British Diesels and Electrics: October 2018

Class 108 (BR Derby General Branch Line and Local Services 2,3,4-car)

The Class 108 was the second of the so-called "Derby Lightweight" DMUs being a lot lighter in construction than other units like the Class 114. The Class 108 was designed for branch line and local services having a low-density interior and toilets and were allocated to British Rail's London Midland and Eastern Regions [1]. They served as 3 or 4-car sets, some later reverting to 2-cars, until the early 1990s. Some cars with first class accommodation were later declassified to second/standard [2].

Information
Number built:	333 cars
Built:	1958-61
Builder:	BR Derby
Motor:	2 BUT AEC / Leyland 6-cyl diesels
Power:	300 hp (220 kW)
Formation:	Driving Motor Brake Standard (MBS)+[Trailer Brake Standard Lavatory (TBSL)+Trailer Standard Lavatory (TSL)]+Driving Motor Composite Lavatory (DMCL)/ Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory (DTCL)

Because of the good condition of the Class 108 units on withdrawal a number went into departmental service and also preservation. Over 30 cars are currently preserved and most of these operational on various heritage lines.

Two preserved 2-car sets at Bewdley on the SVR

Class 108 cab

Another preserved Class 108 at Duffield on the EVR

Crossing the yard at Kidderminster SVR

At Bewdley SVR

Another view at Duffield EVR

[1] Colin J. Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 53
[2] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Multiple Units - the First Generation (Ian Allan, 1985) p. 50

Bournemouth Corporation Tramways

Bournemouth Corporation Tramways served the town from 1902 until the closure of the system in 1936. The complete system had a route length of about twenty six kilometres, and included the Poole & District Electric Tramway which the Bournemouth Corporation took a lease on in 1905. Originally the tramway used a mixture of overhead and conduit electric collection though later switched to entirely overhead. The tramway at it's peak had one hundred and fifty two tramcars of which all but one were double decker. The tramway was to 1, 067mm gauge unlike the majority of tramways though the same as neighbouring systems.

Information for standard bogie cars
Number built:	86
Built:	1902-1926
Builder:	G.F. Milnes, Brush, United Electric Car Company
Motor:	2 Westinghouse 226N electric motors (DC OHLE)
Power:	80 hp (60 kW)

Eighty six of the tramways were standard bogie cars which were built over a twenty-four year period. Although there were some detail differences such as with the seating and stairs the latter batch of tramcars were not very different to the original ones built by G.F. Milnes [1]. The preserved tramcar Number 85 was one of a batch of ten built in 1914 by the United Electric Car Company. It survived the end of the Bournemouth system being one of ten tramcars sold to the Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway Company and continued to work there until 1956.

Number 85 preserved at Crich

Number 85 is preserved as it was in Bournemouth service

Interior

[1] R.W. Rush, British Electric Tramcar Design 1885-1950 (Oxford Publishing, 1976) p. 51

Class 76 (LNER / British Railways / Metropolitan Vickers 1,300hp DC Electric Locomotive EM1)

The Class 76 was Sir Nigel Gresley's only mainline electric locomotive design and the last completed locomotive design he worked on before his death in 1941 [1]. The first locomotive was completed in LNER colours in 1940 though it then spent the rest of the war in limbo as the electrification of the line it was intended for had been suspended due to the war! [2] After the war the locomotive spent some time working in the Netherlands on loan [3]. The suspended electrification of the Woodhead Tunnel route between Manchester and Sheffield was completed in the early 1950s, using 1, 500v DC overhead collection, a developed version of the original LNER design was chosen and built for this route [4].

