The Story of the Class 31
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- Опубліковано 12 лис 2021
- Hello! :D
This week, we'll be taking a look at a locomotive that is often forgotten due to its somewhat mundane mixed-traffic nature, but was in essence among the most successful of the early diesel engine designs to come out of the ill-conceived Modernisation Plan of 1955, the Class 31 proving its worth on both passenger and freight roles for 61 years as it plied its merry trade across the UK rail network.
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References:
- Key Model World (and their respective sources)
- Rail Magazine (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references) - Авто та транспорт
aesthetics are spot-on . The face, with the small window over the door , and the elegant way the sole plate dips between the bogies , just classic !
As someone that worked as a driver on BR in the late 80s early 90s I worked with the 31/37/47 and 56s mostly locomotives wise and the 31 was the one I liked very much the least.
I do have a funny story though the day I left the railway it was during the start of privatization and the director of Regional Railways NorthWest was at Manchester Victoria station unveiling a repainted class 31 to the press and saying how it was a symbol of their commitment to the railway... That always stuck with me as a symbol for privatization, I have no horse in the whole privatization debate, I left the UK right afterward, ironically to work in senior management positions for a US Railroad, but it has always struck me that privatization was just that a coat of paint over the surface of something that needed a whole lot more than a coat of paint!
It's how Thatcherism works....or doesn't!
Privatisation has ruined this country along with 40 odd years of neo liberal crap.
^ Ironic summary of socialism there XD.
BR was an expensive yet soggy mess from beginning to end. Shunting the blame onto Thatcher is quite laughable, as she didn't privatize it (despite being publically called to do so), and actually increased BR's budget while in office.
(albeit as a reward of sorts, for getting some tangible results at the time)
What John Major did wasn't "privatization", rather a worst of all worlds franchise scheme, inspired by the trashfire that's swedish rail.
(because early results always get applause... unlike the end result)
@@jimtaylor294 no more a soggy mess than the road system which doesn't have to explain itself or justify expenses?As for Mrs Thatcher not privatizing BR sectorisation was the beginning of that moving from operation based regions to sector cost centres and thus the beginning of privatisation.I don't know where Sir John Major,must forget his Sir!,got his ideas from I'd go with a combination of pseudo nostalgia for the Big 4,the Japanese system and the now failed New Zealand system?In Sweden I think that SJ is still state owned?But not sure about the freight part of SJ Green Cargo?
@@jimtaylor294 My experience of working on the railways in the UK over the US(and that's not me in anyway staying they have it right), is that no one could really decide what the objective was for a national railway, is it a public service, income source, major part of the logistics network for the country and investment opportunity. The bottomline is British Railways took over because the private companies where spent after the war and as soon as Britain started to contract its industrial base any form of railway would have been in REAL trouble.
The single biggest issue railways have is that they aren't very flexible, unlike the road network you are pretty much stuck with what you are stuck with, what was built in the 1800s and as the demographics of areas change the railways can't (it took Manchester into the 90s to get a 3 mile extension so they could run trains to the third biggest airport in the UK). Again I will stay out of the politics of what happened, but my observation is this as the government moved that way the railway was "encouraged" to reduce its flexibility further two examples being, the rapid introduction of single line lead junctions and the removal of Electric Train Heat on the Class 90s that was done at such speed that the sector operators had to lease in Inter-City 90s until it was completed, thus making them pretty much incapable of being used to recover passenger trains in an emergency.
For people familiar with British diesel engines, I'd say the Class 31 features in most people's top 5, in terms of favourites, and for some near the top too (me being one of those). They were an incredibly long serving, somewhat in the background workhorse operating across the network you can't deny, but although it's difficult to point your finger on it, they were also very aesthetically pleasing on the eye too. If I'd had to say why, I'd say it would have to be their compact size, the windscreen design at the front, the addition of the headcode box on the top and a generally pleasing profile as well. It's great to see one is preserved at the National Railway museum too -worthy respect!
