British Rail Class 20 Locomotives E-Book

Pip Dunn

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 509

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The first of the English Electric Type 1 design, what we now know as the Class 20s, appeared in June 1957. With their distinctive 'chopper' engine sound, these single-cabbed locomotives soon gained a reputation for rugged reliability brought about by their simplicity and use of tried and tested components. British Rail Class 20 Locomotives looks back at the operations of these fine locomotives since 1957, covering their varied workings and duties, regional use and railtour operations. The book also covers the technical aspects and specifications of the locomotives, including liveries and detailing.

Leseprobe

First published in 2016 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

© Pip Dunn 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 099 7

Acknowledgements

The following have contributed with checking facts and answering numerous e-mails to clarify facts: Steve Smith, Andy Carey, Jason Warner, Phil Sheringham, Peter Watts, Phil Greenwood, Trevor Rolfe, Chris Stevenson, Lester French, Darren Stafford, Andrew Young, Harry Needle, Alistair Grieve, Alan Baylis, Jo Chalcraft, Russell Saxton, Paul Taylor and Steve Thorpe.

My thanks also go to my wife Victoria and daughter Harriet for their unerring support.

Frontispiece: In late 2015, GB Railfreight used 20901/905 to top-and-tail Railhead Treatment Trains (RHTTs) in the South East on England. On December 7, the 20s pause at Warnham on a circuit that will take in visits to Epsom Downs, London Bridge, Caterham and Tattenham Corner. PIP DUNN

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1  THE NEED FOR THE CLASS 20s

CHAPTER 2  CHANGING TIMES

CHAPTER 3  SECTORIZATION AND THE NEW DECADE: THE 1990s

CHAPTER 4  BEYOND BRITISH RAIL

CHAPTER 5  MORE NEW OWNERS

CHAPTER 6  PASSENGER WORK

CHAPTER 7  THE SKEGNESS STORY

CHAPTER 8  PASSENGER WORK IN THE MIDLANDS AND NORTH WEST, AND INTO PRIVATIZATION

CHAPTER 9  RAILTOURS

CHAPTER 10  PAINTS, PLATES, DETAILS AND DECORATION

CHAPTER 11  DETAIL DIFFERENCES

CONCLUSION:THE FUTURE

APPENDIX I DEPOT AND POOL CODES

APPENDIX II TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

APPENDIX III CLASS 20 FLEET LIST

APPENDIX IV THE CFD AND DRS FLEETS

APPENDIX V PRESERVED CLASS 20s

APPENDIX VI RFS CLASS 20s

APPENDIX VII NAMED CLASS 20s

APPENDIX VIII DATES LOCOS REPAINTED INTO BR BLUE TOPS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

Surprisingly, given their longevity, very little has been written about the English Electric Type 1 diesel locomotives, better known as the Class 20s, and certainly nothing that brings an account of their full history in one text.

Of course, with a handful of locos still in traffic with main-line operators, the story of the type continues to evolve, and although at a slower pace than before, there is still new history happening for the class each year. However, at some point a time was going to come where their history was reproduced, and this book sets out to do that.

This is not a technical book, and while I touch slightly on the mechanics and design of the class, it is mainly aimed at looking at their lives, which in the main comprises their operations: where they went and what they hauled. I have also concentrated on the unusual operations they undertook, and make no excuses for covering in detail their passenger operations, as these are often of more interest to the rail enthusiast.

As I write this, the class is getting close to the end of its fifty-eighth year in traffic, and that is some feat that cannot be underestimated. The popular Westerns only amassed fifteen years, the 55s a mere twenty-one, and the Class 40s only twenty-eight years in front-line traffic. The Class 20s have eclipsed all of those in fine style.

Although it was not until 1 January 1968 that locos were given their TOPS classifications, for ease they will be referred to as ‘Class 20s’ throughout this book. Likewise it was only from 14 June 1965 that BR used the twenty-fourhour clock, but again, for ease, all trains mentioned in this text will be in this format.

Trying to fit the entire history of fifty-eight years’ worth of operation, by 228 locos, is going to be impossible in a book of this length, but I hope I have covered the main events over those years.

20189/176 wait at Skegness with the 12:54 to Derby on 2 July 1988. These were two of many locos originally allocated to Toton, but in 1983 they moved on to pastures new, to Eastfield and Tinsley respectively, but returned to their spiritual home in 1987. This was 20189’s first visit to Skegness since 1982, and it did not go to plan, as it failed on this train near Ancaster.PIP DUNN

It is certainly not the aim of this book to record pictorially every twist and turn of the fleet’s history, but through the images I hope to depict the main liveries, workings and newsworthy events that have happened over those six decades.

I have tried, where possible, to avoid using pictures that have been published before, but that is not always very easy, especially with images from the 1950s and 1960s.

Nicknamed by enthusiasts as ‘choppers’ – because of their sound, or ‘bombs’ and latterly ‘mooses’ on account of their body looking like a big nose – the Class 20s have usually had few serious followers, but likewise also gained few detractors. Crews, while they didn’t especially like driving them nose first, did appreciate their reliability, simplicity and good pulling power. As one driver at Bescot told me, ‘Class 20s will never let you down, they’ll always get you home.’

My own personal interest in Class 20s really started on a January night in 1984 when, due to heavy snowfall, the overhead lines near Carstairs had been brought down. Electrically hauled trains were hauled by diesels from Abington to Carstairs, and my northbound train was rescued by 20002/ 114.

But it was the return train that was noteworthy, when 20083 dragged a dead Class 86 and a hefty load of about twelve coaches. It was pitch black, but a clear night, and I stood at the window listening to the 1,000hp loco working at its maximum to shift this heavy load. The sound was inspiring, and the performance, while slow, was a classic example of the loco getting the job done. That memory has stayed with me forever, and that night I thought to myself, ‘These locos are something special!’ And the following thirty-two years simply reinforced that belief.

The history of these locos over the last fifty-nine years is fascinating, and I hope you enjoy reading this book, which goes some way to telling that story.

Due to weight restrictions on the Leeds to Harrogate line, all locos were barred for a period after 2009 except Class 20s. DRS and Network Rail used 20309 for the Leeds to York section of a saloon trip on 30 September 2010. The 20 hauls saloon 975025Carolineat Poppleton on the approach to York.DUNCAN McEVOY

CHAPTER ONE

THE NEED FOR THE CLASS 20S

The English Electric Type A, later Type 1, Bo-Bo freight diesel – the ‘Class 20’ as we have known it since 1968 – has been a part of the UK’s rail system since June 1957, yet remarkably, in 2015, with the design fast approaching its sixtieth anniversary, some are still working on the main line and in industry today.

