Скачать или смотреть Class 13 - Innovative Shunter Solution for Yard Operations

What do you get when you take two shunters, bolt them together, and remove one cab? You get one of Britain’s strangest locomotives: the British Rail Class 13.

In this deep dive into a true oddity of railway engineering, we uncover the story of a locomotive that was never really a single locomotive at all. Designed in 1965 for the complex and demanding hump shunting operations at Tinsley Marshalling Yard near Sheffield, the Class 13 was a custom solution to a very specific problem: how do you move heavy rakes of wagons over a steep hump without the risk of grounding a rigid, long-wheelbase loco?

British Rail’s answer? Join two Class 08 shunters together in a permanent “master and slave” formation. One unit retained its cab and controls—the master—while the other had its cab completely removed, improving visibility and serving purely as a powered slave unit. The two were coupled back-to-back and fitted with multiple-unit control systems, allowing a single driver to command both engines at once.

Heavily ballasted for traction, each pair delivered an enormous tractive effort of around 70,000 lbf—far more than a standard shunter. This raw pulling power was essential for pushing long lines of freight wagons up and over the sorting hump. They were slow, powerful, and incredibly specialised.

Only three Class 13 locomotives were ever built—13001 to 13003—and all were formed at Darlington Works using converted Class 08s. They worked exclusively at Tinsley and were never allocated elsewhere. As hump shunting operations declined in the 1980s, so did the need for these locomotives. All three were withdrawn by 1986 and scrapped shortly after. Tragically, none were preserved, making them a lost chapter of British diesel history.

In this video, you’ll learn:

The unusual circumstances that led to their creation

How the master-slave configuration actually worked

Technical specifications, including engine types, speed, fuel capacity and traction power

Why these locomotives were essential to Tinsley Yard—and why they disappeared so quickly

Fascinating facts that continue to capture the imagination of railway enthusiasts to this day

Whether you’re a dedicated railfan, a lover of strange engineering, or just curious about Britain’s industrial past, the story of the Class 13 is one you don’t want to miss.

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Video Credits
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Off The Rails_ British Rail Class 13
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