Trainspotting in 1970s: Settle to Carlisle Line Class 25, 40, 50 Diesels

#Trainspotting #Class25 #Class40 #Class50 #Diesels #settletocarlisle #digitisedcinefilm #nostalgia


Trainspotting in 1970s: Settle to Carlisle Line Class 25, 40, 50 Diesels

This film was originally a standard 8mm Silent Cine Film Digitised with a Winait Film Scanner. Authentic sound effects were added.

This film is Part Two of a series of 3 films featuring Diesels on the Settle to Carlisle Line. Part One features Class 45, Part Three features Class 114 DMU. All 3 Parts will have authentic sound effects added.

If anyone knows any of the locations please comment below.

British Rail Class 25

The British Rail Class 25, also known as the Sulzer Type 2, is a class of 327 diesel locomotives built between 1961 and 1967 for British Rail. They were numbered in two series, D5151–D5299 and D7500–D7677.

The first 25 locos became known as Class 25/0 and were built at BR Darlington Works. The Class 25/1 locomotives were built at Darlington and BR Derby Works. The Class 25/2 locomotives were built at Derby with some built at Darlington. The final batch of locomotives were designated Class 25/3 and built by Derby Works and Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester.

The Class 25 locomotives were initially delivered to London Midland and Scottish regions while the Western Region had Class 22s to operate in the type 2 power classification. With the withdrawal of all diesel-hydraulic locomotives planned, there was a perceived gap in this power range, and locomotive 7657 worked trial trips between Exeter and Barnstaple in August 1971 resulting in the WR Chief Civil Engineer approving the use of the class as a direct replacement in the West of England.

The last operational Class 25 was 25322 which was withdrawn on 23 March 1987. It was then restored by apprentices at Leeds Holbeck shed including repainting in BR two-tone green and having its original number of D7672 applied. In this form it worked railtours over the Settle–Carlisle line between 1989 and 1991.

British Rail Class 40

The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel electric locomotive. A total of 200 were built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962. They were numbered D200-D399. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples were entering service they were already being replaced on some top-level duties by more powerful locomotives. As they were slowly relegated from express passenger uses, the type found work on secondary passenger and freight services where they worked for many years. The final locomotives ended regular service in 1985. The locomotives were commonly known as "Whistlers" because of the distinctive noise made by their turbochargers.

Withdrawal of the Class 40s started in 1976, when three locomotives (40 005, 40 039 and 40 102) were taken out of service. At over 130 tons the Class were by then considered underpowered. In addition, some were found to be suffering from fractures of the plate-frame bogies (due mainly to inappropriate use on wagon-load freight and the associated running into tightly curved yards, and spares were also needed to keep other locomotives running.

Also, many Class 40s were not fitted with air braking, leaving them unable to haul more modern freight and passenger vehicles. Despite this, only seventeen had been withdrawn by the start of the 1980s. The locomotives became more popular with railway enthusiasts as their numbers started to dwindle.

The majority of Class 40s were cut up at Crewe, Doncaster, and Swindon works. Crewe works dismantled the most 40s, the totals are listed below.
Crewe Works scrapped 65 locos
Doncaster Works scrapped 64 locos
Swindon Works scrapped 54 locos.
The other ten locos to be scrapped were cut at Derby, Glasgow, Inverkeithing, and Vic Berry at Leicester.

1981 and 1983 saw the highest number of Class 40 withdrawals, a total of 41 locomotives being withdrawn both years.

British Rail Class 50
The British Rail Class 50 is a class of diesel locomotives designed to haul express passenger trains at 100 mph. Built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 & 1968, the Class 50s were initially on a 10-year lease from English Electric Leasing, & were employed hauling express passenger trains on the then non-electrified section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe & Scotland. Initially numbered D400–D449 & known as English Electric Type 4s, the locomotives were purchased outright by British Rail (BR) at the end of the lease & became Class 50 in the TOPS renumbering of 1973.

The class was built for working passenger services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) .
By 1974 the northern WCML was electrified, & the Class 50 fleet was displaced by new Class 87 electrics. The fleet was transferred to the Western Region between 1972 & 1976, working mainline passenger services from London Paddington along the Great Western Main Line (GWML).
They were withdrawn between 1987 & 1994. 18 were preserved & the rest scrapped.