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The British Rail Class 03 locomotive was, together with the similar Class 04, one of British Railways' most successful 0-6-0
diesel-mechanical A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...
shunter A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...
s. 230 were built at
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and Swindon works between 1957 and 1962, and were numbered D2000-D2199 and D2370-D2399 (later 03004 to 03399). D2370 and D2371 were used as departmental locomotives and originally numbered 91 and 92 respectively.


Overview

Like other shunters of this size, the Class 03 was built for light duties where a larger locomotive was not needed, especially for shunting at locomotive and carriage depots and as station pilots, or where larger or heavier locomotives could not be used. The reduction over time in the demand for shunting locomotives meant that they were progressively withdrawn from 1968 onwards, many being sold to private industry, including three that were exported to Belgium. However, some remained in service much longer, with two examples on the
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lasting until 1993 (mainland examples had gone by 1987). In 1998, one of the Isle of Wight locos, 03179, was reinstated by the
West Anglia Great Northern West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...
for service at Hornsey depot. It was named ''Clive'' after a depot employee. It was not fitted with
Train Protection & Warning System The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is a train protection system used throughout the British passenger main-line railway network, and in Victoria, Australia. The British Rail Safety and Standards Board's definition is: The purpose of TP ...
equipment and thus confined to the depot from 2002. It was operated subsequently by
First Capital Connect First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...
until withdrawal in 2008. In 2016 it was sold by
Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Expr ...
to the
Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway The Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway is a heritage railway operated by the Rushden Historical Transport Society in the town of Rushden in the county of Northamptonshire, England. The aim of the society was to reopen most of the for ...
.GTR disposes of final Class 03 ''Rail'' issue 806 3 August 2016 page 29


Technical details

The engine is a Gardner 8-cylinder, 4-stroke 8L3 of connected to a Wilson- Drewry CA5 R7, 5-speed
epicyclic gearbox An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the two gears and rotates the planet and sun gea ...
with RF11 spiral bevel reverse and final-drive unit. Drive is through a
jackshaft A jackshaft, also called a ''countershaft'', is a common mechanical design component used to transfer or synchronize rotational force in a machine. A jackshaft is often just a short stub with supporting bearings on the ends and two pulleys, gear ...
mounted beneath the cab, driving the wheels through
coupling rod A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunters, also have them. The coupling rods transfer t ...
s. During their later life, some locomotives were fitted with dual (
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and
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) brakes. These were 03059, 03063, 03073, 03078, 03084, 03086, 03089, 03094, 03112, 03152, 03158, 03162, 03179, 03180, 03197, 03371, 03397 and 03399.


Operation


Shunting

Originally the Class 03s were often deployed where their attributes of short wheelbase and light weight enabled them to operate where other shunters could not. On lines such as that to
Ipswich dock The Ipswich Docks, Ipswich wet dock and the wet dock,) are a series docks in Port of Ipswich located at a bend of the River Orwell which has been used for trade since at least the 8th Century. A wet dock was constructed in 1842 which was 'the big ...
s, bridge weight restrictions prevented the ubiquitous Class 08s from operating. Another common use was as station pilot, usually coupled to a shunters' truck to ensure operation of track circuits which did not always register the passage of the 03 due to its short wheelbase. By 1979, Class 03s' operations included: * Depot pilot duties at Hull Botanic Gardens DMU depot and Bradford Hammerton Street DMU depot * Docks at
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
,
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, and
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* Freight trips along the Team Valley branch (
Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
) and the Gwendraeth Valley line * Shunting duties at
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Yard,
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
Upper and Lower yards,
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engineers' yard, and Tweedmouth yard near
Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
* Spare loco on standby at
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
Kings Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
* Motive power on the Kirkley goods branch line in
Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...
* Station pilot duties at
Bradford Exchange The Bradford Exchange is an American producer and seller of collectible goods, jewelry, sports memorabilia and apparel. Now part of the Bradford Group, it was founded in 1973 as The Bradford Gallery of Collector's Plates by J. Roderick MacArthur. ...
, Hull Paragon,
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
, Newcastle Central, Norwich Thorpe, and
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Passenger duties

