D0280 ''Falcon'' was a single prototype
diesel-electric locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...
, built for
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
in 1961. It was one of a series of three prototypes: ''Falcon'',
DP2 and
''Lion'', eventually leading to the
Class 47 and
Class 50. A requirement was expressed by the
BTC at a meeting on 15 January 1960 for new Type 4 designs of
Co-Co arrangement, which would be lighter than the earlier
1Co-Co1 locomotives such as the
''Peak'' classes, produced under the
Pilot Scheme
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
.
Brush
A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...
had a licence to build the
Maybach MD655 engine, as already used in the Western region diesel-hydraulics, although their licence limited them to diesel-electric locomotives. These engines are of lower weight than their competitors, which led Brush to consider using a pair of them, like the Western hydraulics. Design work began in 1959 under contract Nº 04/20600, before the BTC requirement had been issued.
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
later assigned Class 53
and the running number 1200. While not in any sense a failure, the design was the victim of advances in
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
technology (specifically, the power obtainable from single medium-speed
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
s) and was never duplicated.
History
The ''Falcon'' project began in 1959 to design a new, lightweight
diesel-electric Type 4 locomotive to meet a
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
' requirement for second generation Type 4
diesel locomotive
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 whee ...
s. No single lightweight diesel engine was powerful enough, so the Falcon project used twin
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
-designed
Maybach MD655 engines like those in the
Class 52 ''Western''
diesel-hydraulic locomotive
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 ...
s of the
Western Region. These drove Brush
generators and
traction motor
A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit.
Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...
s, rather than the hydraulic transmission of the ''Westerns''. The engines of the
''Warships'' and ''Westerns'' were built under licence by
Bristol Siddeley
Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd (BSEL) was a British aero engine manufacturer. The company was formed in 1959 by a merger of Bristol Aero-Engines Limited and Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited. In 1961 the company was expanded by the purchase of t ...
, part of
Hawker Siddeley
Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of onl ...
, who then purchased Brush Traction in 1957, making the licensed engines available to Brush.
The prototype, wearing a livery of lime green and chestnut brown and bearing the number D0280 after its Brush project number 280, emerged from Brush's
Loughborough
Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...
works in September 1961. Initial testing took place on the
Eastern Region, based at Finsbury Park, and the
London Midland Region
The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...
. Subsequently, the locomotive was transferred to the Western Region for power-unit performance testing, where it was tested up the
Lickey Incline
The Lickey Incline, south of Birmingham, is the steepest sustained main-line railway incline in Great Britain. The climb is a gradient of 1 in 37.7 (2.65% or 26.5‰ or 1.52°) for a continuous distance of two miles (3.2 km). Constructed ...
on 6 February 1962. Returning to Brush in March 1962, it received
cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
* ...
'Falcon'
nameplate
A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Nameplates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone's written name. Nameplates primarily serve an informat ...
s during an overhaul and upgrade lasting over a year.
Returning to British Railways in 1963, Falcon spent six months working out of Darnall shed,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
, on passenger and freight trains, after which its testing was completed. Another year out of service followed, the locomotive returning in British Railways in two-tone green with half yellow ends and intended for active service. There was, by then, no chance of Falcon being the forerunner of a line of production locomotives. Advances in diesel engine technology made it obsolete almost from the beginning, with the development of larger and comparatively lightweight single powerplants. Brush Traction's own single-engined Type 4 design, which became the
BR Class 47, was the successful contender, with 512 locomotives eventually produced. Falcon was an evolutionary dead end - it was a functional locomotive, worth keeping in service, but there were never going to be more.
From 1965 onwards the locomotive, still owned by Brush, was under contract with British Railways so that operation and repair would be handled by them, with only major repairs being handed back to the builder. Allocated to
Bristol Bath Road alongside the Class 52 ''Western'' fleet, the locomotive worked
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
-Bristol diagrams with them.
In 1970, British Rail bought the locomotive from Brush at its scrap value. BREL
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
rebuilt it;
air braking replaced
vacuum braking, and it was repainted in corporate
Rail Blue
The history of British Rail's corporate liveries is quite complex. Although from the mid-1960s to the 1980s the organisation was associated with "Rail Blue", a number of other schemes were also used, especially when it was split into operating u ...
with full yellow ends with the new number 1200. Falcon was first allocated to Bristol Bath Road again working alongside Class 52s, and by March 1974 to
Ebbw Junction,
for use on
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
trains. During its time at Ebbw Junction, the steam heating boiler was isolated.
In 1975, the locomotive was deemed uneconomic to operate due to its non-standard status and, despite efforts to preserve it, Falcon was broken up in March–April 1976 at
Cashmore's of Newport.
References
Sources
*
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*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
Rail Photo Archive - Class 53
{{British Rail Locomotives
53
Brush Traction locomotives
Co-Co locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1961
Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain
Scrapped locomotives
Individual locomotives of Great Britain
Unique locomotives
Diesel-electric locomotives of Great Britain