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British Rail Class 14

The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways' Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was trip working movements between local yards and short-distance freight trains.[2] The good all-around visibility from the cab and dual controls also made them capable of being used for shunting duties. The order was expanded from 26 to 56 in mid-1963, before work had started on the first order. They were numbered D9500-D9555.[5]

Technical details

In July 1964, the first of a class of 56 locomotives appeared from Swindon Works.[2] These were later designated as TOPS Class 14 by British Railways. They are known as 'Teddy Bears' by enthusiasts, following a comment by Swindon Works' erecting shop foreman George Cole who quipped "We've built The Great Bear, now we're going to build a 'Teddy Bear'!"[6]

In outline they have a cab offset from the centre with bonnets at each end, with a fixed 0-6-0 wheel configuration rather than bogies as seen on all the other Type 1 classes. The locomotives were powered by a Paxman 6-cylinder Ventura 6YJXL engine with a Napier turbocharger producing 650 bhp (485 kW), connected to a Voith L217U hydraulic transmission and Hunslet final drive.[1] The axles were connected by coupling rods and driven by a jackshaft located under the cab, between the second and third axles. The plate frames were of 11⁄4 inch steel and deep buffer beams almost to rail level. One was of similar thickness to the frames, the other of 5 inch thick steel to act as ballast and to even out weight distribution.[2]

Operations and preservation

Originally all were allocated to depots on the Western Region of British Railways, but in January 1967 twenty were sent to Hull (Dairycoates) on the Eastern Region (ER), followed by thirteen more later the same year. At Hull they were intended for work around the docks, but the tasks were beyond the capabilities of a single locomotive; and since two locomotives required two sets of crew, they were not popular with the region. In 1968, all 33 ER locomotives were placed in storage, and were subsequently withdrawn on 1 April that year.[7]

The Class 14s, like many other early diesel types, had an extremely short life with British Railways – in this case not because of poor reliability, but because many of its envisaged duties disappeared on the BR network as a result of the Beeching cuts.[8] BR started to dispose of members of the class from mid 1968, and the entire class had been sold to industry or scrapped by the end of 1970. In their new careers in industry, many had a working life two to three times longer than that with British Railways. The industries in which they were employed, such as coal mining, declined during the 1970s and the class again became surplus to requirements. Several have since found a third lease of life on preserved lines where they are ideal for both light passenger work and with works trains on the maintenance of permanent way.

D9555 and D9520 run round their train at Rawtenstall on the East Lancashire Railway during the Class 14 at 50 Gala in July 2014

Unusually, D9504 was leased in 2005 from its preservation group and found itself in revenue-earning service on the newest mainline in the UK – High Speed 1 (known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link during construction) – mainly in marshalling and stabling the 450 metre, 22-wagon concrete-pumping train on the final stretch to St. Pancras Station.[9]

D9524 was re-engined under the ownership of BP Grangemouth. It was later re-engined again under the ownership of the Scottish RPS who, following BR practice, gave it the number 14901. It now operates with a Rolls-Royce DV8TCE (640 bhp) power unit.[10]

The last of the class to be built, D9555, was the final locomotive constructed for British Railways at Swindon Works, in 1965; today it is privately owned and operates on the Dean Forest Railway, Gloucestershire – its original route.

In July 2014, the East Lancashire Railway hosted ten preserved members of the class as a celebration of the 50 years since their entry into service.[11]

Fleet

Models

Hattons Model Railways commissioned Danish company Heljan to produce a limited run in OO gauge in three liveries.[17] Since then, they have announced plans for further examples, still in limited numbers, but in a wider variety of liveries.

In 2010, Graham Farish introduced a BR blue Class 14 in British N gauge.[18]

Minerva Model Railways announced the production of a ready-to-run O gauge (7mm Finescale) model in May 2019. Delivery commenced in February 2022 following delays due to incorrect cab colour on the initial supplies.[19]

In 2011 a 7 1/4" gauge model of D9522 won best locomotive and best model in show at the national model engineering exhibition in Harrogate.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Hembry, P.J. (1982). Class 14, The Cinderellas of the Diesel-hydraulic Era. Sutton Coalfield: Diesel & Electric Group. ISBN 0-906375-09-6.
  2. ^ a b c d "New BR 650hp Type 1 Diesel-Hydraulic Locomotive". Modern Railways. August 1964. pp. 106–107.
  3. ^ Flowers, Andy (December 2006). Pigott, Nick (ed.). "'Teddy Bears' – the locos BR put to bed early". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 152, no. 1268. London: IPC Media. p. 42.
  4. ^ Strickland, D.C. (March 1983). D+EG Locomotive Directory. Camberley: Diesel & Electric Group. p. 65. ISBN 0-906375-10-X.
  5. ^ "14 0-6-0". Brdatabase.info. 30 September 2002. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  6. ^ Flowers 2006, p. 41
  7. ^ Flowers 2006, p. 43
  8. ^ Dunn, Pip (November 2008). "Class 14 – workaholics". Hornby Magazine. No. 17. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 26–27. ISSN 1753-2469. OCLC 226087101.
  9. ^ Staines, David (December 2007). "High-speed one: a 'Teddy Bear's picnic!". Railways Illustrated. pp. 22–25.
  10. ^ "BR Swindon Class 14: 14 901". Andrew Briddon Locos. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  11. ^ "Big 'Teddy Bear' gathering marks 50th anniversary". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 160, no. 1, 362. September 2014. p. 95. ISSN 0033-8923.
  12. ^ British Rail Locoshed Book. Shepperton: Ian Allan. February 1968. pp. 32–33. ISBN 0-7110-0004-2.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Industrial Locomotives 1982 including preserved and minor railway locomotives. Industrial Railway Society. 1982. pp. 240, 256. ISBN 0901096-43-1.
  14. ^ Marsden, Colin J. (November 1984). BR Locomotive Numbering. Shepperton: Ian Allan. pp. 248–9. ISBN 0-7110-1445-0.
  15. ^ a b Industrial Locomotives 1973 including preserved and minor railway locomotives. Industrial Railway Society. 1973. ISBN 0-901096-18-0.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Industrial Locomotives 1982 including preserved and minor railway locomotives. Industrial Railway Society. 1982. p. 16. ISBN 0-901096-43-1.
  17. ^ Wild, Mike (March 2010). "Hattons exclusive Class 14 arrives". Hornby Magazine. No. 33. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 72–73. ISSN 1753-2469. OCLC 226087101.
  18. ^ Wild, Mike (December 2010). "Bachmann Farish Class 14 Arrives". Hornby Magazine. No. 42. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 74–75. ISSN 1753-2469. OCLC 226087101.
  19. ^ "NEWS: Class 14 'Teddies' in 'O' from Minerva". British Railway Modelling. 11 May 2019.

Further reading

External links

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