page_title: British Rail Class 26
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 26 / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Birmingham Railway Carriage &amp; Wagon Co. Diesel at Harringay West. A mixture of anticipation and dread accompanied the abrupt introdution of these unfamiliar main-line Diesels onto the empty stock workings into King's Cross. Here the first Birmingham RC&amp;W/Sulzer 1,160 hp Type 2 Bo-Bo, No. D5300, is on an Up van train at Harringay - where hitherto steam locomotives had and for another four years would still operate. This Type 2 1,160 hp Bo-Bo (later class 26) began work here, but the class were soon sent up to the Scottish Region and worked there for 20 years or so, but were not a great success.
context_page_description: The British Rail Class 26 diesel locomotives, also known as the BRCW Type 2, were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company at Smethwick in 1958-59. Forty seven examples were built, and the last were withdrawn from service in 1994. Like their higher-powered sisters, the BRCW Classes 27 and 33, they had all-steel bodies and cab ends with fibreglass cab roofs. They were numbered D5300-D5346.
context_section_description: The BR Modernisation Plan contained a large requirement for small diesel locomotives in the 800 hp (600 kW) - 1,250 hp (930 kW) range and under BR's 'Pilot Scheme', small batches of locomotives were ordered from numerous different manufacturers for evaluation. BRCW obtained an order for 20 mixed traffic diesel-electric locomotives powered by 1,160 hp (870 kW) Sulzer 6LDA28 engines.
  The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company was a rolling stock manufacturer, although they were building diesel multiple units for BR. The first standalone locomotives made by the company were produced in 1956-57 BRCW : 12 diesel locomotives for the Irish railways Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE 101 Class), the order going to BRCW due to capacity problems at CIÉ's own Inchicore Works; a partnership was established between BRCW and the Swiss diesel engine manufacturers Sulzer Brothers at that time.
  The Sulzer LDA28 range was found to be particularly suited to BR's needs. In addition to BRCW's Class 26, the 1160 hp 6LDA28 variant was also used in BR's own Class 24 design, while the 1250 hp 6LDA28-B was fitted in the later BRCW Class 27 and BR Class 25.
caption: The first of the class, D5300 at Harringay in 1959, wearing original livery.
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