Identification of diesels a brief dissertation by Jamessquared

Feel like I've suddenly landed in some kind of parallel universe here ......

 

Yes - the Gronks are coming and they don't want to be hump-shunted.

Richard

 

Re: 71000

It's going out now, Sheff. Here is episode 2. Ralph, pay attention at the back. Today: the fabulous forties...

Class 40: An attempt by BR to make up for the shortcomings of the class 20s. Twice the power, twice the number of wheels, twice the number of cabs, twice the, well, twice everything really. What else could it be but twice twenty?

Class 42: Another attempt by the BR(W) to make a squelchy diesel. These are strangely popular amongst diesel aficionados. Amongst such people, "popular" is a euphemism for "useless" (synonym of "scrapped early"). See also class 17, class 52 etc.

Class 43: Having seen the failure that was class 42, BR tried their trick of seeing whether adding 1 to the class number improved matters. It didn't. (See also class 31).

Class 44: A hot-hatch version of a class 40: souped up engine, chopped down boot. Ideal for a young engine driver about town to sneak away for a dirty weekend in Manchester, but drivers with families preferred the greater luggage space afforded by a class 40. Called "Peaks", presumably because they represented the peak of the "let's just add more wheels" phase of diesel design, tracing their roots via the 03s (four wheels); 08s (six...); 20s (eight...); 28s (ten...); 31s (twelve, at least eight of which actually did something...) to the 44s (sixteen wheels).

Class 45 / 46: Typical British engineering of the 1960s: take something successful and make it a bit bigger, more bloated and ultimately less desirable. See also the Triumph TR series of sports cars.

Class 47: For many years popular with the maths nerd / diesel nerd crossover market as the British class with the highest prime number class designation; the arrival of the class 59 in the mid 1980s was a cause for regret amongst a whole generation of mathematically inclined train spotters. The class actually arose with a specification for a rail cleaning loco; after three still-born designs, the class 47 found success in the role - hence the alternative name, the "Brush, type 4". Later superseded by the Hoovers.

Next episode: the strange infatuation with building locos with more pistons than cylinders...

Tom

 

regreatably Jamessquared you have forgotten Class 34, a class so successful and versatile that BR renumbered it as a Class 33 variant to make that class seem better.

 

Re: 71000

Well the forty-somethings episode had me rivetted (or maybe welded/fibre-glassed?) to my screen.

Now have I missed the Noughties, Onesies and roaring 20's, I wonder? Can these be downloaded from NPlayer or do I have to wait for the wax cylinder release?

 

A Flail
Certainly, Now you are finally getting into real machinery. Not some puffing wheezing thing. (take your pick Steam or Diesel)
http://www.ontrackplant.com/photo/bruff_oyh310y-1

 

Re: 71000

Next episode will be transmitted using a Cooke and Wheatstone 5 wire telegraph, just as soon as I can get past the problem of not being able to signal any numbers or the letters C,J,Q,V,X and Z. Get ready for the story of how the Romanian Klass Fifty Siks lokos kame ouer here and kwietly took the iobs of seferal British lokos.

Tom

 

You'll be entertaining us with your famous vent act next, that foxy little fellah Ballast Brush - boom boom!

 

Re: 71000

I heard that it was due to return now that it's been fixed. Is this no longer the case?

 

Ooo missis.:spy:

 

Your wish is my command.
Do you want the mechanised version or the unmechanised?

 

Re: 71000

Shaggy - I suspect you have asked a serious question and are expecting a serious answer. You've blundered into the wrong thread, I fear...

Tom, Dip Dies.Ident.

 

Re: 71000

Tom's summary of the diesel world so far has only really covered the grown-up versions.

For a full understanding of diesels, I think it is also important to review the whole family. First let's look at the babies:

01: Only 4 wheels. Went to north Wales on their holidays, never to return.
02: Still only 4 wheels but made by God's Own Engine company. Have a verandah on the back so drivers could admire their garden.
03: 6 wheels but still a bit scared of their bigger cousins. Often coupled to a shunter's truck to stop them feeling lonely.
04: An 03 with a skirt. Too sissy by half.
05: Not successful - one was allowed to retire to the Isle of Wight to spend its last days playing with some old tube trains.
06: Scottish thing - not important
07: Southern thing - ditto
08: An alien invader from the planet Gronk. No known way to stop it breeding and taking over the natural habitats of other diesels. (see class 13 below)
09: A pimped up 08 with go-faster stripes
10: An 08 type thing with a different sort of engine - wow!
11: Another 08 whatnot trying to look different, but failing
12: An 08 which had been bullied into having strange wheels fitted
13: Two 08s caught in the act of reproduction (see above). Class numbering use the basic maths: 08 + 08 = err 13

The next section will cover the teenage diesels which were thought to be old enough to get out of the sidings and do something useful. But in the end, they were neither use nor ornament, being unreliable and costing a lot to run. Just like real teenagers in fact.

Richard

 

Re: 71000

Just to point out that only a few of the 04s were sissy skirt wearers. Most flaunted their nether regions proudly...

 

Ralph - give yourself a gold star!! :first: :cheer2: :clap2:

Not only have to found Youtube videos featuring "Simply the best horn ever" but you have already started commenting on them.

You have truly joined "the other side" and will be presented with an appropriate award when we next meet.

Richard

 

Bryan - your photos of ballast brushes are getting a bit off topic and may confuse Ralph in his studies of all things diesel. If you want to share your dirty photos of track gang activities, you should start up a new thread - call it "P'Way porn" or something?

Richard