DIESEL
LOCOMOTIVES PREVIOUSLY AT BLAENAVON
Page
first uploaded 17June 2006....
This page, which describes the diesel locos that have left
site, needs photographs to complete it. Further information is also needed
on some of the locos. If you can help please email webmaster@pontypool-and-blaenavon.co.uk
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Class 73/1 Electro-diesel No.73133 Locomotive details:- Built:1966
at Vulcan Foundry. Wheel Arrangement: Bo-Bo Power unit: Third rail
electric yielding 1600hp or diesel 4SRKT, Mk2 engine yielding 600hp Transmission: Electric Traction motors -
4xEE546-1B These
are primarily electric locomotives, and were designed to work normally on the
Southern Region third rail electrified lines.
However in order for them to work into those few areas where the
third-rail had not been laid, they were also fitted with relatively small
diesel engine and generator sets. The
first six of this class were built at Eastleigh in 1962, when they were
called class JA, but so successful were they that many more were ordered from
English Electric at Newton-le-Willows.
These were called class JB. In
the later TOPS scheme they were referred to as class 73/0 and class 73/1
respectively..
It once carried the nameplates 'The Bluebell Railway' but currently
works without them, but is finished in overall blue. 73133, which was hired for six-months
arrived on 12 June 06 and
left on 19 January 2007. |
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This photo, scanned from our 1990 Stockbook,
may appear with a regular patterning, due to the printing process used in the
original stockbook.
If this is a problem, changing the magnification of the image will
sometimes improve matters |
Drewry 0-6-0DM Locomotive Details:- Builder'. Vulcan Foundry Ltd . Newton-le-Willows. Built: 1948. Wheel Arrangement; 0-6-0
Diesel Mechanical. Power: 204 H.P . Works No. : 2252/D78. Although this locomotive
was built by the Vulcan Foundry Ltd. at their works in Lancashire it was
designed by the Drewry car Company Ltd. of
London. This particular locomotive
design is of interest in that it is a forerunner of the BR 0-6-0 DM class 04 shunter ordered in 1950.
The 204hp 8 cylinder Gardner BL3 engine installed in this locomotive
was used extensively by British Rail and industrial companies in small
shunting locomotives. Named ‘Gwent’ while owned by A.R. Adams of
Newport Docks, the locomotive was hired out to various concerns during the
l970s. By 1982 the locomotive had lost its name but had gained a light blue
livery. Soon after arrival at
Blaenavon green livery was applied and vacuum exhausters fitted to enable it
to operate on passenger trains. Whilst
it was mainly used on work trains it also worked the passenger trains during
the 1985 season. It left Blaenavon
shortly after for Mangapps Farm Railway Museum where she is currently operational. There she sports the spurious number 11104,
and is adapted to resemble a BR 'Wisbech and Upwell' Tram Engine. |
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No photo available |
0-4-0 English Electric ‘Inco’ D1205 Locomotive Details:- Builder'. Vulcan Foundry Ltd . Newton-le-Willows. Built: Not known. Wheel Arrangement; 0-4-0 Power: Not known. Ex-Inco (Newport) steelworks loco. Removed from site around 1998. Whereabouts currently unknown, but it is
reported to have been seen at Barrow Hill.
We have recently heard that this loco was scrapped in early 2006. l |
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No photo available |
John Fowler 0-4-0DM ‘Woodpecker’ Locomotive Details:- Builder: John Fowler & Co (Leeds) Ltd. Wheel Arrangement; 0-4-0
Diesel Mechanical. Works No.22871. This tiny locomotive arrived at Blaenavon in the early
days of the railway having previously worked for Bulmer’s Cider at
Hereford. She left Blaenavon in the
mid-eighties having been overcome by engine problems. She has now been cosmetically restored and
can be viewed at Causeway Hotel, at Hurn in |
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Class 50 English Electric Co-Co 50029
‘Renown’ Locomotive Details:- Builders: English Electric Co Ltd at
Vulcan Works, Newton-le-Willows Build
Dates: 1967/1968 Numbers: 50001 - 50050 Original
Numbers: D400 - D449 Engine: EE 16CSVT 16 Cyl.
Pressure Charged Engine
BHP: 2700 @ 850 RPM Main
generator: EE840/4B Aux
generator: EE911/5C Traction
Motors: Six EE 538/5A nose suspended Max Tractive Effort:
48,500lb ft Brake
Force: 99 tons Length: 68ft 6in Width: 8ft 10in Height: 12ft 9in Weight: 115 Tons in working order Fuel
Tank: 1055 Gallons Coolant
: 200 Gallons Oil
Tank: 130 Gallons Max
Speed: 100 mph Route Availability: 6 This
class of 50 locomotives was built for services on the Crewe-Glasgow section
of the West Coast Main Line (WCML), which included the famous banks over Shap and Beattock. They worked this route until
electrification was completed in 1974, when they were transferred to the
Western Region, and to a lesser extent to the Southerm
Region for Waterloo to Exeter services.
