I always will remember walking past a Deltic at Gloucester station in the 70's it was evening the engine was getting ready to depart the noise was amazing it vibrated through my body and the glow of the drivers window made it look to me like a huge dragon I was both scared and excited at the same time
@@highdownmartin @David Powell We used to get the occasional Deltic go through Gloucester during that time period. I was an avid trainspotter and my goodness, were they rare. Anybody live there ?
As soon as the video finished I went straight to the comments looking for Mark Felton reference. I was not disappointed. Now, let's get him to narrate some war train stories.
@@stupidsmart-phone6911 Same here, just knew afew would be in there, just missing someone referencing German Juno engines, oh no I've just done it..... Need to purge it out of my system now by watching 24hours of Spitfire and Hurricane clips now.
Napier was am incredible company, set land, air and water speed records in the 20's and 30"s, Powered the Tempest and Typhoon, produced the most powerful aircraft engines. Engineering at its finest.
I used to have a summer job in Waverley Station in Edinburgh from 1970 to 75. The Deltics were the most impressive locos one could imagine with a sound that resonated through the station. I just wish the Finsbury Park locos had all been preserved as the racehorse names were far better than the regiment names. "St Paddy, Meld, Pinza, Crepello, Ballymoss, Nimbus" as well as "Alycidon" and "Tulyar" which are still with us.
Worked in Edinburgh Waverley in the 70s, these big buggers always gave me a thrill when pulling out of the station. The sound and vibration shouted power.
As a steam enthusiast through and through, I have a soft spot for the deltics. They were truly the last of the thoroughbred Eastern express locomotives.
I had the great privilege of seeing the Deltic prototype in that lovely blue/cream stripes running light through Crewe early on a cold foggy day. I was on the open footbridge which crossed the 4 main Euston/North lines & I heard this loco well before it came out of the gloom. This was still c. 1956/7 & seeing this great big blue diesel was stunning. EE made some great engines but this blue prototype, with its US styling, is still may favourite! Some advantages of being well over age 30 :-)
Pat McDermott you must be about my age! I saw the prototype on the West coast main line when I was on my way to work as an apprentice at Leyland Motors. It was love at first sound! Something I shall never forget!
My aunt was the Napier Managing Director's secretary at the Uxbridge Road, Acton plant where I believe the aero engines were manufactured. The sleeve-valved Sabre engine in the original RAF Typhoon was the UK inspiration for the later unconventional Deltic design
Helped build and Bed Test Loads of these Engines back in the Late 70s, Working at Paxman Diesels Colchester, Also worked on the smaller versions, 9 Cylinder/ 18 Pistons, ( They are 2 stroke apposed ) Used in the Navy Mine sweeper Ships, Amazing Engineering To be appreciated and Understood.
Interesting- was that about the time that Paxman were turning out engines for the HST? A few years ago 55022 Royal Scots Grey was running with an engine that had been fitted to a Norwegian torpedo boat (IIRC)- I believe that, apart from the mounting points, there was very little adaptation needed.
It had been in the London Science Museum for a while too which is where I last saw it. I wondered why it wasn't at York Museum (logical place being on the Deltic's route!) but thanks for the information I must try to get up to Ribble!
He had you going there, Rimmsy. All that 'priming the engine' caper while he nipped off for a cup of tea ... You were just opening and closing the quarter glass vent windows.
amazing diesel loco , engine go back before deltic some talk that came over from germany, not power train ,but airplane , but show could on use on train,still one of favourite diesel , as born in 1958, my dad took train spottering in old new stn in 60s due time of rebuilt , cannot wait until ride on these train as i base on west coast line
Back in the 1970s i worked for brel in leyton , one morning i arrived at work and outside our workshop we could hear a very noisy engine revving , we went outside to see what was happening to find a deltic with i think about 30 or so 16 ton coal wagons , the driver was giving it plenty of throttle , but it only moved the wagons 3or 4ft before losing traction , this looked spectacular at 7.30 on a fairly dark winters morning, there were flames coming out of the exhausts which were glowing red hot and lots of sparks from the wheels ,then we noticed that all of the wagons still had there brakes hard on. Drivers eh!
I have driven this very locomotive! D9009 'Alycidon' at the East Lancashire Railway in 2012. Absolutely magnificent engine. The feeling of sheer power is unbelievable! Brakes are a little tricky initially but you get used to them. The noise has such a low frequency base to it, cannot be replicated on a smartphone or computer, has to be heard in the flesh!! Great video.
+lmn28021992 A magnificent locomotive indeed and a tribute to British rail industry. You are right about the sound, the only way I found to have a perception of the low frequency base was in good quality headphones. But then, some other goodies of these complex sounds are lost. Are the Napier engines relatively easy to maintain?
At least they put the bloody driver on the proper side of the cabin.The LEFT side!!!!!!! As a Yank, I've always admired those deltic engines. Just incredible bits of kit!!!!!
The Western's are my favourites but I like the Deltics too. Nimbus was my favourite and the first to go. You couldn't pay me enough money to cut up any of these locos.
But we have to face up to the sad reality that nothing lasts forever, not even legendary and revered diesel locoomotives, at least on earth, but elsewhere???????
