When British Railways Made The Human Centipede With Locomotives: BR Class 13- Enthralling Engines #1

In my own time I've been looking into some interesting locomotive types; and it just so happened that at the time Twitter was talking about the strange BR Class 13. After doing some looking into the locomotive, I thought it'd be fun to make a video going in depth on it!
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[@dragonblaster-vu8wz]

This sounds like something that Train of Thought would do. Make a video about an obscure locomotive. I look forward to your future videos of your new series

[@ItsTrainBoy]

He’s a huge inspiration with finding classes that I didn’t really know much about; especially in regards to finally making my own type of videos showcasing engines I find interesting myself haha. Thank you so much!

[@Jetthehawk1994]

The class 13 Splatter and Dodge is a head canon I've had in mind for a long time now, but that was actually inspired by @TenShine1's backstory for Arry and Bert.

[@thebandit0256]

You say that name proudly Spodge

[@abloogywoogywoo]

@@thebandit0256 Perhaps the slave/calf loco of the pair was doomed for the scrapheap, but the master/cow loco refused to let its companion go alone. ;-;

[@thesealsharkproductions9780]

Ever heard of Spanner? Also can you give me a link to the video

[@Jetthehawk1994]

@@thesealsharkproductions9780 Saw it last night.

[@thesealsharkproductions9780]

Might have found it,”sodor chronicles 4: your to old” but if not send me a link

[@mattevans4377]

Since building new locos of old designs has become a thing, perhaps the class 13 can see the light again. All you'd need is two spare class 08s and some tools....

[@Cnw8701]

Those locomotives are very similar to the EMD TR1 and TR2 "Cow-Calf" units that were basically NW1 and NW2 switchers that were semi-permanently coupled together (A Unit and cabless B Unit) and were essentially used for transfer service at interchange points between railroads.

[@Lightbolt95]

Funny story someone actually made a class 13 version of splatter and Dodge for Trainz in a realistic style I have it on my instance of the game I just can’t for the life of me remember who made it

[@blasterblaster1221]

Signalworks

[@TankEngine75]

It's from the Signalworks and it's Made By Grayson

[@greycatturtle7132]

Interesting

[@justinobrien3593]

I miss Tinsley I used to go there with my dad on Sundays in his silver mini special in the mid 1980s there was always class 20s sat whistling away plus class 37s 31s 47s on shed! I really miss them days between 1983-85 I was only a kid and they was the better days of British rail I love the video it brings back happy memories of standing on the hill getting the loco numbers!!! 😎

[@pandawok301]

Diesel, Arry, Bert, Paxton and Sydney look at their siblings awkwardly: Uh, hello?

[@NorthWestern1919]

This seems like it'll be a fun series. I'd honestly like to see an episode on the unique Triplex locomotives. A very flawed design to be sure, but still fun to look at.

[@Dat-Mudkip]

They were great when you needed traction and slow but steady power. Not so great at speed or budget.

[@Sandalphon36]

As an Addendum, Quadraplex engines. Whilst no engine was built a patent was made, it had 2 cabs one for the driver at the front (So, cab forward?) and one at the back for the fireman.

[@NorthWestern1919]

@@Sandalphon36 Yes, I've heard of those. In fact, if I remember correctly, there was even a design for a *Quintuplex* engine, which had three cabs, one at the front, one at the back, and one in the middle. Of course, like the Quadruplex, it was never built.

[@Dat-Mudkip]

@@NorthWestern1919 That sounds like an abomination from a simulator.

[@NorthWestern1919]

@@Dat-Mudkip One can only wonder as to why such a ridiculous engine was never built.

[@SpartanA054Moose]

Slave/cabs are called Cow/calves in canada, always interesting to see and learn about them

[@russellgxy2905]

I’m surprised that the US used the latter for our “hump switchers,” but not at all surprised Britain chose the former

[@hrk9209]

Also in America there called calf and cow switchers

[@Randomstuffs261]

Awesome idea for a series, definitely looking forward to seeing more. I would have to suggest the LMS Big Bertha, an absolute UNIT of a locomotive that I hope someone rebuilds someday.