The ‘toffee apple’ reference was actually to the main control lever with its big red knob found in the first series… it did not refer to the multiple operation system
Having worked at Stratford in my early years, of the first 20 I seem to recall that no. 18 had a different control lever, much like the class 47's. Also the AWS of S. Wales allocated engines [ Class 31's ] didn't work on the eastern region .. great for trying to run to time in thick fog ..lol Running one night on a parcel train from Liverpool St. Stn. we didn't see another station until we arrived at Reading ! Oh they were the days.
@@brianknowles7130 So not even all the original engines were truly 'Toffee Apples'...
@@SabotsLibres I wouldn't like to say that, no. 18 may have been modified for some reason or been in an accident I don't know, but when I worked there, it wasn't a ' toffee apple' 100% sure.
@@brianknowles7130 If memory serves, 5518 had a collision & the only replacement cab was the later headcode box design and blue star mu control, so both cabs were replaced, and it became a 31/1
@@andrewphillips9391 Thanks for this, at least I haven't gone totally ga.. ga.. yet ..lol any accident was before my time, but remember not having to take the controller out when we changed ends unlike, the toffee apple type [ which was a bit of a pain .. ] Thks
I drove these locomotives for many years and I was fortunate enough to have been trained on all variants including the toffee apple and I found them very comfortable to operate and I would rather have a class 31 over a class 37 which were uncomfortable and draughty.
and the 37s AWS alarm!
That blast of cold air round the back of the neck when you had a caution or stop indication on the 37 aws lol 😂.
Me too in 79-84 when based at Ripple Lane Pathfinder depot in East London.Because they were underpowered mainly used on local workings with limited loads!
I read somewhere that the build quality was very good on these. They are also good looking
Too bad more class 37s were produced than the 31s.
It would be nice to see a similar video for the North British Locomotive classes 21, 22, 29, 41 & 43. I really enjoy watching these, thank you for taking the time to put them together.
He's done 2 on the HSTs
And the 41 is including in them
How about you make the videos mate?
Definitely what we want to see!! 08 20 24 25 33 37 40 (done the peaks 😀) 47 56.
Love your stuff
Thank you 😊
@@mantisgamer96 He's talking about the NBL class 41s and 43s, which were two of the 'Warship' classes.
Class 31’s are lovely bits of kit. Just like the Peaks, they’re overlooked by the bigger names in the diesel scene.
But personally, I love a good workhorse.
Very good video!
Even as a diehard Steam enthusiast, I like the 30/ 31s. For starters they earned their keep many times over. I read from an engineering source that they were constructed beautifully, though the welded up corridor connections became drafty and crews suffered in freezing cold weather. The power units were big medium revving, were a tight fit for the body and very heavy, hence the unpowered middle wheelset on each bogie to keep axle loads within reason. I disagree that they were bland looking. The front aspect was far better than the unfortunate expression presented by BR/ Sulzer Type 24 which look like warthogs. Perhaps worth a mention is the fact the Metrovick Co-Bo locos were powered by two-stroke engines which are inherently more polluting than 4-stroke units.
One of the policy objectives of the Modernisation Plan was to keep several UK engineering companies in business. In hindsight it would have been better for BR to build all its own diesels but purchase tried and tested engines, traction motors, generators and control gear.
All said, Classes 30/ 31 were worthy successors to the steam locomotives they replaced, so no hard feelings then 😉
Could anyone explain what the two boxy protrusions are for… the ones aligned at an angle on what would have been the ‘shoulders’ of the corridor connection doors?
