British Rail Class 14

The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was trip working movements between local yards and short-distance freight trains. The good all-around visibility from the cab and dual controls also made them capable of being used for shunting duties. The order was expanded from 26 to 56 in mid-1963, before work had started on the first order. They were numbered D9500-D9555.
== Technical details ==
In July 1964, the first of a class of 56 locomotives appeared from Swindon Works. These were later designated as TOPS Class 14 by British Railways. They are known as 'Teddy Bears' by enthusiasts, following a comment by Swindon Works' erecting shop foreman George Cole who quipped "We've built The Great Bear, now we're going to build a 'Teddy Bear'!"
In outline they have a cab offset from the centre with bonnets at each end, with a fixed 0-6-0 wheel configuration rather than bogies as seen on all the other Type 1 classes. The locomotives were powered by a Paxman 6-cylinder Ventura 6YJXL engine with a Napier turbocharger producing 650 bhp (485 kW), connected to a Voith L217U hydraulic transmission and Hunslet final drive. The axles were connected by coupling rods and driven by a jackshaft located under the cab, between the second and third axles. The plate frames were of 1​1⁄4 inch steel and deep buffer beams almost to rail level. One was of similar thickness to the frames, the other of 5 inch thick steel to act as ballast and to even out weight distribution.
== Operations and preservation ==
Originally all were allocated to depots on the Western Region of British Railways, but in January 1967 twenty were sent to Hull (Dairycoates) on the Eastern Region (ER), followed by thirteen more later the same year. At Hull they were intended for work around the docks, but the tasks were beyond the capabilities of a single locomotive, but since two locomotives required two sets of crew, they were not popular with the region. In 1968 all 33 ER locomotives were placed in store, and were subsequently withdrawn on 1 April that year.
The Class 14s, like many other early types of diesel, had an extremely short life with British Railways – in this case not because of poor reliability but because many of its envisaged duties disappeared on the BR network a few years after they came into use. BR started to dispose of members of the class from mid 1968, and the entire class had been sold to industry or scrapped by the end of 1970. In their new careers in industry many had a working life two to three times greater than that with British Railways. The industries in which they were employed, such as coal mining, declined during the 1970s and the class again became surplus to requirements. Several have since found a third lease of life on preserved lines where they are ideal for both light passenger work and with works trains on the maintenance of permanent way.
Unusually D9504 was leased in 2005 from its preservation group and found itself in revenue-earning service on the newest mainline in the UK – High Speed 1 (known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link during construction) – mainly in marshalling and stabling the 450m 22-wagon concrete-pumping train on the final stretch to St. Pancras Station.
D9524 was re-engined under the ownership of BP Grangemouth. It was later re-engined again under the ownership of the Scottish RPS who, following BR practice, gave it the number 14901. It now operates with a Rolls-Royce DV8TCE (640 bhp) power unit.
The last of the class to be built, D9555, was the final locomotive constructed for British Railways at Swindon Works, in 1965; today it is privately owned and operates on the Dean Forest Railway, Gloucestershire – its original route.
In July 2014 The East Lancashire Railway hosted ten preserved members of the class as a celebration of the 50 years since their entry into service.
== Fleet ==
Loco 	Final depot	Industrial career 	Industrial Number	Dates 	Disposal
D9500	86A 	NCB Ashington 	1 	11/69–? 	Preserved at Peak Rail
D9501	86A 	— 	- 	— 	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (6/68)
D9502	86A 	NCB Ashington 	- 	07/69–? 	Preserved at East Lancs Railway
D9503	50B 	BSC Harlaxton
BSC Corby Steelworks	65 	11/68–07/74
07/74–09/80	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/80)
D9504	50B 	NCB Lambton 
NCB Philadelphia
NCB Bolden
NCB Burradon
NCB Ashington	- 	11/68–08/73
08/73–12/74
01/75–09/81
09/81–?	Preserved at Kent & East Sussex Railway
D9505	50B 	APCM Hope, Derbyshire	- 	09/68–05/75	Exported to Bruges, Belgium (05/75)
D9506	86A 	— 	- 	— 	Scrapped at Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate (05/68)
D9507	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	55 	11/68–09/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/82)
D9508	87E 	NCB Ashington 	9 	03/69–01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9509	86A 	— 	- 	— 	Scrapped at G Cohen Ltd., Kettering (11/70)
D9510	50B 	BSC Buckminster
BSC Corby Steelworks	60 	12/68–06/72
06/72–08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9511	50B 	NCB Ashington 	- 	11/68–07/79	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (07/79)
D9512	50B 	BSC Buckminster
BSC Corby Steelworks	63 	12/68–09/72
09/72–02/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (02/82)
D9513	86A 	Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate
