Type 1's From Swindon - The Class 14's

(I realise that today many of the Class 14's still survive and run in preservation but for the historical context of this article it is written in 'past' tense.)

From publicity material of  the time, a brand new D9500 freshly completed by Swindon Works.

History has decreed that the 56 Class 14 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built at Swindon Works were the biggest 'white elephant' of the then new modern traction fleet. During the early 1960's, before Dr. Beechings sweeping reforms and closures of the BR system had come into effect, much of the Western Regions short trip workings, shunting in yards and transfer freights were handled by many hundreds of pannier tanks. Their work also covered banking duties and station pilot work and during the steam days these small locomotives were indispensable. Even before the Class 14's were introduced, the work for which these machines heavily relied on was rapidly diminishing or being taken over by the then new hydraulic and diesel shunter fleet. The message, however, fell on deaf ears at the BTC, and in July 1964 the Class 14's began to emerge from Swindon Works.
The class were built to conform to an axle load which would allow them to pass over all lines on the WR system with the exception of a few dock-side areas where the lines were unusually sharp. The design was accepted on the suitability of the class to perform 'tripping' work at a far greater efficiency than that of a type 2 locomotive. At the time the area over which the locomotives were to operate, namely South Wales, boasted hundreds of coalfields and collieries, many not large enough to make up a complete payload, and so the Class 14's were to be ideal for visiting many sites before delivering the eventual complete train to its final destination. Indeed, in the early development stages of the class it was envisaged that many more locomotives would be required, but even at this early stage many of the small branch lines were beginning to be closed and mothballed and no further orders were placed.

The locomotives were arranged with the cab placed forward of the rear end and directly above the jackshaft final drive which was located centrally between the centre and trailing axles, these axles being of 9ft centres. The Paxman 6cyl 6YJX Ventura V-type turbo-charged engine, fitted with a exhaust driven water cooled turbo-charger and with maximum a continuous traction rating of 650hp at 1,500rpm was placed in the forward compartment of the superstructure whilst the area behind the cab housed the transmission, auxiliary generator, brake compressor and vacuum reservoirs. Access to the internal equipment was provided by side hinged doors and sealed removable roof covers fitted with ventilators. The fuel tanks were placed midway along the locomotives in three sections, designed to avoid change of weight distribution. Returning to the engine compartment, and forward of the actual engine was placed the vacuum exhauster, whilst forward of this was located the cooler and radiator group. This consisted of the radiators, cooling fan and hydraulic motor, power for which was supplied by a hydraulic pump mounted directly on the engine, working in conjunction with a thermostatic valve, thus the hotter the engine became the more power was supplied to the pump which in turn increased the fans speed.

The drive from the engine consisted of a flexible coupling which passed beneath the cab before connecting to the Voith/North British turbo transmission housed in the smaller bonnet. Two drives emerged from the transmission, one for the traction of the locomotive, which was connected by cardan shaft to a final drive mounted between the frames, the second to supply the drive for the auxiliary generator. The final drive, which was coupled to the connecting rods via a jackshaft drive was bolted directly to the sideframes and controlled the forward/reverse direction of the locomotive. A standard Westinghouse brake system was incorporated in the machines air for which also supplied the horns, windscreen wipers and the control system. Two motor driven rotary exhausters provided vacuum for the train brakes. Auxiliary electrical equipment included lighting, cab heating, windscreen demisting, train heating and marker lights.
During their early days on BR all went exactly to plan for the 56 strong fleet. Initial allocations of the locomotives saw, as intended, the South Wales coalfields taken into consideration with the majority of the class based at Ebbw Junction, Bath Road, Worcester and Landore. In 1965, four locomotives, D9521 - 4, were re-allocated to Old Oak Common for trip working trials in the London area. From the latter part of this year these four machines were outbased at Reading and were rostered into three diagrams covering freight and parcels trains to Newbury, Didcot, Southall and Baisingstoke with one turn also covering parcel work between Reading and Paddington.
By the latter part of 1966, Dr. Beechings well documented plan for the 'reshaping of British Railways' was starting to bite into the BR system; many of the small branch lines and the trip work for which the Class 14's had been designed for on the Western Region was rapidly being eradicated. With a steady fall in workload many of the machines were placed into store at Worcester; noted over this period were D9500-7/9-11/13/16/17/22/29/31/34/51/52/54. Thereafter, in a desperate attempt to find work for its comparatively 'new' class of 56 machines all of the class were to be transferred to the NER. In reality, only 33 locomotives (D9503-5/7/10-12/15/16/20/23/25/29/32-34/37/39-54), two thirds of the class, were, in December of that year, transferred to Hull Dairycoats for yet again trip work at the many coalfields in the area.
Unfortunately for BR, the decline of the railway system was not to stop at the Western Region, and it was only a matter of time before the North East was starting to feel the same effects of railway rationalisation. By 1968 the situation had become so acute BR finally had no option but to withdraw all Class 14's from service; red faces must have been abound at the realisation that it had 56 pieces of fairly new expensive machinery on its books with the prospect of no further work.
And so entered the third phase in what was still early years for the Class 14's. The locomotives had the advantage of having far more power than the average shunter and yet lacked the physical size of the even more powerful type 2's. Waiting in the wings were the vast amount of railway systems not owned by BR - industry, in particular the National Coal Board and the British Steel Corporation. The two companies both saw a ready to run, tried and tested, and in locomotive terms virtually brand new fleet of motive power ideal for their systems. And with one more added advantage, with the machines almost certainly now giving BR officials virtual nightmares, they would come at greatly reduced and favourable prices!

In December 1967 withdrawals from BR books started with D9531 and in April of the following year the class began to succumb in earnest. In 1969, five machines at Landore, South Wales, although earmarked to be sold, were run periodically on local freights to keep them servicable. In November of the same year nine machines remained in South Wales, 9509/19/21/6/55 at Cardiff Canton, and 9524/30/6/8 at Landore, Swansea. On paper, in April 1969, BR were finally devoid of their 'white elephants'. Eight of the class went directly to the scrapman, possibly industry had already fulfilled its needs, or, the locomotives had been heavily stripped to keep the rest of the class in working order, little is documented. In all, 46 of the machines found a new life in British industry, two were exported overseas. Over the next twelve plus years the machines provided excellent work for their new owners. It appears that several of the locomotives were purchased purely for the use of spare parts to keep the rest of the fleet servicable and to further reduce costs. In the case of the NCB examples, all of the locomotives appear to have moved to the huge Ashington plant later in their lives.
Today nineteen of these historic machines still prove their versatility and robustness by yet another move - this time into preservation, and can be seen at various centres throughout the UK. Two examples, D9504 & D9529, have even returned to the Network Rail system for use on trains on the Channel Tunnel Rail link, a fitting tribute to a class of 56 locomotives that only ever saw just over four years in BR service.

Class History

Technical Specifications:

Class: BR Class 6/1, later Class 14
Introduced: 1964 - 1965
Original Numbers: D9500 - D9555
Total Built: 56
Engine: Paxman 6YJX  6cyl Ventura of 650hp at 1500rpm
Transmission: Hydraulic. Voith L217u
Maximum Tractive Effort: 30910 lb
Weight: 50 tons
Driving Wheel Diameter: 4' 0"
Length over buffers: 34ft 7in
Train Heating Equipment: None