Toffee apples :) A little story - I had a relative who was based at Stratford from the mid 1950s onwards, retiring 1982. He started off on steam, but was quickly given the task of driving the Toffee Apple Brush Type 2's, the EE Class 40's in 1958 & the EE 37's in 1961. His first type 2 loco was D5508 from new, although he ended up driving all the prototypes D5500 to D5519 around the Eastern Region. Well, in March 1985 he asked me if I would go with him to Crewe TMD where D5508 was about to be scrapped. (It was 31008 by then, although it was a ETH unit) Anyway, we got free passenger to Crewe where a number of Welsh & North East drivers were there too as a number of other classes were up for scrapping that year too. So, after hearing all their train stories, including how the Welsh guys called the re-engineered 37/4's "English Wet Farts" as the thrash was more of a squeak than a growl (ha), we were shown around the scrap lines and there was 31008. He told us all that he actually picked that loco up from Brush's works and drove it to March. At the end, after seeing the 31's, 25's, 40's, and others that were going to be cut up, he was given the Toffee Apple from 31008 / D5508, complete with it's original wooden case. I ended up getting four more, which includes one of the locos that still exists. Oops. I still have all five boxed Toffee Apples, including the letters authorising the handing over of said control keys.
BTW, Rail Advantage should have a class 31 mainline ready soon. And I believe 31128 is still mainline registered too.
I loved these Brush-Type 2 (Class 31) as a wee-lad railfanning at Kings Cross with my Dad in the 1970's. I thought the windscreens looked great!
Very nice Ruairidh i can still remember the first time i saw one of these heading light engine from the direction Belle Vue to Ashburys (Manchester) in the 60s very rare for Manchester cheers Steve
My grandfather had these on his model railway. I remember playing with it in the 70s.
Used to be regulars in the Lincolnshire area, on freight out of Immingham aswel as the Cleethorpes - Newark shuttles and took over the transpennine services from class 123/4 dmu’s in the 1980s.
I worked on uk test trains. Got rocked and gassed to sleep many a time by a 31.
Still remember a particularly cold startup in penzance one evening the fire brigade coming to extinguish one (cerburus I think) wasn't on fire, just smoking alot!
Class 21 had (badly) licence built MAN engines by NBL which caused many of the problems. 20 of the Class 21s were rebuilt between 1965 and 1967 with Paxman Ventura engines and re-designated Class 29. The remaining Class 21s were withdrawn and scrapped. The Class 29s were all withdrawn by 1972.
Thank you. The Paxman engines bought the NBL a few more years than they would otherwise.
Thank you for the mentioning the yellow 31s, it was a pleasure to spend 5 years maintaining them at the RTC. A truly superb machine.
Always good to hear from experienced maintenance staff.👍
We had a 31 off the last rail test train at Immingham TMD it had set of the gotcha I had the wheels to inspect , they were badly scaled , one of you fitters came down to look said knew wheels were getting bad . I had the the loco to uncouple move off because no drivers signed 31's seemed really nice loco ran lovely , finally got BP ,interlock on park brake ! . We had quite a large fleet of 31's 31 4's at Immingham years ago ,was quite nostalgic getting onboard a 31 again
I always remember the drivers at March Depot messroom, with a toffee apple in their pocket!
The engines weren't replaced because they were under powered. They were replaced because the 1365hp engines were failing due to fatigue in the fabricated parts and cooling system after only 500,000 miles. At that ti e BR was experimenting with 1600hp and 2000hp versions of the engine. Needless to say these experiments were abandoned. No fatigue problems were found in the 1250hp engines that operated at 850rpm compared to the 900rpm of the 1365hp engines. The BTC wanted Mirrlees to take action, but they couldn't give a timeline for the rectification of the problem and with 250+ locomotives (probably not just Brush Type 2s) BR needed the issue fixing rapidly. So in early 1964 D5677 sent in Doncaster wor,s to be fitted with an EE 12SV of 1470hp. IIRC this was the maximum that the fitted electrical equipment cou,d handle without modification. The re-engining programme cost £6 million and was met by BR. A compensation deal was struck between BR and Mirrlees, but the details remain secret.
The engines were sold off by BR and then refurbished for use in trawlers, was it not the deal that Mirrlees bought them back?
@@Titan604 I've no idea.
From memory, some engines were upgraded to 1600hp as a temporary measure until the class 37s arrived; the 2000hp experiment was a one-off.