That is testament to the simplicity, robustness and dependability of a type of locomotive, which let’s face facts, certainly has the look of a steam age product.

And that is because, in the mid-1950s, a steam-driven British Railways was in desperate need of cutting costs, and the switch from steam to diesel and electric traction was seen as one solution. The railways were still suffering from the inevitable, and understandable, lack of investment caused by World War II. The nationalization of 1948 had brought together a motley selection of steam locos, some of which dated from pre-grouping, indeed some even from the nineteenth century!

Because of the war, the country’s railways lagged behind in the development and introduction of modern traction, but the late 1940s and early 1950s had seen some drives to embrace the new form of traction by the ‘Big Four’ – the Great Western, Southern, London Midland and Scottish and London North Eastern Railways – and later, from 1 January 1948, the fledgling nationalized British Railways. These companies had dabbled firstly with diesel shunters, and the LMS in particular was on the case for main line diesel traction.

Diesel locos offered major advantages over steam traction. They were cleaner, safer, more efficient and – especially – easier to operate. They offered huge operational savings over steam. In theory they could also be operated by one man – impossible on a steam loco, but in the unionheavy days of the 1950s, single manning was not really on the radar.

Nationalization didn’t stop the quest for diesel power, and if anything it finally accelerated it. In 1955, BR really took the bull by the horns and started its modernization programme, which led to small batches of prototype main line diesels – known as pilot scheme locos – being ordered from different manufacturers, in different power brackets and for different traffic types.

This process has been well documented, but fourteen different designs were ordered in small batches ranging from three to twenty locos, so that 174 new locos were ordered from 1955. The first were to be delivered in 1957, and the first Class 20, D8000, was the first of these locos to be handed over to British Railways. It is also well recorded that the pilot scheme idea did not work as intended because BR scrapped the idea of testing and evaluating these trial locos, and instead went on to make mass orders based on theory rather than practice. For the full story of the pilot scheme locos, recommended reading is The Modernisation Plan by David Clough (Ian Allan 2014).

Of those 174 locos, twenty were English Electric Type A Bo-Bos fitted with EE’s 8-cylinder 1,000hp 8SVT engine. These locos were one of three batches of Type A locos; the other two designs – of which ten locos each were ordered – came from British Thomson Houston and North British Limited.

The twenty EE locos were numbered D8000–19 and featured just one cab with the engine and generator housed in a narrow body so giving a limited forward vision when being driving bonnet first, but similar to driving a steam loco. That said, when driving from the cab end, visibility was superb and better than, or at least as good as, any other type of loco, diesel or electric, and far superior to a steam loco.

Being a Type A, no provision for train heating was made as the locos were intended for working freight trains. They did, however, have a through pipe running the length of the body with a steam-heat hose at each end, enabling them to work in multiple or tandem with a steam-heat loco and still allow heating to the train.

The transition to diesel power at Devons Road shed (1D) on 31 August 1957. A new Class 20D8003 stands in stark contrast with the two grubby Class 3F ‘Jintys’ 47483 and 47560 on each side of it.BRIAN MORRISON

The locos had multiple working of the Blue Star code, which meant they could work with other similar locos – not just their own class but any type of Blue Star loco – under the control of one driver. Up to four of the locos could work together.

The Class 20s had one major drawback, and that was their poor visibility when being driven with the bonnet end leading; in later days, when single manning was allowed on the railways, it was still a requirement that a single 20 being driven bonnet first was double manned. Its two rival Type A designs, the BTH D8200 Class 15 and the NBL D8400 Class 16, were worse, because their cabs, although offset at one end, still had bonnets whichever way they were driven.

As mentioned, the plan had been to test these forty Type A pilot scheme locos of three designs with a view to ascertaining which was the best, and placing mass orders of that type. It didn’t work out that way, however, and while no more D8400s were ordered, the D8200 design won a repeat order for thirty-four locos, while the Class 20s won repeat orders for, initially, 108 locos, and ultimately another 208 machines.

By the time the first loco of this second order, D8020, was delivered in October 1959, the first twenty machines had been in traffic and were already proving their worth. Those pilot scheme locos were allocated to a new purposebuilt diesel depot at Devons Road, in Bow in East London. They were used on local trip freights but could also work in pairs on heavier trains.

EE had a good reputation for reliable engines, and this was the case with the 8SVT. Maintenance staff had easy access to the power unit via a series of large doors on the side of the body, which made repairing running faults or changing components much easier than the cramped working areas on other diesel types.

Heavier maintenance, like any diesel, required a visit to a works or a major depot, where lifting equipment was available to hoist the loco off its bogies or remove the engine totally, via the roof, as was the case with other designs.

Because the locos did not have steam-heat boilers, their availability was better – all too often early diesel types failed because the steam generators were not working properly and so train heating could not be supplied. Of course, the downside of not having train heating in use on passenger trains was their being restricted to the warmer months, or in times of emergency in which case the passengers would endure a cold journey.

The restrictive view when being driven bonnet first was not a major hindrance in their early days, as crews had been used to driving steam locos with their even more restricted view. However, by coupling two locos together with their bonnets inner facing, the Class 20s went from being a Type 1 to a Type 4 unit of 2,000hp, excellent visibility and the ability to pull a heavy train – heavier than many of the largerpowered Type 4s!

As the railways changed their operating practices in the 1960s as a result of the publication of Dr Richard Beeching’s report Reshaping of the Railways in March 1963, short trip freights were slowly abolished and heavier trainloads were more commonplace. This meant a pair of 20s was a more than capable piece of kit as a ‘Type 4’.

More Locos

D8020–49 were delivered in 1959 and differed slightly from the pilot scheme locos by having round as opposed to oval buffers. Included in the order was a batch of locos, D8028–34, destined for Scotland, while the others, D8020–027/ 035–049 were destined for the Home Counties – working mainly from London and the southern part of East Anglia.

D8006 had been sent to Scotland in 1958 for trials and proved successful enough for the region to request its own locos. Those initial seven locos were destined for the Highlands, based at Inverness and Kittybrewster (in Aberdeen), and differed from the other batch of locos by having snowplough brackets, tablet catching equipment and larger side windows.