Information
Number built:	58
Built:	1940, 1950-53
Builder:	LNER / BR Gorton
Motor:	4 Metropolitan-Vickers 186 traction motors (1, 500v DC OHLE)
Power:	1, 300 hp (969 kW) - higher power output available for limited periods
Wheel arrangement:	Bo+Bo

The production EM1 class it was known (later classified as Class 76) had a number of improvements thanks to invaluable experience with running the prototype on the Continent. It proved to be a highly reliable locomotive on British metals. However it always suffered from a rough ride especially at speed [5] with the bogies being coupled together via an articulated joint (hence Bo+Bo) giving problems. Remedial work helped improved matters and riding [6]. Although designed for mixed traffic the Class 76 spent much of its time on freight traffic, often coal traffic. This however dwindled throughout the 1970s and the Woodhead Line was closed in 1981 [7].

Although when built the Class 76 (and its express passenger counterpart the Class 77) had been probably the most advanced trains in Britain, BR had standardised on AC overhead collection not DC (outside of the Southern Region third rail network of course) so when their line was closed they had nowhere else to go to. One complete Class 76 has been preserved and is with the National Railway Museum in York, a cab has also been preserved at the Manchester science museum.

26020 at the NRM York

26020 is preserved in British Railways black livery

26020 in BR days, photographer/location unknown (KJD Collection)

Another view of 26020, note the raised pantograph

Preserved cab of 76 039

Front of 76 039

[1] David McIntosh, Gresley's Legacy (Ian Allan, 2015) p. 135
[2] Colin J. Marsden (ed.), "BR/LNER Bo-Bo - EM1 Class 76", Modern Locomotives Illustrated No. 215 October-November 2015 (DC Electric Locomotives) p. 40
[3] R.L. Vickers, DC Electric Trains and Locomotives in the British Isles (David & Charles, 1986) p. 61
[4] Alan Whitehouse, The Woodhead Route (Ian Allan, 2014) p. 12
[5] Whitehouse, Woodhead p. 13
[6] Brian Haresnape, Electric Locomotives (Ian Allan, 1983) p, 25
[7] John Glover, BR Diary (Ian Allan, 1985) p. 62

Baguley-Drewry 3702-3704

Baguley-Drewry built three battery-electric shunters for the MOD in the early 1970s for use at the then secret RAF Chilmark underground weapons store in Wiltshire. They were built to 610mm gauge.

Information
Number built:	3
Built:	1973
Builder:	Baguley-Drewry
Motor:	Battery-electric
Power:	50 hp (37 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	4wBE

The locomotives were re-built by Andrew Barclay in 1987 and remained in service until the closure of the base in 1994. All three have been preserved, 3702 as displayed here is preserved as NG23 on the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, it arrived in 2010 having first being preserved at the RAF Museum.

NG23 at Page's Park

London Underground 1967 Tube Stock

The Victoria Line was built in the 1960s and the first new deep-level "tube" line to be built for over fifty years. The 1967 Tube Stock was built for the new line and was the first stock with Automatic Train Operation (ATO) from new - some older tube sets had been converted to ATO for testing (see below). The 1967 Tube Stock served on the Victoria Line until 2011 when it was replaced by the 2009 Tube Stock [1].

Automatic Train Operation (ATO)
Under ATO trains basically drive themselves with the driver largely reduced in role to overseeing everything is working as it should. The isolated Woodfood-Hainault section of the Central Line was used to develop ATO in the 1960s using converted 1960 Tube Stock [2]. When the 1967 Tube Stock began to arrive after 1967 trains were tested on the section [3] before moving onto the Victoria though a small number stayed on the line for revenue services. These were recalled to the Victoria by the early 1980s due to rising traffic demand.