It was reported in the railway press at the time that the fatigue failures were also present in the Mirrlees engined locos Brush built for Rhodesia Railways; however, these faults were rectified and they operated with their original engines for all of their lives
I too recall reading that the rating of the EE engines had been set to match the electrical equipment in the Brush built locos, but I wondered if this was something which got "lost in translation"; some of the locos had run at 1600hp - and as you mention one had run at 2000hp - so why was it necessary to rate the engine at 1470hp?
I often wondered if it was because this was the maximum rating that the class 28 Co-Bos could take as the first 20 engines were intended for the replacement of the Crossley engines in them, and not to convert class 30s to 31s
@@Titan604 after some research online - yes, these engines were resold to Mirrlees and some ended up in trawlers albeit at a lower power output. All of them were rebuilt to a lower unrecorded (in my sources) power output.
@@grumpyoldman47 I have wondered about this, I think the EE engines ran at lower rpm, which may have meant lower voltage from the generator. Therefore the current for a similar power output would have to be higher. Add to that the cooling fan for the generator would be running slower as it is on the same shaft, so less cooling too which would lower the maximum possible current of the generator instead of allowing the higher current needed, and it could quite significantly reduce the max power the generator could run at.
Another great video full of memories ! The 31 or brush 2 was always there as i grew up through the 70s and saw them on a daily coal train with those 16 ton loose wagons back then that needed a brake tender behind the engine ! In all the year's I don't ever remember one failing !
I started as 15 yr old cleaner in 1960 at 34G and these locos were always well kept by Clarence Yard depot,we used them on KX to Hertford,Welwyn Garden City commutor services and when the re-engined versions arrived they were an excellent performer on the Cambridge Buffet Express ,1B66. And the limited stop "Parli" service KX to Peterborough, and were liked on the limited stop outer suburban runs, they rode well at speed and were crew comfortable.
The original Green with White bands and small yellow nose panel was the best looking.
When the Blue period arrived and they were nice and shiny they were ok at first but that blue soon turned flat and matt! they turned from smart to yuk in months as did all of them, a terrible colour choice, i wonder what blue vinyl would have looked like??
I worked many of these on the KX railways from Expresses to Commuter trains.
A more comfortable seat I have yet to sit in but, they could be a little draughty around the drivers knees, due to the doors on the outside, front.
I loved them. They was nice to drive too with a great view from the front windows. I also worked Deltic's but the seating on those was uncomfortable and awkward.
As kids we would go engine spotting at Temple Mills. Main attraction was 9f's off Stratford works. They seemed to disappear almost overnight, and what we at the time called A-1-A's became ubiquitous. By the early sixties steam had virtual disappeared at Mills. Loads of 08s and 31's though.
Ta.
Surprisingly no mention of the numerous BR/Sulzer class 2s which became the 24s and 25s.
Nice looking engines. Especially in the dark green with the two cream stripes of BR. Great vid again 😀
Ruiaridh? Doing a video on 31s?
YES!
Such an icon the class 31's used to be. Can remember seeing them in Network Rail livery at Derby which looked stunning. A shame they have now been retired from mainline duties but at least some are still going.
Thank you for a fascinating insight into the introduction of electric locos on the WCML. (And other routes)
The long life of these diesels are the main reason why I like them so much! It saddens me to hear even in preservation they are not safe from being scrapped. But some of those reasons are understandable in a way such as being stripped by metal thieves or having the deal fall through.
Thank you for that story of the 31s. One of my favourite ever diesels.
31128 still makes occasional mainline appearances and 31106 is to return to the mainline in the coming years.
31452 is still mainline certified
@@ollie7373 When did it last run on the mainline?
Brilliant video! The first mainline diesel I worked on was 31190 down at the Plym Valley Railway, so Ive got a bit of a soft spot for them. The only issue with it was that there is still one 31 that runs on the mainline- 31128 is owned by Nemesis Rail and used by West Coast Railways on charter operations, however not often
452 still retains its mainline cert too but hasn't worked a train in years
@@nikkihicks5693 whilst 452 has an FTR, it was only recently fitted with the latest up to date GSMR, having been out of date for a couple of years, thus at the time of my comment leaving just 128
I really should be sleeping, but your videos are just too good!