Despite the limited scope for the use of such a small locomotive on main line passenger duties, there were a number of duties rostered to the class. During the early 1970s Southern Region Class 03s worked
Channel Island The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat trains ...
s through the streets to the harbour along the Weymouth Quay tramway, displacing the last of the 1366 class 0-6-0 pannier tanks. In 1980 a class 03 at Ipswich was booked to shunt the 23:20
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
Liverpool Street onto the rear of the 23:45
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
– Liverpool Street. Also, according to
Mangapps Railway Museum The Mangapps Railway Museum (previously Mangapps Farm Railway Museum) is a heritage railway centre located near Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cam ...
, 03089 once hauled a
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
to
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
express along the
York to Scarborough Line York is a cathedral city Cathedral city is a city status in the United Kingdom. Cathedral city may also refer to: * Cathedral City, California, a city in Southern California, United States * Cathedral City Cheddar, a brand of Cheddar ch ...
from Malton to Scarborough.


Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Line

Several examples were rebuilt with cut-down cabs for working on the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Line, as there were several low bridges on the line that precluded the use of normal height locomotives. The modified examples were nos. 03119, 03120, 03141, 03142, 03144, 03145, 03151, 03152 and late addition (ex-Bristol) 03382. Their duties included shunting (for example at
Burry Port Burry Port ( cy, Porth Tywyn) is a port town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, on the Loughor estuary (Moryd Llwchwr), to the west of Llanelli and south-east of Kidwelly. Its population was recorded at 5,680 in the 2001 census and 6,156 i ...
), and hauling full coal trains down from the valley's pits. For this latter duty they sometimes worked triple-headed. They were replaced by Class 08/9 locomotives, which were also rebuilt to a reduced height. Several cut-down locomotives have been preserved. The Isle of Wight shunters, nos. 03079 and 03179, were also rebuilt with cut-down cabs, to enable them to pass through a low tunnel in
Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
.


Preservation

Fifty-six members of the class survive in preservation. Loco numbers in bold mean their current number.


Model railways

Mainline Railways Bachmann Branchline is a British OO gauge model railway brand manufactured by Bachmann Europe PLC a subsidiary of Bachmann Industries, and is used for British outline OO scale model railways. Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased ...
and Replica each offered
OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard-gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to 1 foot, ...
models. Mainline Railways introduced their OO gauge Class 03s in 1983; one in BR green and 03382 in BR blue. Mainline's original 'split-chassis' tooling later passed to
Bachmann Bachmann is a surname of Switzerland and Germany. It originates as a description of the bearer as dwelling near a brook (''Bach''), such as a farm "Hofstatt am Bach" also called "Bachmanns Hofstatt" near Hinwil or Dürnten (recorded 1387), or the ...
. When the company later took the decision to produce the Class 04 in its place the tooling was altered, retaining the split chassis power arrangement. However, Bachmann later announced that they would be producing a totally new 03 in OO gauge, including special edition examples of the Isle of Wight prototypes.
Graham Farish {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Graham Farish is a company that produces large quantities of British outline model railway equipment in N gauge. History The Poole, Dorset based manufacturer of radio parts and kits entered the model railway busin ...
currently offers a
British N gauge British N gauge is a model railway scale and gauge, rolling stock is to a scale of 1:148,
''teladesign.com''
track i ...
model. Past models have included D2388 in BR green livery and 03066 in BR blue livery.
Heljan Heljan A/S is a Danish model railway company based in Søndersø. Originally specialising in decorations and accessories for model railways, it has now also developed a substantial range of rolling stock. It has diversified into modelling the Br ...
currently offer a model in
O gauge O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad sca ...
(7mm), which is available in BR green or rail blue with chevrons.


Notes


References


Sources

*


Further reading

* * * * * * *


External links

{{British Rail Locomotives 03 C locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1957 Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain Shunting locomotives