opened on the 1st June 2023 and has been built primarily by volunteers with contractors doing specialist jobs such as the canopy. the railway is mostly run by volunteers, just year ago may tad more were facing bankruptcy, they beaten the bank got new plan of action had to sell a lot rolling stock, now they are doing much better and railway has not looked so good and well kept as long as i can remember. and new station is not new looking like a 50's age so one of if not the newest station is like going back in time and no complaints from me. also if you really in to trains you can also stay at the railway as holiday let, Berwyn Stationmaster’s House, Grade II listed Stationmaster’s House, located right on the platform of a working railway station at Berwyn Station, situated on a ledge above the gorge of the River Dee in beautiful North Wales. sleeps up to six people, Berwyn station opened in May 1865

[@chrislaarman7532]

Regarding the Class 20 and many more locos: you don't have much choice when designing a locomotive with a single diesel engine (or a boiler, or a big transformer...). You can't situate cab through that big object. (Locos with a single cab near halfway may have something else take up a similar amount of space as the big thing, but that's another story.)

[@yippydoddlecarson6375]

Couldn't make it 10 seconds before shutting off the video thanks to this dudes awful voice

[@frcdanoob9537]

no class 37? it is an AMAZING BR Diesel, i would swap the 55 for the 37 in this list.

[@grasshopperstudios2004]

You should have a look at the EF class of electric locomotives that English Electric built for the NZR in New Zealand

[@noahcarlosthenumber12engin38]

Huh, yk watching this video and looking back on some of the other train content you’ve made, idk if it’s just me or if there are some locomotives you haven’t talked about like the GWR 1400. …sounds like an interesting top 5 video, “The Top 5 Locomotives Never To Be Talked About By History In The Dark… Until Now” if there were any engines that you missed lol

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

Fun fact: The Class 43 HST was hired and used to replace the Gresley A3 Pacific from express duties to smaller stopping trains on Sodor.

[@JSmith19858]

The class 20 has an American look because it apes the Dutch railways NS2200. The NS2200 and 2400 were designed by Baldwin

[@MrCateagle]

From their aircraft engines, I have to.presume Napier had a "thing" for unusual engines.

[@bowlerstuff9589]

Where is the 25,37&50?

[@zeanyt2372]

0:26 "yeah, they had a pretty rough..." track record?😅 I'll see myself out.😔

[@rainierbagatsing1073]

Did you know that the HSTs were the basis for pip and Emma from Thomas and friends

[@chrisredding6673]

I used to work at English Electric's Vulcan Works. Pity that it was totally razed to the ground and is now a housing estate.

[@westernstudios2484]

How about a list on the worst railcars something like the Bopper car could be a good contender for the list

[@formulafish1536]

Australia still runs its units based on the HST to this day! That design is universally one of the best locomotive designs in history for its purpose!

[@Froobyone]

As a Brit I would say almost spot-on with that assessment, but as most will say, the 37 should have had a mention. The 37 is the unsung hero of the British railway and still doing sterling service to this day.

[@resender329]

They actuallly introduced a battery version of the 08 last month I believe

[@sambrown6426]

Why? I've never understood the point of battery-electric locomotives. Seriously, how long is it gonna take to charge those batteries, and how long are they gonna last? We've already seen just how much towing decreases the range of EV trucks, how bad to you think it's gonna be with friggin train? And for some reason General Electric is currently working on a full-size battery-electric road locomotive to pull the gargantuan 2.65 mile long, 14,000 ton freight trains we run at decently high speeds here in the U.S. And lets not forget that battery performance degrades over time, and the faster you charge them, the faster they degrade. And when they finally do need new batteries, it'd probably be more cost-effective to just buy a new locomotive than to replace the batteries. Also, if for whatever reason you run out of charge, now you're stuck potentially hundreds of miles from civilization, and blocking the mainline, and it's not like we can just send out an MOW thing and fill up the tank. It's just a bad idea overall, and we should be electrifying our lines with catenary wires instead. I mean seriously, how hard would it be to convert an existing diesel-electric into a full electric, or even an electro-diesel?

[@davidty2006]

@@sambrown6426 the gronks rarely ever leave the yard their stationed in. Soo battery might make sense?

[@sambrown6426]

@@davidty2006 Charging time is still gonna be crazy though.

[@resender329]

@@sambrown6426 Well this the class 08 are shunters, so it makes sense their never going to pull long freight trains, they will likely never leave their shunting yards or factories, also freight trains in Europe are typically not as long as in the USA

[@sambrown6426]

@@resender329 I guess so, but battery-electric locos still make no sense at all for mainline freight in the U.S.

[@isaacsmith1874]

I been waiting for this for a long time.

[@Mariazellerbahn]

I would also add the Class 25, the Class 31 and the Class 56.

[@N330AA]

The Deltics and 43s had a sensational sound too.

[@ricespirit]

Class 43 will forever be my favorite diesel

[@theaverageteleporter7435]

No honourable mention to the pacers 🥺

[@centamangila1217]

Its because this is an episode concerning locomotives, not DMUs...

[@iankemp1131]

@@centamangila1217 Although if one were to do an episode on DMUs, the BR first generation dmus, the Sprinters and the Class 158/159s were all considerable advances at their time, and the last still do a good job today. The Pacers ... well they did provide a cheap way of at least supplying trains when finances were very tight.

[@richiehodson262]

There is so easily a part 2. Look forward to that video

[@michael.s724]

"We are revolutionary" Said diesel

[@detruncati4570]

Class 37 not on this list is blasphemy

[@calvingrondahl1011]

The Classes 37 and 40 are almost the same so maybe the 37 is disqualified. I agree with your top 5 because it is not a top 10 list… oh Dark Lord.

[@iankemp1131]

But the 40 wasn't included either ... and if you're going to include one (which we should), it has to be the 37.

[@ashleyjiscool]

The Class 73 is one of the 6 GOATS of Modernisation Plan era Diesels (08,20,37,47,55,73)

[@TheSaint491]

No crompton?

[@zuzanagaskova2721]

You forgot the class 40

[@0fficialdregs]

well well well lmfao!!!!!

[@bobbysenterprises3220]

Hhahhah. I love the intro

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

HST-125s in Mexico?! That’s awesome news!

[@davidty2006]

mainly there for testing last i heard...

[@billy54bob]

Are the Australian Type 43s (125s) not still in use?

[@trainspeer3100]

thay are still in use. even tho british rail scraped alot of them some other company's bought them. i know this becouse the clase 43's are my fav diesel

[@FlapJacks7]

7:29 Nice cat

[@thecrimsonmeteor]

0:17 and it did

[@AnimalsVehiclesAndMore]

Now that you've covered the best locomotives by British Railways, please promise me (and everyone else here) that you won't rage on British Railways anymore. They were one of the best railways ever, and they were loved by UK railfans; many of whom look back fondly on them, particularly individuals who grew up with them. Not to mention that they had a Lion on their old logo, which signifies strength, tenacity, ferocity, toughness, grandness, and glory.

[@Xalerdane]

BR had a few amazing locomotive designs, but that doesn’t change the fact that British Rail is still the first example brought up when talking about how _not_ to run a nationalized railway.