Another excellent video! One can see that a lot of research goes into them - fascinating to see film of the 31s’ construction. Many thanks for sharing.
Yet again, another great rail film man. Keep them coming
Great video mate. Thanks. These are the best class by class BR videos out there. I hope we can look forward to more!
Brilliant video on one of my favourite diesel locomotives. Thanks for sharing.
Great video! Very informative, interesting and professionally put together. Some great old footage too. Great work.👍
Love this guy's videos. So well put together and really interesting.
Excellent video once again, many thanks for all your hard work.
Excellent video once again!👍👏
Another great video. Thank you
Very interesting 👌 Thanks could watch your videos all day 👍
Great informative video, although I think such a numerous and important class deserves more running time. Good to see D5579 make an appearance in the experimental Golden Ochre livery, the only class member so treated whilst on the main line, although one on the GCR now carries it.
great video. @6:12 onwards - nice to see footage of one of the two 31s painted in the experimental colours of fawn [shown] and blue.
Interesting, nicely edited and presented. Thanks!
Great review,the first batch (20) were actually called 'toffee apples' due to the shape of power controller handle,which was removed when you had to drive from opposite end cab !
Were very underpowered and were double headed commonly to prove additional HP !
I’d love to see you take on a video covering the 0 Series Shinkansen, although with all of its different variations and operational changes it’s certainly a daunting task.
We had the english electric type ones here in New Zealand, they are known as DE's and Brush electric built our mainline electric locomotives
The DEs had a 660hp six cylinder engine, while the similar but larger type 1s (class20) had 1000hp eight cylinder engines.
Well done Sir, brilliant!
Spent many years working on them we use to get seized turbos and stuck valves quite often use to get engine hot then light fire in turbo once free be ok till shut down for while . Freeing exhaust valves was fun we would knock valve down with bar when running piston knocked it up you knew it was free as cylinder knocked as burnt of excess fuel . We ended up with fleet for engineering work at weekends had them all to run up Friday night loads of smoke and banging till warmed up .Also experimented with one with no turbos for engineering trains we fitted turbos with nothing in them then load banked it could never get it running clean and power was really low
Always love when you post a train video RM
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d love to see a video on the class 28’s and their various messes (if you haven’t done one already). Also, love the videos, I always look forward to your releases
31s weren't used on BR departmental trains for engineering use on in my region. We mainly used 25 and 37, with the occasional 47. Sounds like a good loco, which is more than I can say for the 47.
Although being nearly always spot on with research and facts, there have slipped a few errors in this video.
The class 21, and the sisters class 22 for the Western Region were powered by North British built MAN engines, and those engines built under license were very troublesome.
BR decided to re-engine the fleet with the Paxman Ventura V12 engines, and one was tested on one example, D6123 in 1963.
Reliability improved somewhat and many members of the fleet were treated similar, thereby fitting head code boxes to the front as well.
But as they never could meet availability numbers as good as the Sulzer type 2 they were withdrawn when more Sulzer type 2 locomotives from other regions became available, those in themselves giving way to the class 37 by the early 1980s.
The Mirrlees engines on the class 30 were apart from being under powered not free of trouble, many of these did hit the dust, a batch of them was built with a higher power rating and some of these engines even exploded.
All of the Brush type 2s were Mirrlees powered when built, and all were rebuilt with the EE engine, so none of the locomotives ever carried the class 30 under TOPS.
Interesting points. I've yet to encounter anything designed / produced by MAN AG that could be considered good.
(while in the RLC; the MAN lorries were objectively worse mechanically [especially re' the gearbox] & otherwise than the Bedford MK/MJ's & Leyland S26's they replaced)
Then again outsourcing design / build elements abroad has quite the naff history; from BR's failed attempt to have loco's built in Romania, to Leyland using a WWII German engine as the basis of the L60's design, et al -_- .
