HS4000 Kestrel

Oh look, neildimmer has yet again mysteriously forgotten where the Photography section is for images of non-preserved locos.

 

Some years ago I actually went to the Russian railway centre at Scherbinka outside of Moscow. My sister in law worked for the deputy minister of railways and she had checked their files which said that Kestrel was still in existence.

Her boss arranged for me to visit and I met a very bemused Research Institute deputy director who was clearly wondering what pull I had over the deputy minister to get him to come to work on a Saturday morning.

After a brief interrogation as to the depth of my railway knowledge he told me that Kestrel had been dismantled at another site (I forget the acronym he used).

We then walked over all of the site and went for a cab ride in some very large freight loco but no sign of Kestrel was too be found.


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I may be wrong, but I recall reading or hearing that it was re-gauged at Crewe prior to it's sale to the USSR.

I took a picture of it in Crewe works in 1971 where I understood this or at least some other preparatory work was being undertaken...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilkestonian/5680409877/in/photolist-9DXzXk

 

Not a Diesel lover, but what a good looking beast Kestrel was.

 

Kestrel, Falcon and Lion were all decent looking machines and it's such a shame none of them survived, I know the Diesel Traction Group wanted to buy Falcon but Brush had an agreement with BR if it was sold on it would only be a one way ticket.

 

Falcon was a beast!