[@Randomstuffs261]

@barnabyjoy You're crushing my dream here bro

[@sockshandle]

@barnabyjoy I mean they did make replicas of various slow locomotives all over the place (for example believe it or not they remade Tom Thumb and the Dewitt Clinton both rather slow compared to modern engines

[@benskiproductions]

That was an interesting video. 2 of those class 08 survive into preservation. 13000 and 13002 with the slave units. 13002 is an active class 08 at the Plym Valley Railway where I am a volunteer and is a pleasant engine to drive. One of the best shutters ever built

[@wowinyou]

More Likely a Class 12

[@NW-gi1cp]

Me: reads title Also me: *Vietnam flashbacks*

[@Caledon91]

The US had a few of these made from EMD switchers. Instead of "master and slave", the terminology was "cow and calf".

[@FunAngelo2005]

The us term sounds more ethical

[@RailRocketRicky]

Considering how many BR Class 08s are preserved in the UK, I'm surprised that no-one has even considered 're-creating' the Class 13s.

[@henrybest4057]

@barnabyjoy An 08's max speed is ~22MPH and the 09 (same loco, different gearing) ~27MPH. How is that a reasonable pace for passenger duties?

[@henrybest4057]

@barnabyjoy Yes, I was thinking National Rail passenger services. 08s are ideal for 'light railways' where the speed is limited to 25MPH by law.

[@mgr_video_productions]

Awesome. I'd love to see more videos like these. The class 13 reminds me of similar mother-slug diesel locomotive sets seen here in the U.S.

[@darkapostle1749]

0:59 - what a wonderful little photo; the Class and it's variants were truly awesome to see!

[@darkapostle1749]

Also, while not a permanent thing, the Class 20 locomotives would often be used in pairs similar to the Class 13 (albeit nose to nose, something about visibility but can't remember)

[@singletona082]

Imagine the creation process of this in TRWS canon. Imagine being an engine converted to being a 'slave' unit to a class 13 and having your cab sawed off in the process. 'Human Centipede' is a good descriptor.

[@Gotonis]

Would conversion to a slave unit be more akin to lobotomy or severing motor control? Just when we thought the implications of TRWS couldn't get any darker...

[@nullvoid564]

One of the darker episodes of Thomas

[@FunAngelo2005]

@@Gotonis Awdry has truly created a unintentionally dark universe

[@Steamenginesunited3456]

These designs are quite interesting

[@ayaankhan20092012]

Damn awesome new series and love your videos about locomotives

[@crazypickles8235]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Keep up with the brilliant, unique content 👌

[@antonybullock2240]

Just randomly came across this video on KZbin. It’s actually set in my hometown of Sheffield. Awesome. My old next door neighbour used to work at the Tinsley Marshalling yards back in the day right up to when it closed, though it’s still in minor use today as it’s still a live line.

[@emmajacobs5575]

It’s becoming a bit more active of late - road freight transport company Newell and Wright have invested quite a bit into building an intermodal terminal on the site and I think DB Schenker use another bit. (As another Sheffielder, it feels a little bit odd hearing an American educate us about the history of our home town!)

[@jackx4311]

Now THERE'S a class I've never even heard of - and many thanks for putting this video together, TrainBoy!

[@orlandorei3577]

In italy we once had e321 and e323 classes These were the first (and only) electric shunters to operated in italy and were permanently coupled with one or even two slave units (known as e322 and e324) that were capable to erogate 780hp (more even than class 13) there is another detail that made these shunters even more unique: their chassis was recycled from 1904 gr835 steam locos and, as they operated until 2002, they are also the last remains of italian steam traction in regular service

[@Choober65]

I've driven one of those when I was 7 years old on the old Bangor - Caernarfon line.

[@abloogywoogywoo]

Really not sure why they couldn't just have Multiple-Unit-Control instead of _ripping the cab and controls off_ a perfectly good shunter.

[@nickmohammadi454]

I wouldn't mind seeing one of these on "Big Bertha", the Lickey Incline banker.