I think they changed the measurement of MAN's metric to imperial. Most of these MAN engine unreliability on license built engines where from using different measuring systems.
@@kimpatz2189 correct. The Blue Pullmans had german-built engines which were much more reliable than those manufactured by NBL
^ Doubtful. Changing measurements is seldom [if ever] an actual cause of unreliability, but is a red herring used a lot by the media.
Using more than one system of measures on the same item *at the same time* though.
That; and MAN was responsible for the Panther Tank; one of the most unreliable AFV's in history, as well as one of the most stark examples of Weight Creep.
(gaining over ten tons between design and service entry; to the drivetrain's detriment)
@@ergotot45 In germany itself the same engines were used in some classes of DMUs and locomotives, and although having better reliability than the NBL engines they weren't the final choice for the V100/V160/V200 classes.
Both the Maybach and Daimler Benz engines had better reliability, and the simpler construction and therefore cheaper maintenance on the DB engines made them the winner powering the most of the V100/V160 family and the later batches of V200.
Maybach and the industrial engines branch of DB both were absorbed in MTU.
The general belief on the problems with the NBL engines is that they got tolerances wrong when converting the measurements, but in fact they were unable to manufacture to such tight tolerances as the machinery was laid out for steam engine production where tolerances could be larger.
The equivalent in the US was the GP7,and GP9,plus the Alco RS1,2and 3! The Baldwin's had the same type of troubles with leaking on several of their engines! So North British wasn't the only builder,that was still stuck in the steam age! EMD,had its 2 cycle engines,ultimately replaced by 4 cycle because of environmental edicts,from the EPA,so[pardon the pun],everything has come full cycle! Irony,and ironic but life always comes with surprises 😮 ✨! Thank you again for an interesting video,and the comments section is worth its weight in information! Thank you,one and all,Happy New Year,and may you soldier on,keeping people aware and awake to the world around them! 😇😇😇😇😇
I absolutely love these diesel vids. Have two class 31s myslf in 00guage.
Brilliant video
hi there. great video, i agree these locos are Top of the Pops and looked great in the green colour, wonderful shots of Liverpool st station which is now ruined by clowns who think they know best without asking anyone if the station should be redeveloped.i remember these locos used to be used on paper train duties out of Paddington station in the 70s as a friend of mine used to drive them,great fun and i used to go with him,
Another fascinating and historic video! Always liked the 31s! Now, the Golden Ocre livery on the second 31 depicted is different in having a break in the waist level band on the front.... at 6:20 - never seen that before! Any replies appreciated!
Great stuff would love to videos on other classes such as 33s and 35s
Great content very informative
Beautiful retro video like and subscribed from Czech Republic 🙂👍👍👍
ah my favourite locomotives, love working on these
This is my favorite kind of video
this is amazing!!
There is still a single member of the class that occasionally operates on the main line - 31128 (i believe its most recent mainline move happened as recently as this october)
106 is also expected to return to traffic soon with hanson & hall
That's astonishing longevity for a diesel locomotive over a period of time when such massive development has taken place.
A rare beast worth looking for.
I really enjoy watching your videos. If you don't mind, there is a tiny bit of advice I'd like to give. For me, whose native language is not English (but German) it is sometimes hard to follow along with your rather fast paced narration. Slowing down just a tiny bit (not as much as it slows down when watching your videos on 75% speed, maybe something that would be around 90% of your speed now) and maybe sometimes having just a short pause between the paragraphs of your narration woudl make it much easier to follow along for people like me. I sometimes need to rewind a few seconds just to have a bit of information repeated that I missed because my brain was still processing what you have said before. Your videos are so well researched that it would be sad to miss all the details just because they pass by like a fast train 😅. Of course I don't know where your audience comes from, maybe I am just one of a few poeple from outside the UK watching your videos and therefore a rather irrelevant minority. I just wanted to share this with you...
But enough of me complaining (because your videos don't deserve to be complained about), thank you so much for all the great content you upload!
English-speaking American here, but I would second that emotion.
