Locomotoras diesel - British Rail: libros - historia y modelos

British Rail in the 1980s and 1990s - Diesel Locomotives and DMUs

Las décadas de 1980 y 1990 fueron una época apasionante para British Rail. Durante muchos años, British Rail había estado estructurada en regiones y la librea de su material rodante consistía en azul y gris, o simplemente azul. Sin embargo, ahora los ferrocarriles británicos entraban en una nueva etapa de sectorización, reestructuración y, finalmente, privatización.

Nos presentaron nuevos y llamativos diseños, como el rojo, blanco, gris y azul de Network SouthEast, y el diseño bicolor gris, rojo y blanco de InterCity, que incluye el elegante logotipo de la Golondrina Plateada.
Las empresas de transporte de mercancías también introdujeron nuevos diseños. Principalmente un gris bicolor con un logotipo que indicaba a qué subsector pertenecía, y RES (Rail Express Systems) introdujo más tarde un llamativo diseño rojo con franjas azules y grises.

Nuevas locomotoras, vagones y unidades múltiples diésel y eléctricas entraron en servicio en todo el país, luciendo los nuevos colores de los sectores recientemente creados.
Otros vagones se desplazaron por la red y, con el tiempo, recibieron nuevas libreas para sus nuevos servicios.

En este libro, el primero de dos, Kenny Barclay comparte parte de su colección de fotografías de locomotoras diésel y unidades múltiples diésel tomadas en varios lugares del país durante las décadas de 1980 y 1990.
Como empleado de British Rail en aquella época, Kenny Barclay tenía acceso regular a numerosos depósitos y talleres ferroviarios de toda la red, donde tomó muchas de sus fotografías.

Este libro recopila algunas de sus mejores fotografías, que documentan los fascinantes cambios que se produjeron en la red durante ese periodo.

Detalle del libro

Green Diesel Days

El Plan de Modernización Ferroviaria de 1955 preveía la introducción de 2500 nuevas locomotoras diésel, con un pedido inicial de 171 unidades, para sustituir a las locomotoras de vapor en los ferrocarriles británicos. Este plan supuso el fin de la tracción a vapor, argumentando que la dieselización debía llevarse a cabo tan pronto como se construyeran las nuevas locomotoras. En 1956, por primera vez, se construyeron más locomotoras diésel que de vapor.

Sin embargo, varios de los pedidos del Programa Piloto consistían en lotes de diez o veinte máquinas, sin prototipo, una decisión que British Rail lamentaría más tarde. El mantenimiento y la fiabilidad supondrían problemas para estas primeras locomotoras diésel.
La mayoría de los vagones de pasajeros en uso a finales de la década de 1950 no permitían la calefacción eléctrica de los trenes, por lo que hubo que instalar calderas en las locomotoras para calentar los vagones, lo que a su vez causó problemas de peso.

Este libro ofrece una mirada, a todo color, a la época dorada del diésel en los ferrocarriles británicos, mientras se iba eliminando gradualmente el vapor.

Detalle del libro

BR Diesel Locomotives in Preservation

When British Railways (BR) initiated its Modernisation Plan in 1954 it had little experience of diesel locomotives thus initiated a Pilot Scheme to trial combinations of the three elements comprised within a locomotive - the engine, transmission and body.
The initial orders for 174 locomotives were placed in November 1955, but even before the first locomotive had been delivered, changes in Government policy led to bulk orders for most designs being trialled. It was only in 1968, once steam traction had been removed from the network, that BR was able to review the success, or otherwise, of its diesel fleet and decide which designs to withdraw from service.

The nascent preservation movement of the time was concerned to preserve steam locomotives whilst only buying diesel shunting locomotives for support roles on heritage lines and it wasn't until 1977 that any effort was made to preserve main line diesels.
Once it was confirmed that diesel locomotives had an appeal to enthusiasts, further purchases were made that resulted in examples of most of the BR diesel classes being represented within the preservation movement.

Fred Kerr's book details those classes which are represented on heritage lines, identifies where possible their location as of December 2016, shows many of them at work and shows what is involved in the restoration, maintenance and operation of diesel locomotives by the volunteers whose efforts are vital but rarely acknowledged.