The next batch of locos was D8050–69, destined for Tinsley in Sheffield; they were similar in design to the D8020–27 batch, but had different traction motors, the 8B design as opposed to the 5D. These were delivered to BR between March and June 1961, and were soon followed by a larger order for more locos for Scotland, D8070–127, which were the same as D8028–34 in design. These were delivered from June 1961, and it was BR’s intention to stop with a fleet of 128 locos, the last of which was D8127 in July 1962.

All 128 locos had cab-mounted folding discs for train identification and bodyside ladders at No. 1 – the nose-end – to assist staff working on the locos. However, as more lines were upgraded with overhead electrification, these ladders were removed as it was perceived they posed a risk to anyone using them under live OLE.

Construction was split between EE’s Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside and Robert Hawthorn & Stephenson at its Darlington works. The use of two works was because EE’s site did not have the capacity to build at the rate that BR wanted its new diesels (it was also building Class 40s and 55s), so D8020–34 and D8050–127 were built in the north-east.

After release from Vulcan Foundry, locos were tested with a full train of nine or ten coaches along the steeply graded West Coast Main Line to Carlisle, giving EE and BR staff the chance to check that all was well with the locos before their entry into traffic. Those locos built at Darlington were tested on the ECML.

When D8127 was delivered in July 1962, it was expected to be the last Class 20. BR had concern over using Class 20s when running bonnet first, despite the fact that in the 1960s, trains were double manned with a second man – the former fireman from steam days. His role on a freight train was limited (on passenger trains he would operate the train heating boiler), but when running bonnet first with a Type 1, he would help the driver on signal sighting.

But BR was still not happy with this method of operation – though why is mystifying, as steam operation had always been like this. It was no surprise, then, that it was duly wooed by the Clayton Company’s Type 1 design – the twin-engined D8500 Class 17. It duly ordered 117 Class 17s without any testing whatsoever, and when they proved to be very unreliable due to serious engine defects, the easiest option was to replace them with 100 more, proven, Class 20s.

An undated shot from 1957 shows a brand new pilot scheme Class 20 passing Hest Bank water troughs with a test train after construction at EE’s Vulcan Foundry.AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

This meant EE won another order for the 20s. Being four years on from delivery of the last locos, there were some cosmetic changes to their appearance, but the rest of the loco design was the same. Out went the disc headcodes, and instead the four-character train roller blinds for displaying reporting numbers were fitted instead. On the cab end the change was quite crude, a great big box attached on the front, while at the nose end, it was a little subtler in its design.

The locos all had snowplough brackets, but the smaller side windows. Despite BR blue being first seen on Class 47 D1733 in 1964, it was not until 1966 that it was adopted as the standard new livery, so the first locos rolled off the production line in BR green, albeit with yellow panels from new. The change to BR blue happened midway through construction, with D8178 the first delivered in blue.

Technical Appraisal

The locos were constructed with a heavy-duty steel frame with the cab at No. 2 end. No. 1 end is commonly known as the nose end, and locos were referred to as being driven ‘cab’, ‘nose’ or ‘bonnet’ first.

Starting at No. 1 end, the equipment fitted to the locos on the frame comprised the traction motor blower and compressor in the nose end, with filters on each side of them. Next came the exhausters, with the header tank above. This area had the first set of side doors, of which there five sets along the length of the body, and a sixth door on the A side.

The radiator and fan system came next, in between large, full height body grilles. The fan-drive gearbox was then connected to a propshaft, which connected to the engine.

The 8-cylinder ‘V’ engine took up the bulk of the floor space on the frame, and along with its EE 819-3C main generator and EE 911-2B auxiliary generator, fixed towards No. 2 end, was flanked by four sets of opening (and removable) doors. The generator sat behind a set of grilles and another, and final, set of doors. On the B side there was no door but another set of grilles.

Eastfield’s 8123 suffered minor damage in early 1973 and was sent to Derby Works for repair. The repairs cost £950. The loco was renumbered in November of that year, and dual braked the following year.DAVE THORPE COLLECTION

In between the main generator and the cab was the auxiliary equipment frame and another traction motor blower to serve the No. 2 end bogie. Finally there was the control cubicle, which was accessed from the cab.

Inside the cab there were two seats and two driver’s desks; these were on the left-hand side of the cab in opposite corners. It meant that the locos could be driven bonnet first as there was a small vertical window.

Underneath the frame were the two bogies, which had axle-hung traction motors and all the brake rigging; in between the bogies were the batteries and the fuel tank with a capacity of 380gal (1,730ltr).

The EE 8SVT engine produced 1,000hp at 850rpm. It had a bore of 10in and a stroke of 12in, and the cylinders in a 45-degree V-formation in two banks of four, known as A bank and B bank. A ‘bank’ was the left-hand bank when looking towards the free end of the engine – that being the end without the generator connected to it. The firing order on A bank was 4, 2, 1, 3, while that on B bank was 1, 3, 4, 2.

D8310–15 were based at Hull Dairycoates briefly in the late 1960s, but pictures of them working from the depot are relatively rare. D8310 stands on the depot in between duties on 26 April 1968.RAIL PHOTOPRINTS

The rotation of the crankshaft when looking towards the free end of the engine was anticlockwise. There was a 100gal (455ltr) capacity for the lubrication oil needed to keep the engine running smoothly.

Fuel was sucked from the tank by a suction strainer, fed through a fuel supply pump and filter to the fuel rails, one on each bank of the engine. Any excess fuel was drained via a relief valve and returned to the fuel tank before it got to the fuel rails. There were gauges on either side of the loco to advise how much fuel was on board the loco. An overflow pipe with a filter prevented the fuel tanks being overfilled. The fuel pipes were painted light brown.

Each loco had two lubricating oil pumps – a low-pressure pump and a high-pressure pump, and these were driven by the engine balancer shafts. The low-pressure pump drew oil from the bedplate via a suction strainer when the engine was running. When the oil was warm it was pumped through two oil-cooling radiators connected in series and on to the high-pressure pump. If the oil was cold it was too thick and so bypassed the radiators until it was warm.

Early Days in Use

Like so many diesel designs, the entry into traffic for the Class 20s was something of a learning curve for British Railways. Crews had to like them, they had to be able to cope with the traffic and routes they were intended for, and also other types might prove superior in differing situations.

