The Metropolitan-Vickers Type 2 Co-Bo Diesel-Electric Locomotives
The Metropolitan-Vickers Type 2 Co-Bo Diesel-Electric Locomotives

Author: Anthony P. Sayer

Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport

Published: 2020-06-30

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1526742829

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A thorough history of the Metropolitan-Vickers locomotive, also known as “Class 28,” featuring 160 color and black & white photos. This book provides an in-depth history of the Metropolitan-Vickers diesel-electric Type 2 locomotives, more frequently known collectively as the “Co-Bo’s” due to their unusual wheel arrangement. Twenty locomotives were constructed during the late-1950s for use on the London Midland Region of British Railways. The fleet was fraught with difficulties from the start, most notably due to problems with their Crossley engines, this necessitating the need for extensive rehabilitation work during the early-1960s. Matters barely improved and the option to completely re-engine the locomotives with English Electric units was debated at length, but a downturn in traffic levels ultimately resulted in their demise by the end of 1968 prior to any further major rebuilding work being carried out. Significant quantities of new archive and personal sighting information, supported by over 180 photographs and diagrams, have been brought together to allow dramatic new insights into this enigmatic class of locomotives, including the whole debate surrounding potential re-engining, their works histories, the extended periods in storage, together with in-depth reviews of the various detail differences and liveries.

Irish Metro-Vick Diesels
Irish Metro-Vick Diesels

Author: Barry Carse

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9781898392156

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The history of the Metro-Vick diesel family spanned the period 1955 to 1995. This book includes the history of the 20 BR pilot scheme Co-Bos (class 28), as well as the 94 Irish units. Beginning with a survey of all three classes of Metro-Vicks, it concludes with a 24-page colour section illustrating the livery variations over their 40-year life span. Detailed tables of building and withdrawal dates, dimensional tables and a survey of preserved examples are included.

The Locomotives of Robert Riddles
The Locomotives of Robert Riddles

Author: Colin Boocock

Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport

Published: 2023-10-30

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 139909999X

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The Locomotives of Robert Riddles guides the reader in the quest to understand how Robert Riddles career on the LMS and in war service shaped his knowledge and character and led to him becoming the obvious choice for leading the locomotive engineering function within the newly-formed Railway Executive. The book outlines the substantial impact Riddles had on the design and supply of locomotives that were to support the Allied military campaigns in the second world war, including useful analysis of the types of locomotives specifically designed for that work. The bulk of the book outlines the decision-making processes that led to the twelve designs of standard steam locomotives that were intended to be the future stop-gap before electrification, and the political and practical reasons for successive policy changes that led to their unexpectedly short lives. Those events include the 1955 Modernization Plan with its emphasis on dieselization, and the subsequent railway rationalizations that reduced the need not only for new steam locomotives but also made relatively new diesels redundant. Each BR standard locomotive type is described in its own chapter. The performance of each class is given its rightful emphasis. The book is comprehensively illustrated with largely unpublished pictures that cover a wide range of locations and locomotive duties.

Oliver Bulleid's Locomotives
Oliver Bulleid's Locomotives

Author: Colin Boocock

Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport

Published: 2021-01-18

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 1526749246

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A history of the man who served as Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Southern Railway and the many locomotives he developed. Oliver Bulleid’s locomotives guides the reader in the quest to understand what motivated Mr Bulleid in his work as a senior engineer and manager, and tries, with as little bias as is reasonable, to make sense of some of the more controversial aspects of his activities. For example, why did OVB not pursue the ideal of a 2-8-2 for the Southern Railway? How did the ‘Leader’ project go so much out of control? What role did Bulleid play in the massive dieselization program in Ireland when he was CME there? How did the 0-6-6-0T turf-burning steam locomotive fit in with Ireland’s traction policy, or did it? And why did ninety of his steam locomotives and ninety-four of ‘his’ diesels have to be rebuilt to make them either more economical or more reliable? These are fundamental questions to which the book provides the reader with answers based on the author’s experiences or on those of people who knew Bulleid. OVB’s undoubted successes are illustrated in words and photographs, too, to provide a hopefully balanced picture of one of Britain’s more exciting railway engineers. “This book is a well written overview of the Bulleid era, by a competent engineer who can express himself in layman’s terms.” —Martin Shill, Industrial Railway Society “The book deserves a place on the bookshelf of every student of locomotives, especially Bulleid's By current standards, it is good value, and it was a pleasure to examine it.” —The Railway Observer

Spirit of Northern Rails
Spirit of Northern Rails

Author: David Goodyear

Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport

Published: 2024-04-30

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1399047000

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This book endeavors to capture the very essence of the railways in the northern UK, exploring in photographs their imprint upon the landscape. Railways are illustrated as they traverse the bleak fells, pass by traditional cotton mills and industrial heritage, stride over iconic viaducts crossing vast windswept valleys and coastal estuaries, and as they share the grandeur of iconic cathedrals of both religious and railway station designs, whilst not forgetting the intricate network of canals intertwining with the rails that eventually carried the very traffic that kept these waterways in use. Here is a personal selection which I trust helps explore all that characterizes and reveals the moods and atmosphere which conjure the heart and “Spirit” of railways traversing our northern climes. Locomotives, train designs and liveries past and present will help recall the rails of the 1980’s and 90’s and offer an interesting contrast to the more modern images of the present millennium. With a mix of traction and train fleets, both in use on passenger and freight consists, this selection of images reveals their participation in capturing the heart of railways in the north. Readers are invited to share this fascinating adventure and indeed the inherent “Northern Spirit” which permeates throughout such a journey.