Information
Number built:	316 cars in 4-car sets (in 8 car formations) 31 cars later converted from 1972 Mk 1 Stock
Built:	1967-69
Builder:	Metro-Cammell
Motor:	4 Crompton Parkinson/Brush LT115 traction motors per motor car (630v DC fourth rail)
Power:	1, 138 hp (848 kW) (8-car formation)
Formation:	Driving Motor (DM) + Trailer (T) + T + DM (x 2)

The 1967 Tube Stock trains were based on previous tube stock like the 1959 Stock [4] though were the first tube trains to be aesthetically designed by a industrial designer and not an engineer. They bought a lot of new features to the Underground as well as ATO including rheostatic braking, fluorescent lighting and improved windows. Although marshalled in 4-car sets the 1967 Tube Stock usually operated in 8-car formations and could be regarded as semi-permanently coupled as so. Like the Waterloo & City Line the Victoria Line is entirely underground however the main depot for the Victoria Line at Northumberland Park is in the daylight at least! [5]

Some cars from the follow-on 1972 Mk 1 Tube Stock fleet were later converted to 1967 standard to augment the fleet and the fleet received a heavy refurbishment in the early 1990s [6]. Following withdrawal a number of 1967 cars have been preserved (some as cab ends [7]) and a number of cars have also begun a new lease of life in the engineering fleet as part of the new Tunnel Cleaning and Asset Inspection Trains [8][9].

3052 preserved at London Transport Museum Depot, Acton

Another 1967TS cab preserved at Acton

Interior of 3052

Other end of 3052

Cab of 3052, HRH The Queen was in this cab to officially open the Victoria Line

3052 with a Class 487 to the left

[1] John Scott Morgan, London Underground in Colour Since 1955 (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 68
[2] Piers Connor, The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood, 2015) p. 156
[3] J. Graeme Bruce & Desmond F. Coombe, The Twopenny Tube (Capital Transport, 1996) p. 69
[4] John Glover, ABC London Underground (Ian Allan, 1997) p.60
[5] John Glover, London Underground Rolling Stock in Colour (Ian Allan, 2009) p. 55
[6] Rolling Stock Data Sheet <https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/66598/response/170252/attach/4/Rolling stock Data Sheet 2nd Edition 1.pdf>
[7] A number are at the Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum (Underground News Number 651 March 2016)
[8] Underground News Number 652 April 2016 p. 188
[9] "A new Tunnel Cleaning Train for London Underground London Underground" p. 14 <http://www.cleanair.london/wp-content/uploads/CAL-226-Tunnel-cleaning-train_FOI-EIR-July-2012.pdf>

Blackpool Corporation Standard Cars

Blackpool Corporation Transport, which had amalgamated with the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad in 1920, were in desperate need of new trams by the early 1920s. The Standard Cars were built to be fully enclosed and more geared to commuter traffic than earlier trams which had prioritised the tourist trade (and had been rather open to the elements).

Information
Number built:	42
Built:	1923-29
Builder:	Blackpool Corporation Transport Dept. / Hurst Nelson
Motor:	2 British Thomson-Houston B265C electric motors (550v DC OHLE)
Power:	70 hp (52 kW)

The trams were all double deckers and originally with open balconies though later refits enclosed these also on some trams. The trams were built at Blackpool Corporation's own workshop, for accounting reasons some trams were classed as "rebuilds" of earlier trams made by Hurst Nelson though very little in practice was retained.

Although withdrawals began in the 1940s the Standard Cars survived in service until 1966. One of the preserved cars, Number 40, which was withdrawn in 1963, was the last open balcony tram (and hence first generation electric tram) to remain in service in the country.

Number 40 at Crich Tramway Museum

Number 49, also at Crich

Another view of Number 40

The open balcony is fully visible in this view of Number 40

W.G. Bagnall 3147-3150

No. 3150 is one of three diesel-mechanical shunters built by W. G. Bagnall in 1959 for operation at the NCB Wolstanton colliery in Stoke-on-Trent.

Information
Number built:	3
Built:	1959
Builder:	W. G. Bagnall
Motor:	Gardner 8L3 diesel
Power:	204 hp (152 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	0-6-0DM

While the three shunters were built to the standard W. G. Bagnall design mechanically they were very similar to the British Rail Class 03.

Wolstanton No. 3, as 3150 was known, worked at the colliery until production winded down in 1985. It was sold for scrap but rescued for preservation and has been on the Foxfield Railway ever since. The other two locomotives were scrapped.