From the crew’s point of view, the cabs were infinitely cleaner than a steam loco’s, but they were still quite cramped – even though there was no need for a fireman to be moving about, as was the case in a steam loco. In that respect, the cab interiors were adequate. Although up to four staff could travel on the loco on the move, only the driver and secondman had seats – any other staff would have to stand, and therefore four bodies inside the cab did make it a bit crowded!

A delightful scene from 11 June 1969 as 8178 and 8196 pass Spalding with a Cotgrave to Whitemoor coal train. The train was routed via Sleaford, Spalding, and then took the direct line towards March, a line that closed in 1982, so as to avoid having a slow 35mph freight vying for paths on the busy East Coast Main Line.NIGEL WALLS COLLECTION

Several Class 20s were in the wars over the years, but those damaged in the late 1960s tended to be repaired. D8163 looks in a sorry state as it stands in the yard at Crewe Works on 19 September 1968 with a crushed cab; however, the loco was rebuilt.DAVE THORPE COLLECTION

Preparing a diesel loco at the start of a shift could be done much more quickly than a steam loco, as was ‘putting it to bed’ afterwards. It was no surprise, then, that diesels were more popular with the majority of crews.

Once accepted, the locos were moved to their home depots and put straight into traffic. Pioneer D8000 was officially handed over to the British Transport Committee on 3 June 1957. It was then allocated to Willesden from 18 June, and then to Devons Road, Bow, in East London four days later. It was joined by D8001 on 13 July, and deliveries of approximately two a month followed, with D8019 on 4 March 1958.

The first of the second batch, D8020, was also initially allocated to London, but to Hornsey depot on the Great Northern Lines, where it arrived on 3 October 1959. D8021–27 followed, but the opening of the new purposebuilt diesel depot at Finsbury Park in April 1960 saw the Hornsey allocation move a few miles south towards King’s Cross to be based at the new shed along with locos from other early pilot-scheme diesel types such as Classes 15, 21, 23, 24, 26 and 30. This allowed good comparisons to be made of locos in the Type A and B power outputs.

When new, D8028–34 were all sent to Scottish depots, following on from a trial of D8006 in October 1958. D8028–30 were allocated to 64H (Leith Central, the main depot in Edinburgh before Haymarket opened to diesels) in December 1959, D8031 to 61A (Kittybrewster) in January 1960 and D8032–34 to 60A (Inverness) in the first three months of 1960.

Like most fleets of locomotives being built around the time, delivery was rarely in numerical order, and with Vulcan Foundry and Darlington both building the machines, it was inevitable that the sequence of Class 20 deliveries would be haphazard. D8035 was initially to be allocated to Norwich (32A) in September 1959, followed by D8036–44, but this move was never made, and instead they were all sent to Devons Road or Willesden in October/November as BR sought to concentrate the class in London or Scotland. D8045–49 were new to Hornsey in December 1959 – again moving to 34G in April of the following year.

There was a hiatus in deliveries of Class 20s, with D8050 – the first with new traction motors – being sent to Sheffield Darnall (41A) on 2 March 1961, followed by D8051–69. All were reallocated to the new diesel depot at Tinsley – (also coded 41A) in April 1964, but this switch did not affect their work.

Scotland was the destination for the rest of the Class 20s on order in the initial batch built in the early 1960s – with D8070–116 new to Glasgow Eastfield (65A), and D8117–27 to Polmadie (66A). These were delivered progressively from 30 June 1961 to 16 July 1962.

Early Operations

Early use for the Devons Road locos was in the London area, and they could be seen on the London Tilbury and Southend routes working all manner of freight trips. Back in the late 1950s wagonload freight was still commonplace, and before the Beeching report called for the closure of hundreds of miles of track, most branch lines still had a regular pick-up goods train serving stations and yards on the way.

On the 13 June D8000 was working an Earlestown–Chester special hauling a single coach, and this is possibly its first ever outing on the main line hauling a train, albeit a short one – if not the first outing, then one of the first. On the 17th it again hauled a single coach from Vulcan Foundry to Edge Hill, and then worked north to Penrith in what would become a regular test run for the brand new Class 20s.

The loco then moved to London on 19 June to start training and acceptance. It was exhibited at Battersea Wharf on 28–30 June. On 5 July, D8000 arrived at London’s Broad Street station at 11:00 with a light engine, and collected a 20-ton brake van; it left at 12:00, then returned at 14:30 with a goods train and left half an hour later. This was one of its first workings in London, and was probably for demonstration purposes.

D8000 was sent to Toton on 16 August, and spent the 19th to 31st at the depot for trials. While it was there, further locos were being tested on the Edge Hill to Penrith test trains, such as D8001 on 4 July, D8002 on 16 July, D8003 on 21 August, D8006 on 29 August, D8007 on 5 September, D8008 on 12 September, D8009 on 24 September, D8010 on 11 October and D8011 on 16 October – which showed how quickly English Electric was turning out the locos off the production line at Newton-le-Willows.

The locos worked cross-London transfer freights, taking them on to the Southern and Western Regions to places such as Norwood Junction and Acton respectively, as well as to docks and railheads in Essex such as Barking, North Woolwich and Shoeburyness.

The Camden (1A) locos were seen on the southern end of the WCML, from Euston through to Rugby on a variety of duties – parcels, empty stock moves, local freights and even passenger work. Again, local yards and branch lines were served by the locos. Those allocated to Stratford did similar work out of Liverpool Street, while those based at Finsbury Park did likewise out of Moorgate and King’s Cross and north to Hitchin, Cambridge and Peterborough.

The first Class 15 to arrive into the BR fleet, D8200, was on 17 November 1957, when the loco arrived at Willesden after construction at BTH at Rugby. On 20 December 1957, D8014 was sent light from Devons Road to Nine Elms depot for trials to be undertaken out of Waterloo. On 15 January 1958 the loco had arrived at Brighton for tests and measurements to be taken. Another ‘wandering’ run was on 27 April 1958, when D8017 arrived at London Victoria on a van train.

In June 1958 D8000 undertook four days of trials between Willesden and Crewe on freight trains to see the feasibility of using the locos on such trains. In truth, unless they were paired, these were not ideal.

They were soon to become a common sight on the southern end of the WCML, working all manner of freight in the area, local workings, fitted freights and heavier trains in multiple. The locos were also used as station pilots at Euston, taking empty coaches into and out of the station for the express trains that served Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle and Scotland.