On a 1980 trip from Rome to London, I was talking to a British Rail engineer and his family. I discussed my interest in railways and that I was aiming to travel behind a Deltic as I knew they would soon be on the way out. He replied in a warm way that "yes a lot of enthusiast interest in the Deltics, but they do not have the headaches of keeping them going." Much happier with the new HSTs and the TGV that flashed past in France. It could be argued that the Deltic engine was a technolgical dead end. Never applied to many locomotive designs despite Napiers trying. Even some shipping applications that I know were short lived. So a brilliant design if you do not need to pay for the complication and the high maintenance costs and lower availability than better designs. The praise is largely also from keyboard warriors, not railway engineers whose job is to provide cost effective motive power.
Yes, but still a good solution to the problem of British loading gauge given available technology. The much simpler V-type diesel was standard in North America, although Fairbank-Morse made opposed piston engines for their diesel locomotives. Either way, it's one crankshaft, not three.
That’s why there were 22 Celtic’s and 500 odd Brush 4 s Standard design go anywhere pull anything all crews could drive em spares and fitters nationwide. Always the way of it. All lot more room in the 47 cab as well. Deltics are very cramped and noisy.
I see the Deltic engines as a quite interesting part of technology that actually works compared to many other technical solutions that have been tried. They don't hold up to modern emissions standards, but that don't make them less interesting.
they were basically a very expensive loco and still weren,t the most reliable and considering they they produced a total of 3300 hp and pulled only 400/500 tons over a mostly table-top railway didnt excatly tax the power units -yet they still failed on a ggular basis !!- hardly "technology that actually works " is it ??
@@davidwilkes83 it was! I was working nights as a "passed" engine cleaner, I didn't change the points properly,they weremanual and very heavy to pull on the driver was getting impatient and had began to shout so I had one last go at it then shouted, OK! and it just trundled slowly off the rails,it was 3 in the morning and they had to get about 30 men out of bed to come and sort it! I sat on the embankment having a smoke with a coupl of them watching the operation "I 'd like to know what stupid bastard did this" said one.... yeah, I replied, "stupid bastard"
We had Napier deltic in our motor torpedo boats. The was one of the fastest and best build mtp. When the engines was running at the highest level could no people be inside the engineroom, because they engines suck all air from the room.
As i was curious I worked out how much air a Deltic sucks in using a online calc, looks like each Deltic was sucking in 9323 Cubic feet per min at max power output. I would guess it was the heat and noise down there that would be the real problem if you were in there when it was going full tilt.
These locos were built half a mile from where I'm sitting....Vulcan Foundry Newton-le-Willows. The works are now a large housing estate. A few still run on heritage railways....We had a run on NYMR last year headed by a Deltic....The loco set on fire and we were stuck for hours in the middle of nowhere
A diesel driven locomotive of that power and speed we never had here in Germany. Until today, on the few remaining not electrified lines with fast express trains, there must be installed a double-traction with two class 218 or two class 245. One of them would be simply too weak. Stronger diesels are not availible, perhaps except the well known "Ludmilla" of russian origin. But even a "Ludmilla", Class 232/233/234 is not able to hold the timetables, if single. And furthermore, her maximum speed is limited to only 120 km/h. A class 55 could pull all these trains alone with no problems at all in the highest possible speed, that the tracks allow. I´m sure. What power! What speed! Admirable. But even the British, who had this wonderful engine in service an saw in everyday´s reality, how good it was, built only some 25 or so of them. And tried to help themselves elsewhere with many far less powerful locos. I cannot understand this. But allright: Tempi passati, these times are long gone...
@@flybobbie1449 - 37s carried coal up until circa 2000. I'd occasionally catch one howling and wailing through Newton Abbot as I waited for a post-work connection.
It's amazing how few Class 55's were made, just 22, yet they became the ECML flagship loco. A real testament to the dependability of the design, and their ability to stay on the road and out of the shed.
Hannah Mayamoto. Actually Hannah that is not strictly true. When the WCML was electrified the class 50s were transferred to other duties for many years. When the ECML was electrified the Deltics were got rid of - fast. Reason, they wern't that reliable and they were expensive to maintain. They regularly broke con' rods. The few remaining ones aren't asked to do much nowadays compared with when they were in service. The same applies to the original Paxman Valenta engines fitted to the HSTs I've seen them smash themselves to bits. The worst culprits were the Rolls Royce 8 cylinder engines fitted to the St. Pancras - Bedford DMUs. I have seen them cut in half by flailing broken con' rods. I am an ex railyman by the way and I lnow what I saw.
@@keithparker5103 I'm sure you know more than me about U.K. railways, just because you live in Britain. Still, I wonder if some of that unreliability came from the fact that the Class 55 were worked remarkably hard? Steady 100 mph running, all day long, day after day, for almost 20 years would challenge the metallurgy of any locomotive built in the early 1960s and worked that hard. Moreover, since the Class 55 relied on an 18 cylinder diesel with three crankshafts originally designed to power a boat designed for speed, the margin between working load and ultimate strength was probably unusually narrow.
@@HSMiyamoto You are right of course about what was being asked of those engines but a reliable, cheaper to maintain 90 MPH locomotive is a much better economic prospect than an expensive 100 MPH locomotive. For example the class 45s had lower powered low speed engines but were capable of 90 MPH all day long. I NEVER saw one of those Sulzer engines smash itself up. The bottom line of the account book is what matters and that is why the Deltics were got rid of as soon as it was possible.
@@keithparker5103 Good to hear some reality about the Deltics as opposed to keyboard warriors with so little knowledge of what really matters in a well run railway.