[@TankEngine97]

I've seen pictures of this or these on a couple occasions. Quite interesting the class 13 is referred to as the Human centipede of locomotives.

[@aj50person82]

The Kitson Still locomotive would be interesting to look at.

[@TrainFanFrancis]

2:41 Train boy: “And now ladies and gentlemen if you’ll excuse me I have a new splatter and dodge head-cannon to develop.” Me: PFFTTT

[@inevitableanarchy4203]

Sounds like a fun idea for a series. Would love to see more videos about unique/interesting engines and railroad vehicles.

[@andresdeleon5160]

That is incredibly interesting

[@West_Coast_Gang]

I was just discussing early BR diesels

[@goldenthomas6530]

I’d love to see an episode on the Garret. For one it’s my favorite engine type and two it’s a very unknown engine class.

[@antontherage8373]

Yes please continue this type of content!

[@briandesens144]

Awesome video trainboy

[@ItsTrainBoy]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much! :)

[@roberthuron9160]

Add to the mix,both Alco and Baldwin made Cow and Calf sets! One especially interesting one,was the units on the Southern Pacific,as they were C-C road units! And there were also the Train Masters converted into Hump Slugs! The Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe,were noted for producing home made units for their own use,and that started in steam days,as they were so far from the East Coast,where the manufacturers,were located! So when diesels came in,the shops can and did the same!! A notable rebuild done by the ATSF was the CF7,which took,F7 cab units,and made them into road switchers,and the railroad got at least another 20 years of use out of them! More than a few short lines have them in operation!! Thanks 😊!

[@user-oo8xp2rf1k]

My friend's Dad drove us for an hour to Tinsley in 1981 so we could see these great locos. It was pretty misty then, like in the videos.

[@MegaSuperfatguy]

This is same solution the Pennsylvania Railroad had in 1910 for the problem of getting to Sunnyside yard; two units coupled together. The DD1 locomotive was the DC electric answer. Was the most powerful electric unit in the world at the time. One survives in Strasburg, PA

[@RailRide]

There's also the BB-1 switcher, used in pairs linked with a drawbar and classed as BB-3. (I have a video of models of these tooling around my excuse for a layout :) )

[@joelightrailway2362]

Wow, great video of the class 13s 👍👍 I think it quite a shame that non of them being preserved as they would be useful on heritage railways to have a powerful shunting locomotive not only for shunting locos in the yard, but hauling a four or five coach passenger trains. That was a great video to talk about these unusual diesel locomotives and my personal choice in your next one is O2 class tank engine.

[@mattchandler2380]

You might be interested to know that a similar thing was done with tractors in new Zealand and it became so popular some manufacturers began making them from the factory

[@crimsondynamo615]

I’m totally for this being Splatter and Dodge now. Would even work with how Diesel 10 calls them Splodge. “I ain’t got time to say both names, and besides with you two being connected it makes more sense!” “That sounds rude boss.” “Nyeah it does, I think.”

[@imatrainperson1195]

Some interesting engines that I hardly see any attention over are literally any 4-8-4s other than the Daylights, FEFs, J classes or Niagara’s. There are so many others out there that should have some light shed on them. That being said this does look like an interesting series and I’m looking forward to the next episodes.

[@bigbuffersproductions]

I wanna see somebody make a o c out of this loco great video trainboy

[@godzillahomer]

Love it Why not the LSWR 4-6-0 trio of the N15, S15, and H15.

[@godzillahomer]

@barnabyjoy yeah, they're the less successful LSWR 4-6-0s

[@paulmishler402]

If you really want to know an interesting shunter, or switcher I should say, there are the Union railroad’s 0-10-2’s aka the king of the switchers

[@LeaveTheMark_YT]

I highly recommend the NZR EO and EA Classes! Electric locomotives specifically designed for hauling freight through a huge long, steep tunnel!