The first loco in Scotland was D8006, loaned to 61A in October 1958 for tests, which saw it visit Fraserburgh in December. However, it was the following year, in December 1959, that the first Class 20 was allocated to the region permanently, when D8028 was sent from construction to 64H, and by 1962 several locos were based on the ScR.

The Scottish locos were spread far and wide across the region, working freight in the Highlands, West Highlands and the Central Belt. In fact the only areas in Scotland they did not cover were the lines north from Inverness to Wick, Thurso and Kyle of Lochalsh.

There were some freight trains that were regularly worked by single Class 20s, especially D8031–34, on the former Great North of Scotland lines, including those from Aviemore to Forres via Dava, and from Boat of Garten to Elgin via the junction at Craigellachie. They would have appeared at Lossiemouth, Keith, Banff, Macduff, Fraserburgh and Peterhead working alongside the Class 21s, 24s and 26s allocated to the Highlands. Passenger work in this area was not unknown, but unusual.

While the 20s based in Edinburgh and Glasgow hauled all sorts of freight trains, it was coal trains in Ayrshire and Fife that became synonymous with the type. Eastfield locos were regularly outbased at Ayr depot for the Ayrshire traffic, and Haymarket locos were outstationed at Dunfermline Townhill and Thornton Junction for the Fife work. Back in the 1960s most coal was conveyed in 12- or 16-ton (12,200 or 16,250kg) open wagons, mostly unfitted, and which required a brake van.

The locos based in the Sheffield area did the same type of work as their Scottish counterparts – mainly coal traffic to and from the many pits still in operation – but other freight work in the area also gave them gainful employment. They soon became regulars working from Barrow Hill, Wath, Tinsley and Worksop.

Mixed, unfitted freight, plodding along at just 35mph (56km/h) with a brake van on the rear, was another common job for Tinsley’s 20s, bringing traffic into the massive marshalling yard for shunting on to other services.

The Eastern Region also had Class 20s, based at Immingham depot but often sub-shedded at Frodingham. Here they worked trains to serve the mass of industry on south Humberside, including the massive steelworks complex at Scunthorpe.

The small amount of freight that was to be seen on the local branches, such as to Flixborough, Louth and New Holland Pier, would often be behind Class 20s, either solo or in pairs, as their light axle weight made them favourites for lines where heavier locos were barred – if indeed they were available!

D8179 has suffered serious fire damage, not a common problem on the Class 20s, and on 17 October 1971 stands in Crewe Works Yard. It cost BR £15,000 to repair the loco, which was also dual-braked during the rebuild.DAVE THORPE COLLECTION

In the late 1950s and 1960s locos did not stray too much from their depot’s core duties, so any ‘wandering’ of types was less commonplace, but they did occasionally stray off their usual routes on freight traffic. Examples include D8043, which on 9 September 1964 was as far away as Stoke Gifford, near Bristol, on a freight train that had originated at Carlisle. Where the 20 worked from is not clear. Equally off-region was D8022 leading Class 24 D5028 on an oil train to Tonbridge on the Southern Region on 21 November 1965.

The biggest problem with sending locos off-region was crewing them, and on long-distance runs locos often ended up in places with no driver able to bring the train back, which caused plenty of operational headaches. And it was often an issue if the loco failed off-region and was sent to a depot where there was no knowledge or experience of the type. For these reasons alone, ‘wandering’ by Class 20s was rare in the 1960s.

Another 100 Locos

It is well documented that the problem with visibility when the Class 20s were running bonnet first was causing consternation among some BR senior managers, but their response to this – in hindsight – is truly unbelievable. In identifying a need for further Type 1 locos – itself a debat-able decision, given that the Beeching plan was in full swing – BR ordered 117 examples of the wholly untested Class 17 design from Clayton.

Designated the new ‘Standard Type 1’ design, the 17s had some obvious benefits, in particular two engines of lower power, which was more economical operationally if the loco was involved in shunting or light duties such that the driver could run on one engine. There was also the obvious benefit of a train being able to continue even if one engine failed, as the other would at least allow the loco to continue to a position where it was not blocking a running line. The unreliability of the 17s was to make this quite an important feature!

But as far as BR was concerned, the biggest plus of the Class 17s concerned their cab, which gave the drivers good visibility. The two smaller engines allowed a lower bonnet so a cavernous centre cab could be used, affording much better visibility as compared with a Class 20 being driven bonnet first.

However, where BR sadly failed in its duty as a government body was ordering far too many locos without testing a single one. So when they proved something of a disaster as regards reliability, it was clear the Class 17s were neither a match for the EE Type 1 nor a long-term solution.

Deliveries of the 17s started in July 1962 and ended in April 1965, but with such poor availability and reliability soon evident – many Class 17s were stored straight from delivery, often unpainted, from the manufacturer at Tutbury – BR decided to order another 100 Type 1s from English Electric.

A little over a year old, D8189 has suffered a seriously crumpled cab, although not as bad as D8163’s accident. It cost £3,200 to repair the cab at Crewe Works.DAVE THORPE COLLECTION

Numerically the locos followed on where the original locos had ended, with the first being D8128. The loco was noticeably different to the previous 128 machines, because the folding disc headcode system, which had been phased out from 1961 when the last 20s of the earlier batches were still rolling off the production line, had been superseded. Instead, D8128 sported four-character roller-blind headcodes to display train reporting numbers.

The new locos had the smaller ‘English’-style side cab windows, but had the bufferbeam layout of the Scottish locos, with snowplough brackets – regardless of the fact that they were mostly to be allocated to English depots – and the angled multiple working cables. The fitting of snowplough brackets was an indication that at last BR was conscious that locos would, over their lives, in all likelihood be transferred between depots in England and Scotland and vice versa, plus a realization that, of course, occasionally even England suffered from heavy snowfalls!

The locos were all built at the Vulcan Foundry and would be tested on the WCML with a trip to Carlisle on a rake of typically seven or eight coaches, under the headcode 1T60. If all was well the locos would be accepted into traffic and sent to their new depot. The first locos of this batch, D8128–33, were delivered to Tinsley, and the next, locos D8134–36, were initially allocated to Coventry, but soon moved to Toton where they were joined by D8137–99. D8300–09 were new to York, D8310–15 to Thornaby, and the last batch, D8316–27, were destined for the Scottish Region, initially split between Haymarket and Polmadie.