@@johnd8892 They were bought as an ego booster for British Railways John. I could go into details, for example, 3300 HP the keyboard warriors spout about is meaningless. Their is a 20% loss through the electric transmission, take out the auxilaries also, compressor, etc. and their is probably only about 2500 HP at the drawbar. Many of the big steamers were capable of that. The Deltics did their job - just.
Replaced by more conventional designs? does that mean its now designated as "Non-Standard design"? Plus i like the Deltic for the engine sound! but im sure nothing can compare to the legendary class 37! gotta love that clag!
Japan was constructing the first part of the bullet train network in the late 50s, while we in the UK were wheezing along in diesels slower than some of our steam trains 乁། * ❛ ͟ʖ ❛ * །ㄏ
Despite being one of their best Diesels, BR didn't like the Deltics as they were maintenance-heavy and non-standard, meaning they used a lot of totally unique components and required specialist training to service.
I have often remained puzzled by American railroad companies that refused to adopt the more sensible British designs that include rail, aircraft, ships, and of course language. What do we have that is so important to prove anyway?
US railway companies are successful businesses that know the importance of operating costs and reliability on business performance. Deltic very poor on both these aspects. Same conclusion reached on every other railway in the world hence no Deltic sales to any outside BR Eastern Region. No further orders for Deltic from BR Eastern or any other regions. So not just US. We are all speaking English though but few other successes. Yet keyboard warriors that have never run a business nor would know how to provide a worthwhile business case salivate over Deltics.
@@johnd8892 So, your premise is Deltic is a poor business design due to operating costs and unreliability. I'd like to read up on where you got your data. Do you have a reference?
The Deltic body is a very American style, though, with the nose (still common in the US because cows wander onto unfenced lines, and a bit of crumple zone is useful). The prototype even had a space for a Mars light in the nose, although one was never fitted.
I’m not interested in railways at all. However I must go to a preservation society to see and hear one of these deltics under power, if nothing else just to witness the history. When I was a child we lived next to Stratford station in London. There used to be huge engine sheds there. I was lucky to get a tour of the sheds by a family friend, and oddly my favourite engine was similar to that in the video. I remember it as being called a “1750” - bear in mind this was 1966 and I was seven years old. Sadly that friend of the family was in an accident a little later when electrocuted by either a pantograph or overhead cable and passed away.
Comparisons, comparisons, comparisons. Why is it the keyboard cynics always try to ruin the moment? Like the Spitfire, the English Electric Lightning, indeed, the Jaguar E type - icons of British endeavour - always come in for some slagging by persons who haven't a clue on what they are talking about. If it's German, American or Russian then it's far superior to any British effort according to those same cynics! Well, history, true historic facts, offer a different take on acclaimed engineering achievement. Most advanced countries have played a part in such achievements - there is no denying that! But, give credit where it's due. The Wright brothers, Benz, Bugatti, Ferrari all take the credit for outstanding achievement on a global scale. So, why can we Brits' not feel some pride in our own efforts and receive the same recognition and respect that the world pays others - huh? As the UK's first mainline 100 MPH diesel powered unit, after the prolonged age of steam on British railways, we, as a nation, had something to feel proud about - but then again, the cynics, many who have yet to reach their 30th birthday have no memories of those wonderful times seeing these magnificent engines strutting their stuff across our green and pleasant land. As for the cynics, pity you guys' living down there in your vitriolic valleys. Why not change your ways and come and live amongst us true Brits' living on the higher plateaus of life - and, that includes appreciating the Deltic!
I'll give you ending slavery, discovering penicillin, inventing the computer, football, rugby, cricket and peculiarly baseball, discovering DNA, and inventing the gas turbine, but not the Deltic.
Indeed. The Junkers Jumo Fo3 and 204 were licensed to Napier & Son, who built a small number as the Napier Culverin just prior to the war. Late in the war, they mounted three Culverins in a triangle layout to produce the Napier Deltic, which was for some time one of the most powerful and compact diesel engines in the world (Wikipedia).
William Rance and they should keep there stupid opinions to themselves. And ride a push bike around don't drive your car if your so environment friendly. That's a hypocrite
@Thomas Munn Indeed Thomas, anyone who's been through the English education system since about 1955 has been taught to hate, deride and scorn their own country, its achievements, history, culture and native people.
Yeah the U.S. has some spring switches. Basically, it appears to be set the wrong way but when the locomotive makes contact, it switches to the correct direction.
In the UK a loco or carriage running over a set of points that aren't set for you will make the points "snap" closed. This is possible because in the UK the levers that throw the set of points usually aren't automatically locked after a full throw, whereas in the US they almost always lock into position. It's pretty common practice to leave a set of points lined against you because there's no hurt in driving over them. We achieve the same thing in the US by using spring switches, which are sometimes permanently lined one way for a sidng, then on the other end of that siding the switch is lined for the opposite track. When a train goes over them, the force of the wheels pushing on the switch rails overcomes spring tension, which then snap back to the "normal" position after the wheels leave the turnout. There's only a problem if the switch isn't sprung and the handle is locked into place.
It was. Rootes blower system (one for each cylinder bank). Served the dual purpose of supercharging, and efficient exhaust scavenging (seeing as the Napier Deltic is a 2-stroke diesel).
Where are they now? From what I saw of them they were a scrap iron jungles. I was on a ship with these engines and once they were started you weren't allowed out of the control room. That's how dangerous they were. Possibly if they were run at lower speeds you might get a run out of them. They definitely weren't what they were cracked up to be.
