Whistling wonders
It’s 60 years ago this year that English Electric’s Class 40 took to the rails. Richard Foster takes an in-depth look at the famous ‘Whistler’.
An in-depth look at the English Electric Class 40.
It’s apparent that the EE Type 4 was designed at a time when BR was still building steam locomotives
It’s Crewe station in the mid-1980s. Spotters’ ears prick up at the distinctive, high-pitched whistling of an approaching locomotive. Sure enough, the nose of a Class 40 appears, its long flanks streaked with dust, dirt and rust. Someone has tried to restore a bit of pride in it by hand-painting a name on the side, but it looks much like every other member of the BR fleet at the time – a tired and weary old workhorse desperately in need of an overhaul. What may not be apparent to those spotters is that the Class 40 was not just another old diesel design. It was an important stepping stone between the pioneering diesel-electrics of the ‘Big Four’ and the all-conquering, mass-produced BR diesel fleet. It was, at the time of its launch, BR’S most powerful diesel… and that launch took place 60 years ago this year. It’s easy to assume, given their overall shape with long noses, that the English Electric Type 4 – later Class 40 – owes its origins to the two LMS 1,600hp locomotives designed by H.G. Ivatt, in conjunction with English Electric. However, the Type 4 used the English Electric 16SVT engine and transmission of Oliver Bulleid’s experimental 10203, built for the Southern Region at Brighton Works in 1954. Even the four-axle bogie, designed by Southern Railway engineer Percy Bollen, made its way onto EE’S new locomotive. Ten were ordered as part of British Railways’ Pilot Scheme and the pioneer, D200, entered service on the Eastern Region in March 1958. BR upped the order to a further 190 before the first ten had entered service. It’s apparent that the EE Type 4 was designed at a time when BR was still building steam locomotives – it was a behemoth! It weighed 136 tons and was nearly 70ft long. The ‘40’s’ bulk was supported by those bogies, which included an un-powered pony axle to distribute the weight.
INTO SERVICE
The Eastern Region didn’t think much of the new design. 2,000hp was not enough to make an impression on the London-norwich main line, where it didn’t offer much improvement over a top-notch ‘Britannia’. Despite this, the Eastern Region did use its Type 4s on named trains, including the ‘Master Cutler’ and the ‘Flying Scotsman’. However, power
and reliability issues and the introduction of the 3,000hp EE Type 5 ‘Deltics’ forced the Type 4s off such prestigious duties. The London Midland Region was less fussy and welcomed the 2,000hp machines with open arms, allocating them to London-liverpool/manchester and London-glasgow/edinburgh services. However, the growing electrification of West Coast lines made the ‘40s’ that had been working Euston express trains somewhat redundant. In turn, this resulted in Type 4s moving to the North Wales coast. As the 1970s dawned, Type 4s were increasingly used on Eastern, London Midland and Scottish Region parcels and freight trains.
NEW NUMBERS
BR’S Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) was introduced in 1973 and the Type 4 became the Class 40. The complete implementation of the new numbering system took just over a year, and during that time the ‘40’ fleet was renumbered chronologically. D201-321 became 40001-121 and D323-399 became 40123-199. Only D200 didn’t fit the sequence – it became 40122. 40189 and 40190 were withdrawn in January 1976, both due to accident damage. Over the next couple of years, a reduction in freight traffic would cause the withdrawal of more ‘40s’, and by 1979 the presence of Class 47s, along with air-conditioned Mk 2s on North Wales coastal services, would erode the workload of the ‘40s’ even further. However, the freight workload was set to improve thanks to the assigning of ‘40s’ to haul steel and Teesside oil trains to Shotton. In Yorkshire, alas, the presence of the ‘40s’ was short-lived due to the introduction of Class 56s.
Class 40s in the North West regularly hauled civil engineering trains, as well as both passenger and freight services over the gruelling Settle-carlisle line. London Midland Region ‘40s’ worked various freights – newspaper, oil, and Freightliner container trains. The workload of Scotland-based ‘40s’ remained constant. However, from 1979, Class 45s and 47s would force out Class 40-worked passenger services from the Eastern Region. By the end of the 1980s, the class would be beset by further withdrawals. And in December 1982, the ‘40’ hit an ominous milestone: 50% of the fleet had been withdrawn. For the most part, outdated locomotives which had not been fitted with air brakes had been targeted. 40009, now the
only vacuum-only ‘40’ in service, managed to evade withdrawal until November 1984. Freight had become the ‘40s’ bread and butter and, by 1982, Settle-carlisle, the North West, and Mossend-harwich were a hub of ‘40’ activity. During the early 1980s, ‘40s’ did work the Western Region (although not in a conventional manner) where they were used as training locomotives at Severn Tunnel Junction. By January 1985, the ‘40’ fleet had been reduced to just 17 locomotives: 40012/3/44/60 /79/86/104/18/22/35/43/50/2/5/81/92/4. And on January 21, further withdrawals left only 40012/118/122. However, in February, two more locomotives were axed, leaving only 40122 – working railtours. The London Midland Railway acquired 40013, and used it as an exhibition locomotive in 1985.