Agree…..sentences can be confusingly long…..
A WR mate who was at old oak in the early seventies says everyone hated the brush twos replacing the type three hymeks. Way heavier and a lot less powerful, a real come down
31s not generally popular with train crews. At Crewe we didnt like them, 25s much better!
Oh my, what a day to be alive!!!
a great loco jack of all work and to my eyes no matter wat colour they painted them they always just seemed to look right even that pink
Great vid.
Excellent video, thank you. I can remember seeing a Network Rail Class 31 roaring through Crewe. Great loco with a lovely sound.
The 21 had NBL/MAN Engines and only gained the Ventura when re-engineered into the 29.
Correct. The script is wrong.
Remember the 31s with regional railways and network rail ,I personally liked them
Very interesting.
One of my favorite British diesels
The original design from Brush made the Co-Bo and the later Class 70 look beautiful. Fortunately the BTC Design Panel and Wilkes and Ashmore, produced something more attractive.
You forgot the Ethel locos ones with their prime mover taken out only used for train heatings
The "ETHEL'S" were made using redundant class 25's, not 31's.
Excellent, as usual. By 1970 passenger work on the old GER was shared by the 31s and 37s. Both fine performers.
The Metro-Vickers Class 28 locos were awful. Drivers were distrustful of them, shed fitters hated them and their fittings and construction was pre Meccano. Their balance was all awry- CO BO - and initially the driver's window would pop out at any speed over 30mph. The Crossley engines were prone to "run away" belching smoke from the exhaust.
BR should have declined them at the blueprint stage.
At that stage they were all prototypes and in a sense that's what they were for, weed out the bad ones without making too many. The Crossley engine was two-stroke, like a motorcycle, so would inherently produce more fumes and be less efficient - though the Deltic was also two-stroke as was the General Motors EMD645! It was sad but surely not predictable that previously reputable manufacturers like North British and MetroVick proved unable to adapt to diesel and electric traction.
I love the noise they make.
Remember watching these for fragonset between Bedford- Bletchley as a kid in 1999
Class 31s worked on the tees Valley in 1989 on oil Dutys and pulling class 101s to Saltburn
Of all the BR diesels, many which proved to be 'duds', a few were very good. Here's a fine example.
They were a great little Loco. Some of them would not work when paired up, when you took power, they tried to go in opposite directions and you would have to switch the Jumper cables around.
'The introduction of the Brush Type 2s hadn't been a total success...'(!) Well, that's putting it mildly. The entire class of over 250 units had to be re-engined before they were 10 years old. In fact the only element of success is that they were less awful than the wretched 21s and 28. The former were originally fitted with MAN engines, not Paxman Venturas, and these distinguished themselves by catching fire among various other deficiencies. Some were later rebuilt as class 29 with the Paxman engines, but by that time with Beeching's cuts beginning to take effect, work for low powered Type 2s was drying up and the effort of rebuilding was wasted when they were all scrapped a couple of years later. I guess the Brush 2s survived because they'd built so many of them that even BR in the early 60s couldn't face sending the lot to the scrap heap; and their large numbers made for standardisation of a kind.
Mad Alex. You mentioned the class 21s originally being fitted with MAN engines. I'm wondering if they were the same engines as were installed in the blue Pullman power cars,(1100 HP vee 12s) I worked for British Railways in those days and a colleague and myself were once tasked with fitting a Pullman MAN engine with a new set of pistons. I never came across a more badly designed engine, it took the two of us two weeks to complete the task.
@@keithparker5103 Keith - My information isn’t first-hand - I was 11 at the time the last 21s were cut up(!)
I do, however, have books on both 21s and 28s by Anthony Sayer - very detailed and an interesting read which sheds light on the often odd way some early diesels were commissioned and built.
Sayer states that the 21s were fitted with the NBL/MAN L12V18/21BS, the same unit mentioned on a website dedicated to the Blue Pullmans.