I thought so too, until I realised he was talking about the max marine rating of one power unit, which was reduced to 1,650bhp continuous for rail use.
Napier engiine. There was a Scottish engineer by name of Napier , who invented Logarithms. There is a University in Edinburgh named after him. Perhaps like Elon Musk purloined Tesla's name so too did English Electric purloin the Napier name ? In the early 1960s i saw this beautiful blue locomotive with golden chevrons on its nose heading towards Liverpool Lime Street.
He's a true engine addict. He has a collection of vehicles and an HGV licence just to drive trucks for fun. Anything with an engine and engineering, he likes. Rowan Atkinson is a petrol head too, I believe they're good friends.
sadly such vehicles are rare today, its a beautiful and very British machine... though, the fact that most railways today are still diesel because of it, is rather a questionable praise...
.....it was a great diesel loco and fast...but just not quite fast enough unfortunately. I think it was pushed out by the considerably faster InterCity 125 (which is still operating today, some 45 years after it entered service). So although the Deltic was (and still is) an iconic diesel loco, it gave way to the most successful Diesel ever made - the 125. The Deltic may have sped up journey times abit, but the 125 revolutionised train travel throughout the UK.
The E-8 unit is a good counterpart to the Class 55 Deltic. However, only 22 Deltics were ever built, compared to nearly 500 E-8 A and B units. The E-8 can be geared for speeds as high as 117 MPH, and an E-8 is much more powerful than a Deltic, thanks to the larger American loading gauge. If you wanted to pull a passenger train fast in the States on relatively level track before the 1970s, the E-8 would have been a good choice.
I always will remember walking past a Deltic at Gloucester station in the 70's it was evening the engine was getting ready to depart the noise was amazing it vibrated through my body and the glow of the drivers window made it look to me like a huge dragon I was both scared and excited at the same time
Gloucester?
@@highdownmartin
@David Powell
We used to get the occasional Deltic go through Gloucester during that time period.
I was an avid trainspotter and my goodness, were they rare. Anybody live there ?
I used to stand on the platform bridge in Cheltenham Station with a Deltic underneath.......Happy Days !
3:04 - Mark Felton Productions *intensifies*
*Lmao*
When I heard it I thought I had a Mark Felton video playing too somehow haha
As soon as the video finished I went straight to the comments looking for Mark Felton reference. I was not disappointed. Now, let's get him to narrate some war train stories.
@@stupidsmart-phone6911 Same here, just knew afew would be in there, just missing someone referencing German Juno engines, oh no I've just done it..... Need to purge it out of my system now by watching 24hours of Spitfire and Hurricane clips now.
Lol
I had a cab ride on 9009 in 1984 , I was 43 then one of the highlights of my life , even now
Would you have a go on her still noq
Napier was am incredible company, set land, air and water speed records in the 20's and 30"s, Powered the Tempest and Typhoon, produced the most powerful aircraft engines. Engineering at its finest.
And of course, built the DP1 which became the Class 55, an icon of BR Diesel
I used to have a summer job in Waverley Station in Edinburgh from 1970 to 75. The Deltics were the most impressive locos one could imagine with a sound that resonated through the station. I just wish the Finsbury Park locos had all been preserved as the racehorse names were far better than the regiment names. "St Paddy, Meld, Pinza, Crepello, Ballymoss, Nimbus" as well as "Alycidon" and "Tulyar" which are still with us.
Yes, I always preferred the racehorse names. Very much in the LNER tradition.
Worked in Edinburgh Waverley in the 70s, these big buggers always gave me a thrill when pulling out of the station. The sound and vibration shouted power.
the side of the deltic, and all the classic diesels, like the class 52 look so cool, love the shiny paint with the vents.
As a steam enthusiast through and through, I have a soft spot for the deltics. They were truly the last of the thoroughbred Eastern express locomotives.
Probably the greatest of the 'alternative-technology' locomotives.
My dad has helped preserve these since the 80s and drove alycidon at Barrow hill like this video 12 years ago
I had the great privilege of seeing the Deltic prototype in that lovely blue/cream stripes running light through Crewe early on a cold foggy day. I was on the open footbridge which crossed the 4 main Euston/North lines & I heard this loco well before it came out of the gloom. This was still c. 1956/7 & seeing this great big blue diesel was stunning. EE made some great engines but this blue prototype, with its US styling, is still may favourite! Some advantages of being well over age 30 :-)
Pat McDermott you must be about my age! I saw the prototype on the West coast main line when I was on my way to work as an apprentice at Leyland Motors. It was love at first sound! Something I shall never forget!
This deltic is an amazing loco. I love two stroke diesels.
My aunt was the Napier Managing Director's secretary at the Uxbridge Road, Acton plant where I believe the aero engines were manufactured. The sleeve-valved Sabre engine in the original RAF Typhoon was the UK inspiration for the later unconventional Deltic design
Helped build and Bed Test Loads of these Engines back in the Late 70s, Working at Paxman Diesels Colchester, Also worked on the smaller versions, 9 Cylinder/ 18 Pistons, ( They are 2 stroke apposed ) Used in the Navy Mine sweeper Ships, Amazing Engineering To be appreciated and Understood.
Interesting- was that about the time that Paxman were turning out engines for the HST? A few years ago 55022 Royal Scots Grey was running with an engine that had been fitted to a Norwegian torpedo boat (IIRC)- I believe that, apart from the mounting points, there was very little adaptation needed.
Today's MYT 14 inch forced induction diesel engine can produce the same horsepower in a unit that weighs a mere 150 lbs.
