Andrew Barclay 486 (Meaford No. 4)

Meaford No. 4 / Andrew Barclay 486 is an example of a number of diesel-hydraulic shunters built by the firm in the mid-1960s mainly for power stations and the MOD.

Information
Built: 1964
Builder: Andrew Barclay
Engine: Rolls Royce C8SFL diesel
Power: 311 hp (232 kW)
Wheel arrangement: 0-6-0

Built in 1964 [1], AB486 operated at a number of power stations. After being built it worked at West Burton power station before transferring to Meaford Power Station (as its No. 4 loco) in 1979. Coal traffic to the power station ended in the mid-1980s, National Power (as the CEGB had become by then) donated No. 4 to the Foxfield Railway in 1990 where it still resides.

To cope with tight curves despite being an 0-6-0 the middle wheels are flangeless. The relatively large cab is designed to give good visibility in all directions.
Two views of Meaford No. 4 at the Foxfield Railway

The locomotive carries the name Clive

[1] Industrial Locomotives (13th Edition), (Industrial Railway Society, 2003) p. 194

Class 332 Heathrow Express

The Class 332 EMUs are used exclusively on the Heathrow Express out of London Paddington. The trains leave for the airport every fifteen minutes on a non-stop journey which takes fifteen minutes. Similar units known as the Class 333 operate in the North of England.

Information
Number built: 61 (14 4 and 5 car sets)
Built: 1997-98, 2002
Builder: CAF Siemens
Engine: 4 Siemens traction motors (25kV AC OHLE)
Power: 1, 877 hp (1, 400 kW)
Formation: Driving Motor First Open (DMFO)+Trailer Standard Open (TSO)
+Pantograph Trailer Standard Open Kavatory (PTSOL)+
Driving Motor Standard Open (DMSO) or
DMSO+TSO+PTSOL+Driving Motor First Lavatory Open (DMFLO)
(5 car sets have an extra TSO)

The EMUs were originally delivered as three-car sets but have been reformed as four and five car sets with further car deliveries. There are nine four-car sets and five five-car sets [1]. They were the first electric trains to operate on the Great Western Main Line after a portion was electrified as far as the airport junction.
332 012 passes through Ealing Broadway heading for Paddington

332 001 up on jacks at the Heathrow Express depot at Old Oak Common

Interior of 332 003

Another view inside Old Oak Common depot

Cab of 332 003

332 006 waits to depart at London Paddington

[1] Colin J. Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 266

London Underground R Stock

The R Stock was built for the Circle and District Lines to replace life-expired hand operated door stock. The stock was a mixture of new build and converted Q38 Stock. They served until being replaced by D78 Stock in the early 1980s.

Information
Number built: 378 (including conversions)
Built: 1949-59 (3 production batches)
Builder: Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, Metro-Cammell,
Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company
Engine: British Thomson-Houston traction equipment (630v DC fourth rail)
Formation: Driving Motor (DM)+Non Driving Motor (NDM)+NDM+NDM
or NDM+DM

The first batch of R Stock was the R47 Stock which was built by the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Companies, they were joined by converted (by GRWC) Q Stock trailers known as R38/1. The second batch was built by Metro-Cammell as the R49 Stock. The earlier R Stock was built from steel but R49 was built from aluminium alloy [1]. As the aluminium was corrosion resistant they were also left unpainted. This combined with the alloy to make R49 cars 16% lighter than R47s [2] - giving a 12% saving in energy [3]. There was also a third and final batch of trains (also by Metro-Cammell) known as the R59 Stock.

Externally the R Stock was similar to the earlier Q Stock with a flare to the bottom of the car sides. Stock was semi-permanently coupled in 4-car and 2-car sets which could be combined to form 6 or 8 car trains. Later on all train formations were modified with some 4-car sets reduced to 3 cars and some increased to 5.

Some R Stock was withdrawn due to being surplus in the early 1970s but the rest survived until the early 1980s with the final withdrawal in March 1983. Three cars have been preserved.
Preserved DM 22679 at LTM Acton

Cab of 22679

Aboard 22679

[1] Paul Moss, London Underground (Haynes, 2014) p. 110
[2] Brian Hardy, Underground Train File Surface Stock 1933-1959 (Capital Transport, 2002) p. 78
[3] Piers Connor, The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood Press, 2015) p. 139

Ruston & Hornsby 165 series (including Class D1/3 and Class 97/6)

Ruston & Hornsby built hundreds of small industrial shunters between 1947 and the mid-1960s [1], they were known as the 165 series and had diesel-mechanical and diesel-electric transmission versions and also versions with both 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 wheel arrangements.

Although most went to industrial users two 165DS 0-4-0 shunters were sold to British Railways as the Class DY1, later renamed D1/3 [2]. Incidentally the prototype of this type of shunter was loaned to the LNER for a short period just before nationalisation for testing and evaluation though nothing more came of this at the time. The two D1/3s worked in the Stratford area until withdrawal in the late 1960s. One was preserved along with a good number of ex-industrial 165s which are a common sight on preserved railways.

Information for Class D1/3
Number built: 2
Built: 1956
Builder: Ruston & Hornsby
Engine: Ruston 6VPHL diesel
Power: 165 hp (123 kW)
Wheel arrangement: 0-4-0

Five 0-6-0 165DE shunters were also bought for departmental service by BR Western Region's civil engineering department, the first arriving in 1952 and the rest 1959 [3]. These were known as the Class 97/6 [4] and served until the late 1980s and early 90s at locations like Radyr, Taunton, Reading and Swindon [5] mainly shunting long welded rail trains [6]. Three of these locomotives have been preserved.
Former 97/6 PWM654 preserved at the Heritage Shunters Trust, Rowsley South

D2961 at Bridgnorth, SVR

Former BIP Chemicals shunter 31920 (165DM) seen at Highley, SVR

GEC 424841 165DE Roman at Foxfield Railway

Another view of PWM654

[1] Ray Hooley, Engine Production Years <http://www.oldengine.org/members/ruston/Production5.htm>
[2] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 52
[3] Paul Smith & Shirley Smith, British Rail Departmental Locomotives 1948-1968 (Ian Allan, 2014) p. 19
[4] Haresnape, Shunters p. 79
[5] Colin J. Marsden, Departmental Stock (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 108
[6] Heritage Shunters Trust Stock List (2016) p. 12