British Rail Class 46
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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 ...
Class 46 is a class of
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 ...
. They were built from 1961 to 1963 at British Railways'
Derby Works The Derby Works comprised a number of British manufacturing facilities designing and building locomotives and rolling stock in Derby, England. The first of these was a group of three maintenance sheds opened around 1840 behind Derby station. Th ...
and were initially numbered D138–D193. With the arrival of
TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...
they were renumbered to Class 46. Along with the similar Class 44 and 45 locomotives, they became known as ''Peaks''. Fifty-six locomotives were built. The first was withdrawn in 1977 and all were withdrawn by the end of 1984.


Overview

The Class 46 design was structurally the same as the preceding Class 45 build, and had the same Sulzer engine, but differed in the fitment of 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 ...
generator and traction motors, in place of the
Crompton Parkinson Crompton Parkinson was a British electrical manufacturing company. It was formed in 1927 by the merger of Crompton & Co. with F & A. Parkinson Ltd. The brand is now part of Brook Crompton. History Crompton & Co. was a lamp manufacturer foun ...
equipment fitted to the Class 45. Along with the other Sulzer class 44 and 45 designs they are often referred to as "Peaks", so named because the earliest of the Class 44 were named after mountains. The
British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
decided to cancel the final twenty Class 46 locomotives then on order and invited bids for twenty locomotives of a new Type 4 specification using the Brush electrical equipment intended for the cancelled order. Brush won the contract with what became the Class 47.


Naming

Unlike the earlier Peak designs, many of which were named, only one class 46 was so graced: D163 (later 46 026) carried the name ''
Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry The Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry was formed in 1957 as a regiment of the British Army. It evolved to become part of the Royal Yeomanry. Its lineage is maintained by the E (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) S ...
'' from new. This engine was nicknamed "The Lady" by both staff and rail fans alike. This name is now carried by the preserved Class 45 number D123 / 45 125.


Operation

Whilst seeing intermittent use on freight trains, Class 46s were regular performers on passenger turns, particularly North East-South West, Trans-Pennine and secondary North East-London trains, and depot allocations reflected this with locos at
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
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
in 1977 giving a typical spread. Long-distance freight workings were common, particularly "clay hoods" carrying china clay from
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
to the
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
area. In the 1980s the remaining locomotives were concentrated at Gateshead depot, and the final booked passenger workings for the class were the dated summer Saturday services Bradford - Weymouth (between Bradford and Birmingham New Street), Newcastle - Plymouth, Newcastle - Blackpool North, and York - Blackpool North.


Nuclear flask crash test

On 17 July 1984, 46 009 (formerly D146), hauling three Mark 1 coaches, was deliberately crashed into a "Flatrol" wagon loaded with a nuclear waste flask and lying on its side. The train was travelling at about on the
Old Dalby Test Track The Old Dalby Test Track is a railway in the United Kingdom which is used for testing new designs of trains and railway infrastructure. It runs between Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire and Edwalton, on the course of the Midland Railway's route betw ...
in a test organised by the
CEGB The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...
. The test was intended to demonstrate to the public that there would be no leak of radioactive material in the event of a rail accident involving a train carrying a nuclear waste flask. 46 009 was scrapped on site at Old Dalby later the same month by
Vic Berry Vic Berry's Scrapyard was a large railway scrapyard situated in the former Great Central Railway Braunstone Gate goods yard in Leicester. Operations Vic Berry established his Leicester scrapyard in 1973 on the site of what had been the fo ...
of Leicester. The flask is on display outside Heysham 1 power station training centre.
Images


Preservation

Three have been preserved: 46 010 (formerly D147) at the
Nottingham Heritage Railway The Nottingham Heritage Railway (formerly known as Great Central Railway (Nottingham) and Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre) is a heritage railway and transport museum on the south side of the village of Ruddington in Nottinghamshire. Th ...
, 46 035 ''Ixion'' (formerly D172) at
Peak Rail Peak Rail is a preserved railway in Derbyshire, England, which operates a steam and heritage diesel service for tourists and visitors to both the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales. The preserved railway line is over 3½ miles (5.6 km) in ...
owned by the Waterman Railway Trust and D182 (46 045) at the
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, in Derbyshire. In February 1994, D172 became the first privately-owned ex-BR diesel to be certified for main line operation.


Gallery


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


Railblue.com
A list of fleet numbers with dates withdrawn. {{British Rail Locomotives 1Co-Co1 locomotives 46 Railway locomotives introduced in 1961 Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain Diesel-electric locomotives of Great Britain