If anybody wants to see the blue prototype, it is in the Ribble Steam Museum in Lancashire about 2 miles from where it was made.
It had been in the London Science Museum for a while too which is where I last saw it. I wondered why it wasn't at York Museum (logical place being on the Deltic's route!) but thanks for the information I must try to get up to Ribble!
Strand road
What a wonderful engine! I once saw one at Cardiff Central and it was great to hear its unique sound
It would be cool if you could find someone to draw what a modernized 55 deltic would like with a glass cockpit and speacial livery
The Class 55 is my fav British loco for a million reasons, man i love these Deltics
He had you going there, Rimmsy. All that 'priming the engine' caper while he nipped off for a cup of tea ... You were just opening and closing the quarter glass vent windows.
amazing diesel loco , engine go back before deltic some talk that came over from germany, not power train ,but airplane , but show could on use on train,still one of favourite diesel , as born in 1958, my dad took train spottering in old new stn in 60s due time of rebuilt , cannot wait until ride on these train as i base on west coast line
Back in the 1970s i worked for brel in leyton , one morning i arrived at work and outside our workshop we could hear a very noisy engine revving , we went outside to see what was happening to find a deltic with i think about 30 or so 16 ton coal wagons , the driver was giving it plenty of throttle , but it only moved the wagons 3or 4ft before losing traction , this looked spectacular at 7.30 on a fairly dark winters morning, there were flames coming out of the exhausts which were glowing red hot and lots of sparks from the wheels ,then we noticed that all of the wagons still had there brakes hard on.
Drivers eh!
That engine indoor engine room and i thought the inside of a EMD F Unit had small corridors
2:57 as if by magic, Mark Felton appears.
I have driven this very locomotive! D9009 'Alycidon' at the East Lancashire Railway in 2012. Absolutely magnificent engine. The feeling of sheer power is unbelievable! Brakes are a little tricky initially but you get used to them. The noise has such a low frequency base to it, cannot be replicated on a smartphone or computer, has to be heard in the flesh!! Great video.
+lmn28021992 A magnificent locomotive indeed and a tribute to British rail industry. You are right about the sound, the only way I found to have a perception of the low frequency base was in good quality headphones. But then, some other goodies of these complex sounds are lost. Are the Napier engines relatively easy to maintain?
I don't think the words "Napier" and "easy" are meant to be in the same sentence!
Andy Harman
Hmm...thought so.
Very polluting locomotive. The remaining ones must be cut for scrap now and melted down to make cleaner modern traction.
heelfan1234 oh for god sake be a tree hugger all you want but leave historic locomotives out of it.
At least they put the bloody driver on the proper side of the cabin.The LEFT side!!!!!!! As a Yank, I've always admired those deltic engines. Just incredible bits of kit!!!!!
The LNE/East Coast normally drove on the left. It was only those renegades on the GW that drove on the wrong side...
2:58 very true!!! Deltic is indeed the Concorde of the railways!
Such a beautiful machine. Id take pride in it if it was my country
The Western's are my favourites but I like the Deltics too. Nimbus was my favourite and the first to go. You couldn't pay me enough money to cut up any of these locos.
But we have to face up to the sad reality that nothing lasts forever, not even legendary and revered diesel locoomotives, at least on earth, but elsewhere???????
Stylish loco
never knew a train could be so beautiful
I "cabbed" 55010 Kings Own Scottish Borderer at Kings Cross in 1980. Loved them ever since!
On a 1980 trip from Rome to London, I was talking to a British Rail engineer and his family. I discussed my interest in railways and that I was aiming to travel behind a Deltic as I knew they would soon be on the way out. He replied in a warm way that "yes a lot of enthusiast interest in the Deltics, but they do not have the headaches of keeping them going." Much happier with the new HSTs and the TGV that flashed past in France.
It could be argued that the Deltic engine was a technolgical dead end. Never applied to many locomotive designs despite Napiers trying.
Even some shipping applications that I know were short lived.
So a brilliant design if you do not need to pay for the complication and the high maintenance costs and lower availability than better designs. The praise is largely also from keyboard warriors, not railway engineers whose job is to provide cost effective motive power.
Yes, but still a good solution to the problem of British loading gauge given available technology. The much simpler V-type diesel was standard in North America, although Fairbank-Morse made opposed piston engines for their diesel locomotives. Either way, it's one crankshaft, not three.
@@HSMiyamoto Soon replaced by the much better solution of the HST 125. Could have been better again had US engines for HSTs had been evaluated.
@@johnd8892 no US locomotives were comparable to the speed the hst could run at the time
That’s why there were 22 Celtic’s and 500 odd Brush 4 s
Standard design go anywhere pull anything all crews could drive em spares and fitters nationwide. Always the way of it. All lot more room in the 47 cab as well. Deltics are very cramped and noisy.
I still think these are BEAUTIFUL ❤️
Don't ask Rimmer to repair a drive plate whatever you do lol
why what happens
connor herd if u havent seen red dwarf then u wont know what we are talking about
Ian I think he would say at least and I remember seeing red dwarf s couple of times. To smeg off if he didn't like it. Lol
All that clag. What a sight. It’s hard to decide whether I like the Class 37 more or not
Been there, done that. 1965-70. Top link Kings Cross in BR days.
You may have known my Dad. He moved to Kings Cross when Hornsey shed closed, but he wasn't in Top Link.