At first the locos rolling off the EE production line appeared in British Railways green with a small yellow warning panel at both ends, red buffer beams and a grey roof, but a major change came during construction when D8178 appeared in BR blue. The blue locos had full yellow ends on the noses and cabs, black buffer beams and the numbers in the BR corporate font above the BR double arrow badge.

The last eleven locos differed further by being built with dual train brakes. Up to D8316, all Class 20s had been built with just vacuum train brakes, but D8317–27 were to be outshopped from Vulcan Foundry with both air and vacuum brakes. For this they had two compressors in their nose ends.

The dual-braked 20s were intended for working merry-go-round coal trains in the Ayrshire and Fife areas, and were soon reallocated to Haymarket. As well as their train air-brake pipes they were noticeable by having a large rectangular metal patch on the front of their cab, and another under the small vertical window at the back of the cab.

The last three locos, D8319/ 26/ 27, were delivered in early 1968, with D8326/ 27 the very last on 7 February. Then in the same month, on 18 February, the first Class 16, D8404, was withdrawn – so for a very brief time of just over a week, BR had a fleet of 399 Type 1 Bo-Bo locos: forty-four Class 15s, ten Class 16s, 117 Class 17s and 228 Class 20s.

The implementation of the Beeching report closed many lines, thus reducing the number of locomotives, wagons and coaches needed to run the timetable. The late 1960s saw not only the end of steam but also a reduction in the diesel fleet, with the least reliable and non-standard designs the first to fall. By the end of 1967 the first Class 14s, 21s, 22s and 28s were laid up, as well as all Class 41s.

In 1968 many of Class 20’s ‘competitors’ were laid up, and all the Class 16s were condemned plus the last Class 21s and 28s, while massive inroads were made into the Class 14s, and a start was made on the Class 15s, 17s, 22s and 23s. The first Class 15, D8217, was condemned on 31 March 1968, and the first Class 17 to be laid up was D8537 on 21 July 1968. By December 1971 all the 15s, 16s and 17s had been condemned, leaving just the Class 20s as Type 1 locos. They really had become the standard design in this power bracket.

Minor collision damage to D8027’s cab brought the loco to Crewe Works for a £775 repair job. The loco has its home shed, 52A, stencilled on the cab side. This loco was withdrawn in 1982.DAVE THORPE COLLECTION

The new locos were put to work on similar work to their predecessors, but by the time D8128 rolled off the production line, many branch lines and duplicate routes had either been closed or were slated for closure, as a recommendation of the Beeching report. Some lines lost their freight services first, while others were actually retained for freight or cut back solely for freight use.

The reduction in branch-line freight was not a major issue for the Class 20s as their use double-headed, with cabs outer, was already well known. Although in the late 1960s the concept of trainload freight was still relatively alien other than on coal flows, pairs of 20s offered incredible haulage capability. Given that speed was never a major demand on freight, the ability to lift a heavy train out of collieries on often poor track with poor railhead conditions, and sometimes on an incline, meant that drivers felt very confident when they had a pair of 20s.

The added advantage of running in pairs was that if one loco failed, the other could at least get the train home or to a point where a loco replacement could be made. If nothing else, in a worst case scenario the train could at least keep going until it got to the next available loop, so not blocking the main line and causing additional headaches for the operational staff.

The North Eastern Region briefly had an allocation of Class 20s in the late 1960s, with locos based at York (50A/55B), Gateshead (52A), Thornaby (51B) and Hull Dairycoates (50B), and like other regions it was freight of all types that kept the locos busy. In the short time that Class 20s were based in the North East, D8310–15 at Thornaby (from April 1967 to March 1968) and Gateshead locos (from June 1967 to October 1970) would also work on all manner of freight in the area alongside Class 17s, 24s, 27s and 37s.

The work that the new locos did was essentially the same as those that had been delivered beforehand – freight, freight and a bit more freight! Coal haulage was still the biggest occupation for Class 20s in the 1960s in all regions, but they were simply regarded as a general freight loco.

The CP Locos

It is worth mentioning that EE won an order with Portuguese State Railway CP for sixty-seven locos based on the Class 20s. These machines, the 1400 class, were Bo-Bo locos and used the same 8SVT engine albeit uprated to 1,350hp, and featured a central cab, although the larger loading gauge in the country meant this cab could still sit above the roofline of the body.

The first ten 105km/h locos, 1401–10, were built by EE at Newton-le-Willows in 1966 and shipped to Portugal, while the following fifty-seven machines, 1411–67, were built under licence by Sorefame in Portugal between 1967 and 1969. Some of these locos, which saw use across the country on freight and passenger work, are still in traffic with CP, although some have been withdrawn or sold to private operators, and ten were sold and exported to Argentina in the mid-2000s.

The locos were 1,668mm gauge, although this was changed to 1,676mm for use in Argentina. Most of the exported locos are now stored.

CHAPTER TWO

CHANGING TIMES

Reallocations of Class 20s were occasional in the 1960s and often with no apparent reason, although overhaul dates and accumulated mileages explained some switches. By February 1968, 228 were in the fleet – and split as follows:

London Western Division (Willesden): D8000–15

Tinsley: D8016/ 17/ 58/ 59/ 64–66/ 68/ 69

Gateshead: D8018–29

Haymarket: D8030–33, 8316–19/ 23

Polmadie: D8034/ 72/ 74–76/ 78/ 81/ 85/ 86, D8100/ 06/ 11/ 13–27, D8320–22/ 24–27

Birmingham Division (Bescot): D8035/ 36/ 40–44, D8134–41

Nottingham Division (Toton): D8037–39/ 45–48, D8142–99

Immingham: D8049–57

Barrow Hill: D8060–63/ 67, D8128–33

Eastfield: D8070/ 71/ 73/ 77/ 79/ 80/ 82–84/ 87–99, D8101–05/ 07–10/ 12

York: D8300–09

Thornaby: D8310–15

In March 1968 the Thornaby locos moved to Hull Dairycoates to replace the short-lived use of Class 14s in the area, although their stay was also relatively brief: they moved to Tinsley in October 1969, and were joined by the York locos, D8300–09, in October 1971.