He makes the following points about the engine:
Workmanship at NBL was poor (‘steam age practices’) and poor conversion of metric drawings to imperial leading to inappropriate manufacturing tolerances. On top of this NBL tried to save money by using inferior materials for some parts (exhaust system). He mentions excessive cylinder liner wear, piston seizures, crankcase fractures and con rods coming adrift.
Fuel leaks were common leading to serious fires that destroyed 2 locos. This was partly due to poor separation of engine and generator units.
Does any of that sound familiar?
Class 31’s had the same engine as a class 37, and many of the workings were identical. Worked 31’s & 37’s in multiple a few times, and they worked OK - so, suspect 31’s were retained because of their compatibility with 37’s in many ways 👍
Unfortunately what you said about the Class 30 is not quite accurate. The Mirrlees engines suffered from fatigue due to the intensive nature of the work they were being made to do. BR insisted on fast schedules but these also included many speed restrictions meaning a lot of maximum power was needed yo get back up to speed in order to meet the schedule. This is a punishing regime for any engine and proved too much for the Mirrlees engines that had been updated to 1,365hp at 900 rpm. Even the Warships had problems due their method of operation.
Each BR loco should be separately examined and reviewed. Quite a project.
Nice to see Brush Falcon Works at Loughborough. It's now in the process of being knocked down.
👍👍👍 Good stuff.
The Mirrlees engines were replaced because they quickly suffered crankcase cracking. Lots of early BR diesels were underpowered in hindsight. I encountered 31s on Portsmouth-Bristol and London-Cambridge trains. On the Liverpool Street line they worked turn and turn about with 37s and I used to groan when I saw a 31 arrive at the head as it almost inevitably meant a late arrival, though I saw one meet the 63 minute schedule once when unchecked. On the 8 coach Cambridge Buffet Expresses from Kings Cross they rolled along at about 60, rarely more unless downhill. On the Portsmouth line they suffered several fires, so what was it about Western Region maintenance? 6 coaches was about right for them on this route and Norwich-Birmingham where they did OK. More like 4 on the Weymouth-Bristol line with the 1 in 50 Upwey bank.
In terms of The Scottish Region. I think you find out that it was mainly Classes 26 and 27 and some Class 24 Locomotives used up there. With The BRC&WC Type 2's later Classes 26 and 27 being used on The Glasgow-Edinburgh Push-Pull services before Class 47/4's and Mk II DBSO's arrived
Note on the NBL Type 2, they were later fitted with the Paxman Ventura but initially they were fitted with MAN V12 engines, built under licence in the UK. Importing German engines a decade after WW2 had ended wasn't going to happen, so NBL had to build the engines themselves, which went badly wrong. It would certainly make for an interesting video how after around 28,000 locomotives built, 150ish poor diesel locomotives killed NBL within 7 years of the modernisation plan being drafted.
Nicknamed "Gargoyle" right?,I love the Class 31,A great report,Simple but somehow explains its service life
Very good rare 2 see a class 31.with end doors.open
hey mate, ever thought of making a vid on the Brighton belle? aka the class 403
Thanks for that video. I thought the 31s in their original green livery were handsome. The design of the grilles were neat and the white bands added elegance. The need for a corridor connection between locomotives, which lead to some ugly and poor designs, was well handled. There is an illustration showing the original design for these engines with a droopy windscreen, which like the North British and MetroVic machines was weak and feeble. Yes things have moved on however these engines were being built alongside the last of the steam engines.
Great film. The class 21 had a MAN engine. The paxman engine was in the rebuilt ones which became class 29
Now I need a model of one
A1 vid
A very interesting and entertaining video. Thanks for uploading. However on checking Wikipedia ( and they do have an exhaustive essay on the subject ) the TOPS computer system was not introduced in 1968. At that time it was just about live in the USA with the Southern Pacific railroad company. British Railways bought the system and it wasn’t implemented until well into the 1970s; so where you state it was introduced in 1968 and the Type 2 Mirrlees engined examples were designated Class 30 is clearly inaccurate, is it not?
Ooh new!