I see the Deltic engines as a quite interesting part of technology that actually works compared to many other technical solutions that have been tried. They don't hold up to modern emissions standards, but that don't make them less interesting.
they were basically a very expensive loco and still weren,t the most reliable and considering they they produced a total of 3300 hp and pulled only 400/500 tons over a mostly table-top railway didnt excatly tax the power units -yet they still failed on a ggular basis !!- hardly "technology that actually works " is it ??
when i was sixteen, I put one of these "on the floor"!!
That must have been quite a sight at 16 years old
@@davidwilkes83
it was!
I was working nights as a "passed" engine cleaner,
I didn't change the points properly,they weremanual and very heavy to pull on
the driver was getting impatient and had began to shout so I had one last go at it
then shouted, OK!
and it just trundled slowly off the rails,it was 3 in the morning and they had to get about 30 men out of bed to come and sort it!
I sat on the embankment having a smoke with a coupl of them watching the operation
"I 'd like to know what stupid bastard did this" said one.... yeah, I replied, "stupid bastard"
We had Napier deltic in our motor torpedo boats. The was one of the fastest and best build mtp. When the engines was running at the highest level could no people be inside the engineroom, because they engines suck all air from the room.
Hahahaha! The military tell the funniest stories!
As i was curious I worked out how much air a Deltic sucks in using a online calc, looks like each Deltic was sucking in 9323 Cubic feet per min at max power output.
I would guess it was the heat and noise down there that would be the real problem if you were in there when it was going full tilt.
These locos were built half a mile from where I'm sitting....Vulcan Foundry Newton-le-Willows. The works are now a large housing estate. A few still run on heritage railways....We had a run on NYMR last year headed by a Deltic....The loco set on fire and we were stuck for hours in the middle of nowhere
Love watching the smoke
A diesel driven locomotive of that power and speed we never had here in Germany. Until today, on the few remaining not electrified lines with fast express trains, there must be installed a double-traction with two class 218 or two class 245. One of them would be simply too weak. Stronger diesels are not availible, perhaps except the well known "Ludmilla" of russian origin. But even a "Ludmilla", Class 232/233/234 is not able to hold the timetables, if single. And furthermore, her maximum speed is limited to only 120 km/h. A class 55 could pull all these trains alone with no problems at all in the highest possible speed, that the tracks allow. I´m sure. What power! What speed! Admirable. But even the British, who had this wonderful engine in service an saw in everyday´s reality, how good it was, built only some 25 or so of them. And tried to help themselves elsewhere with many far less powerful locos. I cannot understand this. But allright: Tempi passati, these times are long gone...
British railways simply don't worry about sticking to the timetables. Or stopping trains at the right stations. Or on the right platforms, if they do.
A sound that was back ground noise through to the 90's, like hearing Viscount aircraft passing over head, all gone.
60s70s
@@highdownmartin Certainly the diesel locos. I could set my watch by the 11:45 pm postal Viscount passing over head up to late 90's.
Deltics gone by 82. HST replacement from 79/80. Mores the pity
@@highdownmartin I lived near a power station so may have been used there longer.
@@flybobbie1449 - 37s carried coal up until circa 2000. I'd occasionally catch one howling and wailing through Newton Abbot as I waited for a post-work connection.
RIMMER!!! Send him to level Nivelo!
"Nivelo" is "Level" in Esperanto.
Diesel should have been a stop gap though. The laggardly British electrification is a national embarrassment.
Not all were failures.
It's amazing how few Class 55's were made, just 22, yet they became the ECML flagship loco. A real testament to the dependability of the design, and their ability to stay on the road and out of the shed.
Hannah Mayamoto. Actually Hannah that is not strictly true. When the WCML was electrified the class 50s were transferred to other duties for many years. When the ECML was electrified the Deltics were got rid of - fast. Reason, they wern't that reliable and they were expensive to maintain. They regularly broke con' rods. The few remaining ones aren't asked to do much nowadays compared with when they were in service. The same applies to the original Paxman Valenta engines fitted to the HSTs I've seen them smash themselves to bits. The worst culprits were the Rolls Royce 8 cylinder engines fitted to the St. Pancras - Bedford DMUs. I have seen them cut in half by flailing broken con' rods.
I am an ex railyman by the way and I lnow what I saw.
@@keithparker5103 I'm sure you know more than me about U.K. railways, just because you live in Britain. Still, I wonder if some of that unreliability came from the fact that the Class 55 were worked remarkably hard? Steady 100 mph running, all day long, day after day, for almost 20 years would challenge the metallurgy of any locomotive built in the early 1960s and worked that hard. Moreover, since the Class 55 relied on an 18 cylinder diesel with three crankshafts originally designed to power a boat designed for speed, the margin between working load and ultimate strength was probably unusually narrow.
@@HSMiyamoto You are right of course about what was being asked of those engines but a reliable, cheaper to maintain 90 MPH locomotive is a much better economic prospect than an expensive 100 MPH locomotive. For example the class 45s had lower powered low speed engines but were capable of 90 MPH all day long. I NEVER saw one of those Sulzer engines smash itself up. The bottom line of the account book is what matters and that is why the Deltics were got rid of as soon as it was possible.
@@keithparker5103 Good to hear some reality about the Deltics as opposed to keyboard warriors with so little knowledge of what really matters in a well run railway.
@@johnd8892 They were bought as an ego booster for British Railways John. I could go into details, for example, 3300 HP the keyboard warriors spout about is meaningless. Their is a 20% loss through the electric transmission, take out the auxilaries also, compressor, etc. and their is probably only about 2500 HP at the drawbar. Many of the big steamers were capable of that.