Typical work for Class 20s in the 1970s; hauling a vacuum-braked coal trains. On 14 October 1978, 20045/ 082 back a trainload of 20-ton coal wagons into the holding sidings at Willington Power Station. The economics of moving coal by rail was improved by the introduction of the merry-go-round system in the early 1970s.BRIAN ASTON

A typical mid-1970s scene as 20163 trundles through Derby on 22 November 1975, hauling northbound hoppers.BRIAN MORRISON

The Willesden locos were reallocated away in July/August 1969 and migrated north to Toton – and so ended the association of the class with the WCML out of London Euston. At that time they were still to be seen working off Stratford depot, with duties including station pilots at Liverpool Street, a turn they shared with Class 15s. However, the last locos left Stratford in October 1971, with 8030/ 55/ 56 the last at the depot, some six months after the last 15s had been laid up. Class 08s took over the Liverpool Street pilot turns.

In 1969 some Scottish locos also moved to Toton, and over the next three years there were some depot switches between the regions. By October 1971 all York locos had moved away, and so on 1 January 1972 the allocation was split between three regions: the London Midland, Eastern and Scottish. The former had 110 locos, all allocated to Toton. The ER had forty-six locos, with thirty-one based at Tinsley, nine at Immingham and six at Barrow Hill. The ScR had seventy-two Class 20s, which were split between Eastfield in Glasgow – fifty-one locos – and Haymarket in Edinburgh, with twenty-one locos. The allocations were:

Toton: 8002/ 03/ 06/ 09/ 11–16/ 35–40/ 42–45/ 47/ 62–64/ 66–77/ 81/ 83/ 87/ 88,8111/ 14/ 15/ 22/ 34–99

Immingham: 8028/ 29/ 31/ 49–54

Tinsley: 8020–23/ 25/ 26/ 32/ 33/ 56–61/ 65, 8300–15

Barrow Hill: 8128–33

Haymarket: 8000/ 01/ 04/ 05/ 07/ 08/ 10/ 17–19, 8317–27

Eastfield: 8024/ 27/ 30/ 34/ 41/ 46/ 48/ 55/ 78–80/ 82/ 84–86/ 89–99,8100–10/ 12/ 13/ 16–21/ 23–27, 8316.

During the Christmas period the railways closed down and all locos stopped on shed. 20007/ 094/ 105 rest on Grangemouth shed on Boxing Day 1977.JIM BINNIE

Apart from reallocations between depots as required, the locos soon settled down in three distinct regional fleets, although then they did not work throughout those regions.

Toton locos would be outbased at Westhouses, Burton, Nottingham, Derby, Bescot and Shirebrook. They worked mostly coal trains and mixed goods. Toton also had a sizable allocation of Class 25s, all ten 44s, some 45s and 47s and later, from 1977, the Class 56s. Toton 20s were regularly at Bescot working in the West Midlands, although in fewer numbers, as Class 25s were preferred. In fact in the 1970s, other than going to Ironbridge Power station, it was relatively rare for 20s to head west of Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury. Likewise, heading along the WCML to Rugby or down to Banbury were duties that in the 1970s were more likely to be in the hands of 25s.

That said, in the 1970s, coal trains from the East Midlands pits to Didcot could be in the hands of Class 20s. Toton 20s did wander to Gloucester, especially, in the 1970s and occasionally even further west to Severn Tunnel Junction, where loco changes to Western Region power would be made. As an aside, two dual-braked, slow speed, controlfitted Scottish Class 20s, 20179/ 201, were loaned to Cardiff Canton in May 1979 for a three-week trial to assess their suitability on coal trains. The trial was not proceeded with, although this was the second time a Class 20 was loaned to the depot, as D8069 spent 6–22 June 1965 on loan at 86A, possibly in connection with BR evaluating diesel electric designs to replace diesel hydraulics.

Toton 20s shared siding space with their Tinsley counterparts at depots in north Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire, such as Barrow Hill, Shirebrook and Worksop, although they were in the minority at these locations.

Tinsley locos worked from their home depot and were to be found at Wath, Healey Mills, Worksop, Barrow Hill, Shirebrook and Doncaster. Again, collieries provided most of their work. They worked alongside Class 25s (in the mid-1970s, the Tinsley allocation leaving the depot by February 1976), Class 31s, 37s, 40s, 45s, 47s and later 56s.

The Immingham locos were essentially outbased at Frodingham and would travel to Doncaster, Goole and Hull as required. They would work trains from the massive Scunthorpe steelworks, as well as all manner of freight from the Immingham Docks complex. However, there were far fewer Immingham locos, and the work they did was shared with Class 31s, 37s and 47s. It was not uncommon to find Tinsley 20s on Immingham duties, and vice versa, while it was less common for Toton and Tinsley locos to work duties normally allocated to locos from the other depot. Mixed Toton/Tinsley pairs were quite rare in the 1970s.

The locos did not wander too far away from their booked areas of freight haulage due to two main issues: crew knowledge and fuel range. The locos could realistically be expected to work only about 350–400 miles (560–645km) on a full tank, so long-distance freight jobs were never their forte.

But driver knowledge was a big issue. In the 1970s it was occasionally found that any failed Western Region Class 45/47/50s that were congregating at Saltley would be returned to Bristol Bath Road in convoys, but if Saltley depot used a 31, 47 or even a 25 to do such a transfer, then there was every chance the hauling loco might not be returned. If they provided a 20 to do this job – perfectly capable in terms of fuel range and a driver’s shift – then it was guaranteed the loco would be sent back home!

There were occasional examples of 20s getting past Bristol to Westbury, Taunton or Bridgwater, but such trips in the 1970s were very rare indeed.

By March 1972, Polmadie’s allocation of 20s had been sent to Eastfield or Haymarket, and these two depots had a monopoly on Class 20 allocations until May 1979 when 20122–124/ 137/ 138 became the first allocated to Motherwell. A month later 20007/ 020/ 085 were reallocated to Inverness, the first of the type allocated to the Highlands since 1968, but their stay was brief and they returned to Eastfield in February 1980. More 20s were allocated to Motherwell in 1982, but they worked pretty much alongside Eastfield and, to a lesser degree, Haymarket locos.

The Eastfield locos were to be found all across Scotland’s Central Belt, but from the late 1970s there was also the need for a Class 20 to be outbased at Fort William, replacing an 08, which was found to be inadequate for local trip workings in the town. It would be transferred to and from the Highland town usually by working a freight train in multiple with a Class 27 or 37. Single and pairs of 20s on West Highland freights were not uncommon either, and they would also work to Oban on freight trips. Eastfield, and later Motherwell, depot would also provide a pair of dual-braked locos to be outstationed at Beattock to act as bankers, but this duty finished in the early 1980s.