[@andymath1523]

There was also some radio controlled 08's they were quite successful we use to for tipping coal trains The cabs were left on and they could be driven just same as conventional 08

[@thegreenb1747]

Strange a long time ago in this game called "wooden sodor" and a long time splodge use to be those engines but now there not there anymore

[@Fatduck-nm3jj]

Pls continue this series

[@TheWhiffster]

Wow so good my suggestion is the Gwr 4073 class

[@lastationproductions]

Very informative video I want to see this splatter and dodge head cannon you have lol

[@emjackson2289]

Id have loved to have seen one of those rocking up at London Kings Cross simply because it was something to do. Given they are a massive feature of Yorkshire railways - one should have been kept for the NRM at York.

[@gabrielthee2tankengine792]

"master unit and slave unit" i can already tell someone is going to have fun with this

[@lloydpenfold486]

Master unit's panels covered in black leather, and slave unit painted flesh colour?

[@gabrielthee2tankengine792]

@@lloydpenfold486 maybe

[@minecraft_bi4301]

What an Interesting Class of engine witch a sham it never made it to preservation

[@TropicalMiloGaming]

This man right here introduced me to this channel!

[@minecraft_bi4301]

Lol also welcome milo

[@TropicalMiloGaming]

@@minecraft_bi4301 lol

[@thomaszinser8714]

I'd love to see you making a video about one of the various classes of Garratt locomotive that were developed.

[@bobingabout]

Splatter and Dodge as a class 13. Officially now named "Splodge" to save time.

[@pollyjackson-dzacchaeus1342]

i got an idea for 1 fowlers ghost(basically it was a fireless steam engine)

[@edwardvincentbriones5062]

Also, Sentinel steam shunters are unique on their own.

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

Obviously inspired by the French railways system around the 60s: using the coupling of C-61000+TC61000 (a 0-6-0 diesel shunter permanently linked to a cabin-less 0-6-0 truck) applied to the same specific task in marshalling yards with hump sorting.

[@CuldeeLDM]

0:06 rip Rebecca

[@shaunsstuff1249]

Hey loved the class 13 video, would like to see video on the fowler class?

[@nerfreak01]

My headcanon is yet there were FOUR class 13s at Tinsley. The fourth not being Splodge but 'Arry and Bert.

[@gamerjosh5686]

What about the ger a 55 or big bertha the 0-10-0 in y opinion is quite a pwerfull looking configuration

[@brenlc1412]

I didn't know what a human centipede was until this video so I Googled it. One word: DON'T.

[@Lamp_2155]

I’ve always loved the class 13

[@wills_corner]

The Erie Triplex would be cool, I belive it was a 2-8-8-8-2. Also, a Garrett, PLEASE

[@willemdakevin1681]

Garrett and Fairley locos are pretty cool

[@Hackbeck_Stream]

you should make a video about the bulleid leader! i think you would do a great job with that

[@sachielw.s.demayo3920]

Imagine trainboy's head Canon is that splatter and dodge were never seen again cuz they were the ones who was coupled permanently and was scrapped

[@kathyhavelka7612]

Here’s an idea - was there any serious proposals or talks of an articulated, mallet-type locomotive in Britain?

[@Alex-cw3rz]

there was one on paper design by Beyer, Peacock & Co. Which was a "mallett-garrett" so combo design, an 8 cylinder quadruplex 2-6-6-2+2-6-6-2 behemoth. There were some normal mallett's actually produced but just for export.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@barnabyjoy oh I didn't know about that one I'll look it up edit : just did it would have been made at the closest loco works to me if they had made it! Such a shame they didn't

[@Glitchonyx]

BIG BERTHA, and the BIG BOY are the only two I'd like to hear more about. Maybe also those little unique box engines (for reference, the ones like Neil)

[@RealWarnerus]

When I was a kid I was "enthralled" with the Big Boy & challenger (both built by Union Pacific) since they both had two sets of wheels and, as far as I know, they're the biggest steam engines ever built. I've heard the Big Boy alone could pull a mile (1.6 km) length worth of train with hardly any trouble.