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Diesels in the Western Region

The Great Western Railway was always a little different to the rest of the railways, and that was still the position when in 1955 British Railways announced their Modernisation Plan that would see steam replaced by diesels and electrics.
The rest of the railway regions opted for diesel-electric locos but the Western would be different, opting for diesel-hydraulics.

The first entered service in 1957 and by 1964 six different classes were introduced. Unfortunately there were problems with them all, which were largely solved as experience was gained, but the BRB was in favour of standardisation using the diesel-electric type and they saw the Western hydraulics as non-standard, which resulted in their early withdrawal from service by 1977.

This book of mostly unpublished colour pictures taken by George Woods shows them in service from 1966 to 2019, and also includes the Class 50 locos that became their replacements.

Detalle del libro

Green Diesel Era

From 1958 onwards, vast numbers of diesel locomotives were constructed, both by BR's own workshops and by a growing number of outside contractors, to replace steam.
Whilst some of the new diesel designs proved to be successful, others were not, and some failed to outlast the steam locomotives that they were introduced to replace.

This colour album illustrates those early years of modern traction when many locos were being finished in an attractive green livery. Looking back at those early years of diesel motive power, the Western Region's use of hydraulic, instead of electric transmission can be seen as a mistake but so too were the designs of the Metropolitan-Vickers Co-Bo and the Clayton Bo-Bo classes.

Excluding pioneering prototypes, all of the major first generation locomotive types are featured here together with a number of early DMUs and diesel shunters, providing the reader with a colourful contrast to the grime and matt black of the ageing steam fleet.

Detalle del libro

The British Railways Pilot Scheme Diesel Locomotives

British Railways' Modernisation Plan of the 1950s started, sensibly, with small orders for a variety of diesel locomotives, intended for different purposes, from a range of manufacturers including its own workshops at Swindon and Derby. This was the Pilot Scheme, and the idea was to analyse the reliability and performance of these 174 locomotives of fourteen types in service before placing larger orders.

Unfortunately, in its haste to eradicate steam traction, the railway then ordered large quantities of many of these designs before they had been thoroughly tested. This resulted in failures, early withdrawals and even the re-equipping of one large class with new engines at great expense and inconvenience. Some of the designs (e.g., some of the Class 20s and 26s), however, were ultimately successful and perpetuated, lasting in service until the 1990s in some cases.

The railway itself was not fully prepared for its expensive new toys, and the new diesels had to share facilities with steam locomotives - not an ideal environment for such temperamental machines.

This book showcases the work of numerous railway photographers, curated and annotated by Colin Alexander, covering the chequered career of the Pilot Scheme Diesels from the 1950s to their present-day life in preservation.
All the author's profits from the sale of this book will be divided equally between the group restoring D5705 to working order and the group creating the eleventh 'Baby Deltic', D5910, at Barrow Hill.

Detalle del libro

The Green Diesel Years

The 'green diesel era' between 1955 and the early 1970s, when diesel motive power was being introduced in large numbers on Britain's railway network, is today arguably one of the favourite historical periods for enthusiasts and modellers of diesel traction. Almost from the outset, BR adopted green as its livery for diesel locomotives and DMUs - with odd exceptions (most notably the ever-independent Western Region) - and, although a new livery of Rail Blue was launched in 1964, the green livery was in sporadic evidence until the mid 1970s.

This book contains over 180 colour photographs of a huge variety of BR diesel locomotives and DMUs throughout the country in this era, and the images depict a portrait of a railway in which the infrastructure had remained recognisable for decades before undergoing wholesale changes.
Today the diesel locomotives and DMUs in this book are as much part of our history as the background scenes of the railway portrayed, making this book an invaluable source of information for railway modellers as well as historians.

Detalle del libro

The Privatisation Classes - A Pictorial Survey of Diesel and Electric Locomotives and Units Since 1994 (Modern Traction Profiles )

An album of photographs taken by David Cable, a well-regarded author of several books covering trains throughout much of the world.
This book looks at the types of locomotives and multiple units that have been introduced into the UK since 1994, when the government privatised British Rail into a series of privately operated franchises.

An incredible forty-one classes have been, or are shortly to be introduced, the majority being passenger units. The book shows these classes in a variety of colour schemes adopted by the franchisees.
Photographs, in the main, are taken in the South East of England, which is where the great majority of these new trains operate, with the surroundings being given as much prominence as possible.

Detalle del libro