NCB Crigglestone
NCB Astley
NCB Ashington	38 	07/68–11/68
11/68–09/69
09/69–10/73
01/74–?	Preserved at Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
D9514	86A 	NCB Ashington 	4 	07/69–12/85	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (12/85)
D9515	50B 	BSC Buckminster
BSC Corby Steelworks
Hunslet Ltd	62 	11/68–09/72
09/72–12/81
12/81–07/82	Exported to Charmartin, Madrid, Spain (07/82)
D9516	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	56 	11/68–10/81	Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre
D9517	86A 	NCB Ashington 	8 	11/69–01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9518	86A 	NCB Ashington 	7 	06/69–??/87	Preserved at West Somerset Railway
D9519	86A 	- 	- 	- 	Scrapped at G Cohen Ltd., Kettering (11/70)
D9520	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks
BSC Glendon	45 	12/68–03/81	Preserved at Nene Valley Railway
D9521	87E 	NCB Ashington 	2 	03/70–11/84	Preserved at Dean Forest Railway
D9522	86A 	- 	- 	- 	Scrapped at Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate (05/68)
D9523	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks
BSC Glendon	46 	12/68–10/81	Preserved at the Wensleydale Railway
D9524	87E 	BP Grangemouth 	- 	07/70–09/81	Preserved at Peak Rail
D9525	50B 	NCB Lambton
NCB Philadelphia
NCB Ashington	- 	11/68–03/75
03/75–10/87	Preserved by Heritage Shunters Trust
D9526	86A 	APCM Westbury 	- 	01/70–04/80	Preserved at West Somerset Railway
D9527	86A 	NCB Ashington 	6 	07/69–01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9528	86A 	NCB Ashington 	2 	03/69–12/81	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (12/81)
D9529	50B 	BSC Buckminster
BSC Corby Steelworks
Bardon Hill Quarry	61 	08/68–09/72
09/72–03/81
02/09–06/10	Preserved - normally at Nene Valley Railway
D9530	86A 	Gulf Oil Co.Ltd., Waterston
NCB Mardy Colliery
NCB Tower Colliery	- 	09/69–10/75
10/75–08/82
08/82	Scrapped at NCB Tower Colliery (08/82)
D9531	86A 	Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate
NCB Crigglestone
NCB Burradon
NCB Ashington	- 	07/68–11/68
11/68–10/73
10/73–04/74
04/74–?	Preserved at East Lancashire Railway
D9532	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	57 	11/68–02/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (02/82)
D9533	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	47 	12/68–09/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/82)
D9534	50B 	APCM Hope, Derbyshire	- 	10/68—05/75	Exported to Bruges, Belgium (05/75)
D9535	86A 	NCB Burradon
NCB Backworth
NCB Ashington	37 	11/70–01/76
01/76–09/80
09/80–01/84	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (01/84)
D9536	87E 	NCB Ashington 	5 	03/70–02/85	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (12/85)
D9537	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	52 	11/68–11/82	Preserved at Ecclesbourne Valley Railway
D9538	87E 	Shell-Mex & BP Ltd., Shellhaven
BSC Ebbw Vale
BSC Corby Steelworks	- 	04/70–02/71
02/71–04/76
04/76–09/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/82)
D9539	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	51 	10/68–02/83	Preserved at Ribble Steam Railway
D9540	50B 	NCB Lambton
NCB Philadelphia
NCB Burradon
NCB Ashington	36 	11/68–11/71
11/71–06/72
06/72–01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9541	50B 	BSC Harlaxton
BSC Corby Steelworks	66 	11/68–08/74
08/74–08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9542	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	48 	12/68–08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9543	50B 	— 	- 	— 	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (11/68)
D9544	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	53 	11/68–09/80	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/80)
D9545	50B 	NCB Ashington 	- 	11/68–07/79	Scrapped by D. Short, North Shields (07/79)
D9546	50B 	— 	- 	— 	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (11/68)
D9547	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	49 	12/68–08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9548	50B 	BSC Harlaxton
BSC Corby Steelworks
Hunslet Ltd	67 	11/68–08/74
08/74–11/80
11/80–07/82	Exported to Charmartin, Madrid, Spain (07/82)
D9549	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks
Hunslet Ltd	64 	11/68–11/81
11/81–07/82	Exported to Charmartin, Madrid, Spain (07/82)
D9550	50B 	— 	- 	— 	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (11/68)
D9551	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	50 	12/68–06/81	Preserved at Severn Valley Railway
D9552	50B 	BSC Buckminster
BSC Corby Steelworks	59 	09/68–06/72
06/72–09/80	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/80)
D9553	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	54 	11/68–? 	Preserved at Vale of Berkeley Railway
D9554	50B 	BSC Corby Steelworks 	58 	11/68–08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9555	87E 	NCB Burradon
NCB Ashington	- 	03/70–02/75
02/76–??/87	Preserved at Dean Forest Railway
== Gallery ==
Gallery
Category:British Rail locomotives
Category:Diesel locomotives
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:Swindon Works locomotives
Category:British Rail diesel locomotives
Category:Diesel-hydraulic locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:Switcher locomotives
Category:Diesel switchers
Category:C locomotives