Warship Class 42
photograph by Ray Soper. |
| An unidentified "Warship" (D8?0) outside Waterloo station during 1966. Following the abolition of steam on the Western Region operated lines to the West Country these locos were frequently seen on services from Waterloo to Exeter and beyond. First introduced in August 1958, these quite attractive diesel hydraulic locos proved to be a very troublesome design which could only be used for passenger work as their light weight made them unsuitable for goods trains. The first three, D800-2, were withdrawn after just ten years in service with the last loco, D832 Onslaught, being withdrawn in 1972. |
| December 1962 saw the lines west of Salisbury
transferred to the Western Region where steam was being phased out much more
rapidly than on the Southern. Soon thereafter the Bulleids were replaced on the
Waterloo-Exeter trains by the 1960-61 Swindon built diesel hyrdaulics of class
42, the B-B Warships. 2300hp with a maximum speed of 90mph. By the 1970s, greater standardisation was sought for BR as a whole and hydraulic transmissions were short listed for extinction. By 1974 the warships withdrawn and the service was worked by class 33 and then 50 until they were replaced by 159s in 1992/3.
photograph by Michael Taylor. D829 Magpie leads a down West of England express through Woking station in June 1970.
Warship D831 Monarch on the ground in the scrap lines at Swindon in 1974.
photographs by Colin Duff. Two Warships still survive. Both pictured around the turntable at Old Oak Common depot
during the EWS/Rail Magazine London 2000 event 5/6 (pictures actually taken
6th) August 2000. D821 Greyhound is currently based on the Severn Valley
Railway and D832 Onslaught on the East Lancashire Railway. |
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This page was last updated 4 December 2002
