British Rail Class 55
Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRI : British Rail Class 55
| BR Class 55 "Deltic" | ||
|---|---|---|
| TOPS numbers | 55 001–55 022 | |
| Early numbers | D9000–D9021 | |
| Builder | English Electric (Vulcan Foundry) | |
| Introduced | 1961-1962 | |
| Wheel Arrangement | Co-Co | |
| Weight | 104.7 t | 106.4 tonnes |
| Height | ft in | m |
| Width | 8 ft 10 in | 2.68 m |
| Length | 69 ft 6 in | 21.18 m |
| Wheel Dia. | 3 ft 7 in | 1092 mm |
| Wheel Base | ft | m |
| Minimum radius | 4 chains (264 ft) | 80 m |
| Maximum speed | 100 mph | 160 km/h |
| Engine | 2 × Napier D18.25 "Deltic" | |
| Engine output | 2 x 1,650 hp | 2 x 1230 kW |
| Max. Tractive Effort | 50,000 lbf | 220 kN |
| Power at Rail | 2640 hp | 1970 kW |
| Brake type | Vacuum, later vacuum & air | |
| Brake force | 51 tons force | 510 kN |
| Route availability | 5 | |
| Fuel Tank | 825 imperial gallons | 3,750 litres |
| Heating type | Steam, later Dual, later Electric, index 66 only | |
| Multiple working | Not equipped | |
British Rail assigned Class 55 to the twenty-two English Electric Type 5 express diesel locomotives built in 1961/2 and used for high-speed service on Britain's East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross and Edinburgh.
Production
Following trials with a prototype locomotive, DP1 Deltic, an order was placed with English Electric for a production fleet of twenty-two units. They were intended to replace more than twice that number of Gresley Pacifics. A first was that the locomotives were purchased under a service contract, EE agreeing to maintain them, especially their engines and generators, for a fixed price. More Deltic engines were produced than needed for the locomotives, for the plan and practice was to swap out engines regularly for overhaul while keeping the valuable locomotives in service.
The locomotives were delivered in 1961/2 and assigned to three different locomotive depots, Finsbury Park in London, Gateshead over the Tyne from Newcastle, and Haymarket in Edinburgh. They came from the manufacturer painted in two-tone green, the dark BR green on top, but a narrow strip along the bottom a lighter, grass green. Again, this concealed the bulk of the locomotive body. Although delivered without it, they soon sported the bright yellow warning panel on the nose that all British diesel and electric locomotives were painted with, for visibility. Very soon, all were named; the Gateshead and Haymarket locomotives were named after regiments of the British Army, while the Finsbury Park locomotives followed the grand LNER tradition of naming locomotives after winning racehorses. The Finsbury Park depot also chose to paint the window surrounds of its Deltics white, making them distinctive.
By 1966 they began to be painted in corporate Rail Blue with yellow ends, this generally coinciding with a works repair and the fitting of air brake equipment, the locomotives originally having only vacuum braking. In the early 1970s they were fitted with Electric Train Heating (ETH) equipment to power the new generation of air-conditioned coaches, while a couple of years later, with the introduction of BR's TOPS computer system, they were renumbered in Class 55, as 55 001 to 55 022.
Replacement
In the late 1970s the Deltics began to be supplanted by the next generation of express trains for the East Coast route, the Class 254 High Speed Train (HST), branded as InterCity 125, and the Deltics began to take on secondary roles. However, it was soon realised that the class had a limited future; it was not considered economic to maintain such a small and totally non-standard class of locomotive for secondary services, and the end of the decade saw the first withdrawals from service. More were withdrawn, and 1981 proved to be the last service year of the Deltics, the final service run taking place on December 31, 1981, hauled by 55 022 Royal Scots Grey, followed by the last enthusiast special, the "Deltic Farewell" on January 2, 1982.
At that point, few would have imagined that for six fortunate locomotives of the twenty-two, life was only half over.
Preservation
Six locomotives were saved after their withdrawal from British Rail service. They were:- D9000 (55 022) Royal Scots Grey was purchased by the Deltic 9000 Fund and was handed over in fully running condition after work and a repaint by BR. Its first base was the Nene Valley Railway.
- D9002 (55 002) The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry was donated to the National Railway Museum, York.
- D9009 (55 009) Alycidon was purchased by the Deltic Preservation Society Ltd and has been mostly based at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
- D9015 (55 015) Tulyar was purchased by a private buyer, Peter Sansom, but in 1986 was sold to the Deltic Preservation Society. It has led an itinerant existence on many preserved railways.
- D9016 (55 016) Gordon Highlander was purchased by the Deltic 9000 Fund, initially intended as a source of spare parts for Royal Scots Grey. Of course, enthusiasm quickly prevailed over such practical intentions and Gordon Highlander was instead restored to running condition.
- D9019 (55 019) Royal Highland Fusilier was purchased by the Deltic Preservation Society and was the first to turn a wheel under its own power in preservation. In April 2005, it became the first Deltic to be fitted with TPWS equipment.
Return to service
With the changes taking place on Britain's railways in the 1990s, the outlook changed for preserved diesel locomotives. In British Rail days, no privately owned diesel locomotives were allowed to operate over BR tracks. With privatisation, however, came open-access railways—the track and physical plant were owned and operated by Railtrack, who for a fee would allow anyone's approved locomotives and trains to operate. Suddenly, from being pariahs, the owners of preserved locomotives were on an equal footing with everyone else: just another locomotive owner.In 1996, the Deltic 9000 Fund reformed itself as Deltic 9000 Locomotives Ltd in order to return its locomotives to mainline service, and later that year D9000 Royal Scots Grey was the first preserved diesel locomotive to operate on mainline trackage. Since then, the DNLL's other Deltic, D9016 Gordon Highlander has also returned to mainline working (temporarily painted in the garish purple livery of Porterbrook Leasing, who helped finance the restoration), as have the Deltic Preservation Society's D9009 Alycidon and D9019 Royal Highland Fusilier. The other two preserved Deltics, D9002 The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and D9015 Tulyar, are both undergoing restoration with a view to also being certified for mainline running.
All the mainline certified locomotives have seen frequent charter and locomotive hire use, including much use on the Venice Simplon Orient Express's travels in England.
There is a fast-approaching prospect of all six surviving locomotives being fully restored to main line certified standards in the near future as of 2004.
Class roster
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In film
The famous opening titles of Get Carter (1971) feature shots of the journey to the North via the East Coast Main Line, filmed from the front of a Deltic, as well as the interior of the rolling stock. Another Class 55 in the rail blue livery passes briefly in the opposite direction.
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