The Deltics did their job - just.
Replaced by more conventional designs? does that mean its now designated as "Non-Standard design"?
Plus i like the Deltic for the engine sound! but im sure nothing can compare to the legendary class 37! gotta love that clag!
Your name makes it all better
This is the James Bond version, it can change the registration of the locomotive on-the-go. Apparently it can be scrolled between INI4 and IAI6.
That's the train describer. 1A16 was the number for the Flying Scotsman.
It's a shame that an electric prelubrication system was not available. You looked strained after 80 strokes😆
Japan was constructing the first part of the bullet train network in the late 50s, while we in the UK were wheezing along in diesels slower than some of our steam trains
乁། * ❛ ͟ʖ ❛ * །ㄏ
well the thing is, steam engines genuinely can't hold 100 mph constantly for most of the journey.
oh stop complaining
Why did they not manufacture more Deltics ?
Despite being one of their best Diesels, BR didn't like the Deltics as they were maintenance-heavy and non-standard, meaning they used a lot of totally unique components and required specialist training to service.
Lovely engines
I have often remained puzzled by American railroad companies that refused to adopt the more sensible British designs that include rail, aircraft, ships, and of course language. What do we have that is so important to prove anyway?
US railway companies are successful businesses that know the importance of operating costs and reliability on business performance. Deltic very poor on both these aspects. Same conclusion reached on every other railway in the world hence no Deltic sales to any outside BR Eastern Region. No further orders for Deltic from BR Eastern or any other regions.
So not just US. We are all speaking English though but few other successes.
Yet keyboard warriors that have never run a business nor would know how to provide a worthwhile business case salivate over Deltics.
@@johnd8892 So, your premise is Deltic is a poor business design due to operating costs and unreliability. I'd like to read up on where you got your data. Do you have a reference?
The Deltic body is a very American style, though, with the nose (still common in the US because cows wander onto unfenced lines, and a bit of crumple zone is useful). The prototype even had a space for a Mars light in the nose, although one was never fitted.
Help out with the deltic presivation society know Mike very very well 😊😊
I’m not interested in railways at all.
However I must go to a preservation society to see and hear one of these deltics under power, if nothing else just to witness the history.
When I was a child we lived next to Stratford station in London. There used to be huge engine sheds there. I was lucky to get a tour of the sheds by a family friend, and oddly my favourite engine was similar to that in the video. I remember it as being called a “1750” - bear in mind this was 1966 and I was seven years old. Sadly that friend of the family was in an accident a little later when electrocuted by either a pantograph or overhead cable and passed away.
They should get a pipe for leverage and to extend that oil priming lever to a more reachable height! Seems like a good way to strain your back...
Arnold Rimmer would have been a better train driver than a vending machine repair man
Comparisons, comparisons, comparisons. Why is it the keyboard cynics always try to ruin the moment? Like the Spitfire, the English Electric Lightning, indeed, the Jaguar E type - icons of British endeavour - always come in for some slagging by persons who haven't a clue on what they are talking about. If it's German, American or Russian then it's far superior to any British effort according to those same cynics! Well, history, true historic facts, offer a different take on acclaimed engineering achievement. Most advanced countries have played a part in such achievements - there is no denying that! But, give credit where it's due. The Wright brothers, Benz, Bugatti, Ferrari all take the credit for outstanding achievement on a global scale. So, why can we Brits' not feel some pride in our own efforts and receive the same recognition and respect that the world pays others - huh? As the UK's first mainline 100 MPH diesel powered unit, after the prolonged age of steam on British railways, we, as a nation, had something to feel proud about - but then again, the cynics, many who have yet to reach their 30th birthday have no memories of those wonderful times seeing these magnificent engines strutting their stuff across our green and pleasant land. As for the cynics, pity you guys' living down there in your vitriolic valleys. Why not change your ways and come and live amongst us true Brits' living on the higher plateaus of life - and, that includes appreciating the Deltic!
I'll give you ending slavery, discovering penicillin, inventing the computer, football, rugby, cricket and peculiarly baseball, discovering DNA, and inventing the gas turbine, but not the Deltic.
Indeed. The Junkers Jumo Fo3 and 204 were licensed to Napier & Son, who built a small number as the Napier Culverin just prior to the war. Late in the war, they mounted three Culverins in a triangle layout to produce the Napier Deltic, which was for some time one of the most powerful and compact diesel engines in the world (Wikipedia).
William Rance and they should keep there stupid opinions to themselves. And ride a push bike around don't drive your car if your so environment friendly. That's a hypocrite
@Thomas Munn Indeed Thomas, anyone who's been through the English education system since about 1955 has been taught to hate, deride and scorn their own country, its achievements, history, culture and native people.
@@johnwade1095 A lot more than you mention, including the 'Deltic'!
@2:19 running towards an open point.
I see what you mean. Could it damage the point? Potentially derail? Or just sloppy practice?
Could it be a spring switch?
@@LouisianaRailProductions Is that a thing? Never heard of it in the UK.
Yeah the U.S. has some spring switches. Basically, it appears to be set the wrong way but when the locomotive makes contact, it switches to the correct direction.