They were all rebuilt at Doncaster between 1979 and 1984, but to the
end were plagued by main generator failures due to problems with the
ventilation systems, and to their complex control gear. Many examples were preserved. Both
50029 ‘Renown’ and 50030 ‘Repulse’ arrived in the early 1990s as part of the ‘Operation
Collingwood’ initiative. Unfortunately
this plan foundered and the locos both left Blaenavon in early 2002. They were was
purchased by Renown
Repulse Restoration Group, and taken to Peak Rail, at Rowsley in Derbyshire, where the locos are undergoing
energetic restoration. 50043
‘Eagle’ also arrived in the early nineties.
During the next decade she had a number of owners, and there was
frequently confusion as to just who her owner was. She changed hands for the last time in
2001, and was subsequently cut up in early 2002 at Blaenavon. The loco’s bogies were stored
at Blaenavon and finally left in May 2005 for Renown Repulse Restoration
Group at Rowsley. photos: Ross Aitken |
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Hunslet 0-6-0DH ‘John Roden’ Locomotive Details:- Builder: Hunslet Engine
Company (Leeds). Built: not known, works no.
D5511. Wheel Arrangement; 0-6-0
Diesel Mechanical. This loco, privately owned by the two-man ‘Hunslet Owners Group’ worked at Blaenavon from the
mid-nineties until it left Blaenavon in December 2002 for the Gloucester and
Warwickshire railway at Toddington, still with the
same owners. That said, there is no
mention of the loco on their website, nor on any other relevant website. The loco was built as a ‘demonstrator’ loco by Hunslet and previously worked at the Thomas Ness Tar
works at Caerphilly. As a demonstrator
she had a rather novel and complex gearbox which gave trouble throughout her
stay at Blaenavon. Restored to a high
cosmetic standard, she was popular at galas on short demonstration freight
trains with the steady throb of her six cylinder Gardner engine much
appreciated. Being remarkably light on
her feet was able to cross the rail-over-rail bridge and shunt the bottom
yard, the only loco other than Sentinel able to perform the task around this
time. |
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Hibberd ‘Planet’ 3832 Locomotive Details:- Builder: F Hibberd Co.
Ltd., of Park Royal, Built: 1957, works no. 3832 Wheel Arrangement; 0-4-0
Diesel Mechanical. Engine: Dorman of 117HP Weight: 23 tons This chain-driven loco originally worked for Dorman
Long at their foundry in Middlesborough. Around 1974 it was acquired Frank Berry of Leicester,
who then sold it on to Vaynor Quarries Ltd for use
at their Machen Quarry. 1986 saw it pass through
dealer Thomas Hill Ltd of Kilnhurst in South
Yorkshire, to British Industrial Sand Ltd at Redhill,
Surrey. It returned to Wales in the
mid –nineties when it was stored at Blaenavon for the
Bridgend Valleys Railway until they recovered it in 1999. A year later, when the BVR decided to standardise
on the hydraulic version, 3832 was purchased by the Torridge Diesel Locomotive Company, who
have based it at their associated Bideford and Instow
Railway. Although we normally try and
present images of locos at Blaenavon, we simply couldn’t resist this photo of
3832 all-spruced up at Bideford. Photo: Clive Fairchild |
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Hibberd ‘Planet’ 4006 Locomotive Details:- Builder:
F Hibberd Co. Ltd., of Park Royal, Built: 1963, works no. 4006 Wheel Arrangement; 0-4-0 Diesel Hydraulic. Engine: Dorman of 117HP Weight: 23 tons This loco – the hydraulic version – so far as
we can determine also worked at BIS Redhill, until,
in the mid-nineties it was stored at Blaenavon for the Bridgend Valleys
Railway. They recovered it in
1999. It was joined by Planet 3890 of
1958 (which replaced 3832, noted above), and so far as we are aware, both
locos remain there, at Pontycymmer. Image reproduced from: http://members.aol.com/Walesrails/bvrs.htm |
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No picture available |
Class 50 English Electric Co-Co ‘Illustrious’ Barely
qualifying for entry here, but a class 50 cab was at Blaenavon for several
years. Believed to be from 50037 ‘Illustrious’,
it was removed by a private owner for restoration in Sheffield. |