In the 1970s there were numerous local trip freights in the Glasgow area that were ideal work for a single Class 20, with docks, coalyards and collieries all served by the class. The coal mines at Kingshill, Glenboig, Bo’ness, Whitburn, Armadale and Allanton would all have welcomed Class 20s, usually solo. Ayr depot would also have several 20s stabled there for use to the collieries at Killoch, Dalmellington and the dock branch at Newton-on-Ayr, and 20s would work alongside 25s, 26s and 27s on these trains.

In green but with full yellow ends, 8023 leads 20228 on the approach to Toton from the north at Stapleford in early 1974. Pictures of pairs of 20s, one renumbered and the other not, are relatively rare as there was only a short period from September 1973 to September 1974 when it was possible, with the majority of locos being renumbered in February and March 1974. 8023 was renumbered in March 1974, 8128 having gained its new 20228 number the previous January.PAUL ROBERTSON COLLECTION

20188 and pioneer 20050 rest on Gloucester Horton Road shed on 20 October 1974. The locos reached the city on freight workings from Bescot, and occasionally worked beyond to Severn Tunnel Junction. Of note, the Z on the headcode blind for 20188 is the wrong way round!JIM BINNIE

In August 1970, ex-Scottish 8081 rests at Westhouses shed surrounded by classmates. The indent below the number is the area where tablet catching equipment could be fitted if required, but aside from D8028– 034, few locos ever carried this equipment.AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

In a general view of Coalville Mantle Lane on 22 April 1984, 20167 and a classmate are stabled alongside a Class 08 and two Class 56s. This was one of many locations where every weekend in the 1970s and early 1980s Class 20s would take a break from their weekday coal haulage. At this time Toton had about a hundred Class 20s in its allocation.STUART WARR

20041/ 082 are hardly struggling as they pass Appleford Signalbox with the 06:32 Bescot–Didcot Speedlink on 12 September 1985. This train often only travelled as far as Oxford, where the bulk of the traffic was required. However, sometimes military stores were conveyed to Didcot, often with a featherweight load such as this single VEA van.MARTIN LOADER

A group of track workers take a short break to watch 20045/ 142 move slowly out of Toton Yard on 16 October 1986 with a rake of MGR empties. A couple of other Class 20s can be seen in this view, which now looks quite historic, especially with the lines of withdrawn vacuum-braked hoppers stored in the distance.MARTIN LOADER

Class 20s would also appear at the steelworks at Ravenscraig, Clydebridge and Clyde Iron, the ports at Clydeport, Erskine and Renfrew Wharf, the nuclear power station at Hunterston and the oil terminal at Cadder Yard.

Haymarket’s allocation was used mainly for Fife coal trains serving the likes of Westfield, Dysart, Townhill and Levan collieries with coal for Longannet power station. But they also worked freight trains to Leith docks, Oxwellmains cement works, Bathgate car plant and to Rosyth Dockyard.

All the 20s at all the depots in Scotland, understandably, worked infrastructure trains across the region, and would reach as far south as Carlisle and occasionally Newcastle on interregional freight trains before, usually, handing over to other traction.

Dual Brakes

As mentioned, D8317–27 were new with dual brakes, but the programme to upgrade the remaining fleet was started in 1971.The fitting of air brakes allowed Class 20s to haul the merry-go-round (MGR) coal hoppers, MGR trains being one of the positive ideas to come out of Beeching’s report.

Coal was one of the railway’s biggest traffic flows, and in the 1960s most households relied on some level of consumption of coal. Transporting coal in 16-ton open wagons was tedious and a slow process, but in the new MGR system coal was dropped into the new hopper wagons from shutes at collieries and then hauled in bulk trainloads to power stations, many of which were very close to the coal mines. The coal was then easily unloaded by opening chutes in the bottom of the wagons so the load dropped into storage areas. This was done while the train was on the move at very slow speed. The empty train then returned to the colliery to be reloaded, again on the move at very slow speed.

To keep the trains at a steady low speed during loading and unloading, locos used on MGR trains were fitted with ‘slow speed control’ (SSC) equipment to allow the driver to set the predetermined speed between 0.5 to 3mph (0.8 to 4.8km/h) (in half mile per hour increments).

Dual braking would be a slow process, with just twentynine locos modified in 1971 and another two in the following year. None was modified in 1973, but from 1974 to 1977 a slow trickle of locos were modified. SSC was initially only fitted to 8317–27 from new, and then to 8179/ 84/ 91 and 8316.

Running bonnet first, quite a rarity in England in the mid-1980s, 20065 passes Clay Mills (Hargate) on 15 May 1987 with 8G15, the 12:56 Toton Old Bank–Bescot Departmental trip.MARTIN LOADER

For a while during the mid-1980s, Class 20s worked the heavy limestone trains in the Peak District, replacing Class 25s and 40s, but before the introduction of Class 37s. In 1986 eight Class 20s were renumbered into the 203xx series to denote that they had been modified for these workings. Prior to this, on 19 June 1984, 20077/ 172 pass Chinley with the 13:11 Tunstead–Oakleigh.MARTIN LOADER

20172/ 077 pass Chinley on 19 June 1984 with the 11:05 Oakleigh–Tunstead ICI stone empties. Class 20s had just taken over these duties from Class 25s and 40s. Despite the recent track rationalization, the now isolated platform on the right was still intact in 1984, complete with operational lighting.MARTIN LOADER

At the same time BR was also upgrading some or all of the vacuum-braked fleets of Classes 25, 31, 37, 40, 45 and 47, and so the budget for dual-braking the diesel fleet was spread far and wide, and it was not cost effective to do all the fleets as long as so many vacuum-braked wagons still existed. Those locos dual-braked were as follows:

1971: 8002/ 11/ 15/ 36/ 39/ 83,8111/ 14/ 15/ 22/ 37/ 38/ 44–46/ 49/ 50/ 52–56/ 62/ 64/ 65/ 67/ 74/ 75/ 91

1972: 8179/ 84

1974: 20116/ 123, 20216

1975: 20009/ 035/ 062/ 064/ 076/ 089,20118/ 124/ 125

1976: 20066/ 086,20201/ 203

1977: 20200/ 202/ 204–207

Of these, only 20179/ 184/ 191,20200–207/ 216 were fitted with SSC at the time of modification. The work did not necessarily mean a full overhaul, and many were outshopped without even a full repaint. By 1977 the dual-braking of Class 20s had paused, with sixty-four locos so fitted.

First Withdrawals