In the UK a loco or carriage running over a set of points that aren't set for you will make the points "snap" closed. This is possible because in the UK the levers that throw the set of points usually aren't automatically locked after a full throw, whereas in the US they almost always lock into position. It's pretty common practice to leave a set of points lined against you because there's no hurt in driving over them. We achieve the same thing in the US by using spring switches, which are sometimes permanently lined one way for a sidng, then on the other end of that siding the switch is lined for the opposite track. When a train goes over them, the force of the wheels pushing on the switch rails overcomes spring tension, which then snap back to the "normal" position after the wheels leave the turnout. There's only a problem if the switch isn't sprung and the handle is locked into place.
It's an icon for Britsh Railways...but the first true steam killer.
Steam killer?
Great video
Who's seen old diesels and rolling stock heading northbound after Leicester station?
That was rail porn at its finest & they are the behemoth of the railways! 🇬🇧👏👍
Holy shit, it’s Rimmer!
Does this meet Euro 6 emission standards?
No. And it doesn’t have to
I have a model lima deltic.
I thought the relic was supercharged
It was. Rootes blower system (one for each cylinder bank). Served the dual purpose of supercharging, and efficient exhaust scavenging (seeing as the Napier Deltic is a 2-stroke diesel).
Oye oye, It's rimmer.
Deltic Dominator!
What an awesome engine. The video didn't get very technical, but were those locomotives diesel electric?
Yes.
Their alright, much prefer a 40. The 16svt just has a nicer thrash
What does the prism mean?
Where are they now? From what I saw of them they were a scrap iron jungles. I was on a ship with these engines and once they were started you weren't allowed out of the control room. That's how dangerous they were. Possibly if they were run at lower speeds you might get a run out of them. They definitely weren't what they were cracked up to be.
They look better in B.R. Blue!
I think the Deltic prototype looked best.
@@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomer I don't think so. It's beautiful, yes, but the centre lamp throws me off
@@thebritishempire8754 Fair enough. Your opinion is your opinion.
@@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomer and I will agree that the prototype livery is beautiful
Rimmer starts off with a gaff and says the Deltic has 3,100hp. [slaps forehead]
I thought so too, until I realised he was talking about the max marine rating of one power unit, which was reduced to 1,650bhp continuous for rail use.
RIMMER!
What's this from?
Damn thing smokes like a steam engine lol
Why not show the Deltic engine??? We hardly see anything.
Explain what priming does.
Manually injects diesel fuel into the cylinders, for faster engine starting and protection of the oil lines.
Vegetarians will hate this locomotive.
Is it lubricated with animal fat, or what?
They’ll hate the standard 7 even more
No smoke no poke
Phwoaar!
Pumping a vast amount of smoke out, worse than a steamer.
You should see an Alco locomotive in the States. They are famous for puffing out black smoke on start-up.
Piece of cake compare to the SUV that us human society has been used
0:01 I wish that engine design was used in cars
You'd have a very strange hoodline.
Achates are making opposed piston engines for Ford.
i didn't think there was that much track at barrow hill
Did the British railways class 37 also used deltic engine?
Ryan Braganza they used a different engine
The class 23 "Baby Deltic" had one 1,100hp, 9 cylinder Deltic engine.
The 37 had a 4 stroke V12.
Okay, Rimmer, but ya nawt find such on the isle of Fiji!
That switch was in the weong position.
Napier engiine. There was a Scottish engineer by name of Napier , who invented Logarithms. There is a University in Edinburgh named after him. Perhaps like Elon Musk purloined Tesla's name so too did English Electric purloin the Napier name ?
In the early 1960s i saw this beautiful blue locomotive with golden chevrons on its nose heading towards Liverpool Lime Street.
Didn’t have Mr Brittas down as an enthusiast
He's a true engine addict. He has a collection of vehicles and an HGV licence just to drive trucks for fun. Anything with an engine and engineering, he likes. Rowan Atkinson is a petrol head too, I believe they're good friends.
sadly such vehicles are rare today, its a beautiful and very British machine...
though, the fact that most railways today are still diesel because of it, is rather a questionable praise...
.....it was a great diesel loco and fast...but just not quite fast enough unfortunately.
I think it was pushed out by the considerably faster InterCity 125 (which is still operating today, some 45 years after it entered service). So although the Deltic was (and still is) an iconic diesel loco, it gave way to the most successful Diesel ever made - the 125. The Deltic may have sped up journey times abit, but the 125 revolutionised train travel throughout the UK.
Is that halo reach music at the beginning
Cute Horn
i like trains
100mph? If only they made the wagons lighter the 100 mph classes could have pulled those
it didn't save the transport history it was the intercity125
Based on a German Jumo aviation engine, German engineering is peerless.
PURE BRITISH POWER
It was the steam engines that would tow the diesels back after constantly breaking down
And the diesels who would pull the steam engines when a boiler or injector failure.
Not the Deltic though, it was one of the few truly reliable Diesels introduced in the modernisation period.
Steam wasn’t phased out because it was less powerful, it was phased out because it was less cost effective
It would have been cool if they would have made an American version of that locomotive.
The E-8 unit is a good counterpart to the Class 55 Deltic. However, only 22 Deltics were ever built, compared to nearly 500 E-8 A and B units. The E-8 can be geared for speeds as high as 117 MPH, and an E-8 is much more powerful than a Deltic, thanks to the larger American loading gauge. If you wanted to pull a passenger train fast in the States on relatively level track before the 1970s, the E-8 would have been a good choice.
@@HSMiyamoto Here we go: Americans claiming to be 'better', what a surprise.
LNER A4s: Am I a joke to you