Swindon’s ‘14s’: what might have been
JOHN CROSSE looks at the chequered history of the diesel-hydraulic shunters
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Hindsight shows us that the mid1950s to the 1970s was a dramatic time of transition in our railway history.
The major factor was the rise in the use of the private car. Roads had to be improved, which allowed the road transport industry to flourish. That helped to drive down British Railways’ revenue, leading to a major reduction in route miles and traffic levels on remaining lines.
At the same time, the steam locomotive was perceived as one of the reasons for passenger defection. It portrayed a dirty and dated image, which was among the reasons being cited for its replacement.
Predicting how many (and what type of) diesel and electric locomotives would be required to replace the existing steam fleet was not an easy task, especially as in many cases decisions were being taken before the real downturn (and when Dr Beeching came on the scene).
No doubt the purchase decisions were based on the theory of ‘X’ diesel engines being required to replace ‘Y’ steam locomotives, without any real expectation that requirements for certain types were about to decrease with great rapidity. Large orders were therefore placed for shunting types of all shapes and sizes, along with a host of Type 1 and Type 2 diesels - these having less than 1,700hp engines.
The lead time for the shunting locomotives was less than for the new main line designs, in part due to the fact that even before the Second World War a handful of diesel shunters were in service. Industry also put them to limited use, so the development of machines to meet BR requirements was relatively straightforward. Indeed, as the 1950s drew to a close, BR had at its disposal close to 1,000 350hp shunters as well as 500 smaller ones.
Such was the excess of diesel power ordered that in 1968 (the year in which steam power was eliminated), more diesel locomotives were withdrawn than steam engines.
That the writing was on the wall for many of the smaller diesels should have been evident even by the very early 1960s, as steam shunting engines built less than ten years earlier were being withdrawn and cut up in their droves. With hindsight, it may have been a better decision to have allowed them another three or four years’ service, and to have never built at least 500 soon-to-be-surplus diesel shunters.
In 1964, it was decided to introduce an entirely new class of 650hp 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic locomotives, in the shape of D9500-55 (later Class 14) on the Western Region. Given that an initial order had been placed for 26 of these in January 1963, the concept and design must have started perhaps early in 1962 (well before the Beeching proposals were known).
With traffic as it was at the time, there was indeed some logic and even a possible need for the type. A primary role was to be trip freights (typically moving 30-50 wagons between nearby marshalling yards, although these could be up to five miles apart). Secondly, there were still many branches that had pick-up freights covering distances of perhaps 30 miles from base, with shunting at several places along the way.
The Western Region had at its disposal plenty of 350hp shunters, but most were limited to 15mph and not designed to travel any distance from their shunting yard habitat.
Leaving aside the Southern Region, which had its own special motive power needs, the rest of the BR system had Type 1 power available in the form of the Class 20. But on the Western the next available option was the 58 members of Class 22, these being the North British-built Type 2s.
The disadvantage of the latter was that for shunting, the two cab arrangement was not ideal. And even if Class 20s had been available, one criticism of those was that the long nose made judging shunting movements difficult - hence the development of the centre cab Class 17 Claytons (another doomed design). Therefore, the promoted benefits of the new Class 14 were its centre cab to make shunting safer and its top speed of 40mph. All very logical provided there were trip freights and branch lines.
The design was almost steam-like below the running plate, with plate frames and stretchers, roller bearings mounted in horn guides, and six coupled wheels with balancing weights. With today’s recycling ideas, perhaps the relatively new pannier tank frames and wheels could have been reused, but they were not.
The use of hydraulic transmission was in part determined by the fact that all other WR locomotives of the period were so fitted, but it was also planned to use the high-speed Paxman 6YJXL engine which BR insisted be fitted with aluminium cylinder heads.
The build cost per locomotive was said to be £14,000.
In true BR fashion, a further order for 30 engines was placed in June 1963, well before the first locomotive emerged from Swindon Works in July 1964. By this time, it must have been evident that the business was changing rapidly. Hydraulic transmission was already under threat, as instead of providing more Hymeks and Westerns for the Region, English Electric Type 3s and Brush Type 4s were being delivered in large numbers. The Paxman engine soon showed up its faults, with (in due course) the aluminium cylinder heads needing to be replaced with a cast iron design owing to persistent failures.
Initial allocations were to Old Oak
Common, Bristol and Cardiff. But by the time the last member of the class arrived in October 1965, Old Oak had lost its allocation and Swansea had joined the family, with Cardiff having the largest number on its books. None was ever allocated south of Bristol, even though there were a number of branch line duties which would have suited them - for example, the Hemyock line to serve the dairy there.
In steam days, this line was worked by a
14XX 0-4-2T which handled the milk as part of a mixed train. With passenger services withdrawn, motive power changed to a Class 03 0-6-0 diesel shunter, where its 15mph speed must have slowed down operations considerably. This was succeeded by first the aforementioned Class 22s and then a Class 25 (a waste of an over-specified machine for the job).
Events then moved quickly. At last there seemed to be some central planning, with the move of more than 30 of the class away from the Western Region at the end of 1966, just 15 months after the final member of the class had been delivered. Work had, in theory, been identified for them at Hull around the docks.
Those remaining on the Western Region spent time in store, but less than three years from its delivery D9531 was condemned and was sold for scrap, before being rescued and sold into industrial use.
The Hull allocation were all taken out of service in 1968, and the Western put the last engine out of its misery in 1969. Eventually many were sold for further use in industry, said to be at around £ 3,000 each under the tag ‘one careful owner, low mileage’, but a small number went directly for scrap. A third life loomed for them on our heritage railways, where 17 are still in existence.
The Class 14s were the victims of a rapidly changing railway scene, with mechanical problems and a BR policy of locomotive standardisation both contributing to their demise. But coming back to hindsight - on today’s railways they might well have had a role.
One was brought back onto the network to help with Channel Tunnel works, but you only have to look at the revival of the Class 73s to see that perhaps engineering work on the modern railway might have been their forte - they were light enough to go anywhere, and yet just powerful enough to move heavy trains at moderate speed.