Celebrating a true railway icon
Where does the time go? January 2, 2022, will mark 40 years since the final Br-operated Class 55 Deltics were retired from service with the 'Deltic Scotsman Farewell' railtour.
Always popular with railway enthusiasts, the impressive performance of the locomotives – particularly on the East Coast Main Line, where they plied their trade for most of their working lives – cemented their place in railway history and people’s memories.
Ask someone who isn’t a railway enthusiast to name a famous locomotive and most will say Flying Scotsman or Mallard, but occasionally they will say Deltic – very few modern traction locomotives could be so ingrained in the public psyche.
The headboard on that final BR charter read ‘Farewell to thy Greatness’, but thanks to the efforts of preservationists and the National Railway Museum, six of the 22 production Class 55s survived the cutter’s torch.
What is even more remarkable is that no fewer than five of the preserved Deltics have hauled trains under their own power on the national network since the ban on preserved diesel locomotives operating on the national network was lifted in the mid-1990s.
The story of the Deltics following their preservation is arguably more interesting than their careers on British Rail. It also demonstrates just how difficult it can be to own and operate these complex machines.
At the time of writing, there are no Class 55s currently capable of hauling trains of the main line and only one of the six – 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier – is serviceable.
As this issue is due to hit the shelves in early December, we should have been celebrating the return to main line service of Locomotive Services Ltd subsidiary Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust’s D9000 Royal Scots Grey – the same locomotive that made history in 1996 by becoming the first preserved Deltic to run on the main line in private ownership. As reported in the last issue of Railways Illustrated, engine repairs required on the locomotive’s two Napier power units are more extensive than first thought and its triumphant return to the main line will now have to wait a little longer, with the return of Royal Scots Grey now expected to take place in May.
While disappointing for those who have been eagerly awaiting its return, it is absolutely the right decision to get D9000 and its engines in the best possible health before putting it on the front of the train.
The investment in overhauling the Napier power units is considerable and, when completed, will hopefully be good as new.
The Deltic Preservation Society (DPS) is also busily repairing D9009 Alycidon after its devastating failure on March 3, 2019, when a power surge caused severe damage to the locomotive and its traction motors.
There is also a plan by the DPS to re-register 55019 for main line service at some point in the future.
This locomotive has had one spell operating on the main line in the late 1990s, but was retired from such services some time ago. Registering locomotives for the main line is not cheap, and the DPS needs to raise the necessary funds to get 55019 main line ready, but having two main line-registered locomotives available for service will give them much more operational flexibility in the future.
The DPS is also focussing its attention on the return to service of D9015 Tulyar after 25 years out of the spotlight, targeted for this coming year.
With repairs and restoration on D9009 and D9015 now coming along well, we have the tantalising prospect of all three DPS locomotives being back in service in the not-too-distant future. We find out more about the DPS’S plans in this issue of Railways Illustrated.
Two of the six Deltic survivors now lie out of use as static exhibit museum pieces, with D9002 The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
on display in the Great Hall at York, now retired following a new strategy for operational railway vehicles published by the National Railway Museum’s parent organisation the Science Museum Group in 2019.
Then there’s D9016 Gordon Highlander,
another locomotive belonging to the LSL stable. Certainly for the medium term, D9016 looks set to have a non-working future, having undergone completion of a cosmetic restoration and movement to the former Hornby factory in Margate as part of the under-development One:one Collection museum facility.
In this issue, as well as celebrating and acknowledging the work of the preservationists, we also chart the rundown of the Deltics on BR from the point at which the first locomotives were stood down in 1978 until the last one was switched off in January 1982.
Terry Eyres visited Doncaster Works in February 1982 to witness the final gathering of all of the remaining withdrawn Deltics before many of them went for scrap. The event was organised by BR to acknowledge the huge interest in the locomotives, but the organisers were astonished with the sheer number of enthusiasts who turned up to say goodbye to their favourite locomotives.
We also bring a special Deltic-themed 10 Pictures in this issue, courtesy of renowned photographer John Whiteley. John has an extensive collection of modern traction images in his collection and was an active lineside follower of the Deltics during their BR years. Naturally, as you can see, this issue focuses very heavily on the Deltics and I hope we can run more themed issues in the future to celebrate various anniversaries and significant occasions.
If you have any suggestions you would like us to consider for future issues, please get in touch at rieditor@mortons.co.uk and we will see what we can do.
Away from the Deltics, this issue also sees the introduction of two new regulars onto the Railways Illustrated roster. Richard Clinnick brings us The Social Side, looking at some of the rail-related issues people are discussing – and sometimes getting rather heated up about – on the various social media sites.
Another new regular is Restoration Focus, where we take a monthly look at a different locomotive restoration project in a bit more detail than in our What’s Happening To … restoration round-up. For the first Restoration Focus, we take a look at D9015’s long-running overhaul as it enters the final stages. Thank-you to those readers who got in touch following the announcement last month that we would not be including Steam News within the magazine from this issue. We will still include any significant steam-related news stories as and when they occur, and steam photos are still welcomed as part of 10 Pictures and also to illustrate any features on heritage railways where appropriate.
The majority of those who contacted me were in agreement with the decision, but for those who said they didn’t agree, I hope you will continue to support the magazine as we continue to develop it.
Also included with this issue of Railways Illustrated is our free 2022 calendar, featuring excellent photography from some of our regular photographic contributors. I am grateful to each of them for submitting their images for use in the calendar.
I hope you enjoy this special celebratory issue of Railways Illustrated.