[@ErickC]

If the train was light enough and the terrain was level enough, sure. The Big Boy might have been powerful for a steam locomotive of its time, but a single ES44 will outpull the Big Boy by a considerable margin. You don't see single ES44s handling mile-long coal trains in mountainous terrain... so a Big Boy definitely wouldn't be managing it. Power doesn't pull trains, tractive effort does. Power just determines the speed at which that tractive effort will occur.

[@bohemianearspoon8493]

This reminds my of the Santa Fe 3000 class, I don’t know why but it just does

[@exarkun42]

Look into the PRR S1. An engine that looked awesome, but was an.awesome failure

[@liamgooding121]

Love it

[@michaelwalker1145]

There is a scale model of the loco and its yard on KZbin, Tinsley Yard. Its a OO gauge layout.

[@austinmetro6317]

Yes, I like this video

[@balancedbreakfastboy6381]

British railways executives: What is 8 plus 8? Its 13

[@frogmouth2]

Why was the cab removed? Because we really needed another couple inches of scrap metal, okay?

[@davidwhiting1761]

Almost like a yard slug in the US, the difference being that the master unit coupled to the slug is the only unit providing horsepower while the slug provides pure tractive effort, powering its traction motors from the power of the master unit.

[@tomogotchi9140]

I made up a Thomas character based on this class, a female named Ruth, but used only the slave model as a basis as I was not aware it needed a master permanently coupled to it at the time. Nice video.

[@dizzydez499]

I'd say check out the BR GT3 locomotive, The C&O M1 Turbine, "Fowlers Ghost", or the Russian "Aerowagon" (and maybe the UP M-10001)

[@AlasdairMacCaluim]

Someone should make a new class 13 as there are so many preserved 08s out there!

[@safeguardprime5914]

I sense a new model of yours being made based on this

[@harizzafran7973]

The way you put it makes it seems like Splatter and Dodge were conjoined twins at birth only to be split up later

[@bazboyd44]

Hope to see the fontaine on here, that ones weird and cool

[@fastoutnotforkids7192]

Would like to see you try and make a model out of this class. Lol.

[@ItsTrainBoy]

Me too, I just dunno if it’d be something like Splatter and Dodge (I need to make a Dodge anyway) or a realistic actual model of the real thing. AND in what scale 😅

[@fastoutnotforkids7192]

@@ItsTrainBoy i say make the real life one first. To get a better understanding on how to make a splatter and dodge 13 class train idea. That away you know exactly what your doing so you don't brake splatter or dodge as you make them into this idea and maybe be able to change between the two being front runner cabless or with cab behind. So you can have them be splatter and Dodge or dodge and splatter. But thats just me. Lol. Ps maybe ho scale. Cuz splatter is already ho scale. Lol

[@GodTrustful]

The new Union Pacific Big Boy

[@andyhill242]

I've heard of class 13s before, but I haven't seen photographs of them before.

[@kevinpoole6233]

there is a very intresting loco you might be intresting in, that is Big bentra, aka the licky banker

[@OliverWalker_official]

I would love if one of these was preserved

[@the700shunter8]

Maybe have a look at the LSWR 700 Class 'Black Motors' or the LSWR T14 'Paddlebox'

[@Rob_Star]

@TrainBoy you should do the class 89

[@JangoF12b]

If thomas and friends would've continued in CGI, and been good still It would've been cool for this style of locomotive appear in the show with a face on the back of the Master unit, and one on the front of the Slave unit

[@edwardvincentbriones5062]

The Pacific tank and the very first pacific tender locomotive is an interesting subject.

[@bluebellsfan8704]

Great video! What about the UP (Union Pacific) turbine locomotive? Or the GNR J50?

[@LMS5935]

Am I the only one who knew he was going to say something about one of the twin 08s?

[@ItsTrainBoy]

I mean, I do at the end haha 🤣

[@LMS5935]

@@ItsTrainBoy yeah I edited it to knew

[@RoboticBanana]

You should talk about the q1 a very unique engine. It was the engine that Neville was based on in thanks and friends

[@natebaldwin976]

Hey train boy go check out the w1 hush hush its such an interesting design

[@ryanchapman2636]

Holy crap, these were made in Darlington, my home town