The British Rail Class 10

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 are a variant of the standard Class 08 diesel-electric

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 ...

with a Lister Blackstone

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-cal ...

and

General Electric Company plc The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 25 ...

(GEC)

traction motors A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (electric multiple uni ...

. The locomotives were built at the BR Works in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

over the period 1955–1962, and were withdrawn between February 1967 and June 1972.

Background

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 ...

built four main variants of its standard large diesel-electric

. Those fitted with a Lister Blackstone diesel engine were classified D3/4 if they had GEC traction motors and D3/5 with

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...

(BTH) traction motors. The D3/4 locomotives were later reclassified to become Class 10 under TOPS.

Technical details

The locomotives had the same general outline,

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrang ...

wheel arrangement and outside frames as the earlier Class 11, built originally for the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

after 1945, and perpetuated by

as the Class 08. However, they were fitted with Lister Blackstone 6-cylinder, 4-stroke, ER6T engines and two GEC nose suspended motors.

Building and use

The first batch of thirty locomotives, originally numbered 13137-13151, (later renumbered D3137-D3151) were built at Darlington works during 1955, and allocated to motive power depots in the

North Eastern Region of British Railways The North Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified by the orange signs and colour schemes that adorned its stations and other railway buildings. It was merged with the Eastern Region i ...

, notably

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,74 ...

. Further batches were built at Darlington as follows: D3439-D3453 (1957); D3473-D3491 (1957/8); D3612-D3651 (1958); D4049-D4094 (1961/2). These were allocated to the

Eastern Region of British Railways The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified from the dark blue signs and colour schemes that adorned its station and other railway buildings. Together with the North Eastern Region (w ...

particularly in the London area. Six examples, D3497-D3502, were built at Doncaster (1957/8). The class eventually numbered 146 locomotives.

Withdrawal

As they were non-standard, compared to the 08 class they had relatively short lives and were withdrawn between February 1967 and June 1972. Twenty locomotives were sold to industrial customers.

Post BR Use

Preservation

left, D3452, at Bodmin on 28 August 2003. This locomotive is preserved on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway Four examples have been preserved: * D3452 at Bodmin and Wenford Railway * D3489 at Spa Valley Railway * D4067 at Great Central Railway locomotives, Great Central Railway * D4092 at Barrow Hill Engine Shed * A fifth example, D3476, was stored on the

Colne Valley Railway The Colne Valley Railway is a heritage railway based at Castle Hedingham Station, near Halstead in Essex, England. The railway consists of a long running line, with a fully reconstructed station, signal box and railway yard. History The r ...

, though has since been scrapped.

References

* {{British Rail Locomotives 10 C locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain Diesel-electric locomotives of Great Britain Railway locomotives introduced in 1955