D0280 Falcon & D601 Ark Royal

Hi All

I have added some early photos of D0280 Falcon & D601 Ark Royal as a starter to my Diesel Hydraulic website
D0280 Falcon on a Pullman service on the East Coast main line
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339765.html
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339766.html
1200 Falcon Paddington
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339773.html
Nameplate
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339764.html

D601 Ark Royal Exeter 1958
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339757.html
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339755.html

D601 awaiting the scrapman
http://dieselhydraulics.photos.gb.com/p62339756.html

Neil

 

I don't want to sound rude, but I don't thing Falcon was a hydraulic, it was a diesel eletric, although it employed the simliar high-revving paxman engine used in the 'Westerns'

 

1200

Going of the principle of same engines

Neil

 

What I thought but as it has MD655's we can let it off!

Shame either of these two were never preserved, think Falcon was enquired about but 'had' to be broke up... and of course Ark Royal survived at Barry, though pretty much a shell on bogies, it was still worthy of saving as a static exhibit!

 

"FALCON" Was a diesel-electric, built by BRUSH ELECTRICAL Ltd. The only thing Hydraulic about it was the screenwashers!

Falling about laffin', oddsocks.

 

Well I might got that bit wrong (Whoops!)

Maybach would be better...

 

There are a couple of shots of D601 at Barry in this collection:

http://nick301.photos.us.com/c1235266.html

 

Hydraulic has nothing to do with the type of engine.

it relates to the transmission system.

I'm sure peggy can give you chapter and verse.

 

601 Barry

Had a look around 601 internally in the mid 70s whilst I was reactivating a laid up tanker on the old coal berths that was sold to the Far East. If I recall correctly she was well stripped but did have the engine blocks minus the heads, pistons etc still in place. She would have been a huge task to restore however.

Still amazed to think of some of the steam locos I cambered over are now fully restored and gleaming again, at least we have saved quite a bit of our railway heritage unlike our shipping history.

Brian

 

Yep, it is a real tragedy that D601 wasn't saved even if only as a static exhibit. Even worse, the 58-strong D6300s constitute the largest diesel class not to make it into preservation.

 

On the other side of that argument, if a D63xx had been preserved then I believe D821 wouldn't have been.

Weren't the DTG keen to preserve a D63xx, but it was broken up by accident and so Greyhound was offered as a replacement?

 

It wasn't yet the DTG at the time but yes this is a true story, D6319 was the loco in question. I wouldn't swap D821 for a D6300 but it is a shame there wasn't an opportunity to save both, diesel preservation was in its infacy back then.

 

Yes, I think it was a paperwork mix up which sent D6319 to its death by mistake, D821 being offered in lieu. Having only two Warships is already bad enough and I wouldn't want to lose either but it is a shame that we lost an entire class which would have provided appropriate traction on several preserved GWR/BR(W) lines - Bodmin, Kingswear and Helston to name but three.

 

I know diesel preservation was almost uheard of back then, but I thought the rapid demise of the D63XX class was due to them being unreliable? In 1967 D6320 aquired the name "Lister", but this was a large transfer, not a plate and only appeared on one side.

As has been posted though, they'd be useful on many preserved lines today.

 

The demise of the NBL D63xx class was more part of the standardisation process than a specific cull. Several factors were involved: the elimination of non-standard types; the rejection of the hydraulics in favour of the electrics; the withdrawal of classes for which the work had disappeared after the closures of the 60s and on-going rationalisation; and the demise of NBL itself.

The issue of "unreliable" types is one I'd like to learn more about because it seems that in many cases, types which were deemed as unreliable when they first appeared settled down and matched reliability figures for the so-called "reliable" types.

 

I believe Class 17s blew up at every opportunity... And as for the MetroVick Co-Bos, they were plain silly

(Glad there's still one of each surviving, though!)

 

The draughtsmen who designed the MetroVicks Co-Bos did it on a Friday afternoon after a few too many in the pub at lunchtime!

Does anyone know if, among the hydraulics, apart from D601 Ark Royal, D818 Glory and D6319, there were any other locos which just missed out on preservation?

 

Thanks,T.S.G.. D6121 was also a big loss to preservation. Wasn't D1035 Western Yeoman the preferred choice over D1010 Western Campaigner? Did any Hymeks just dip out? One was cut up in the 80s, I believe but maybe it died so that others could live, so to speak.