Diesels

In 'The Midlander' (and a proposed mini series) a series or **diesels** owned by British Railways/British Rail appear in the background. These locomotives normally have no faces (if they don't have a grill on the front).

## BR Class (TOPS) 08

The **BR Class 08** is a type of diesel-electric shunting locomotive that appears in 'The Midlander: the mini series'. They are normally seen shunting something and for being rude to MSR's historic fleet.

### History of the Class

The Class 08s were introduced in 1952 and based on an older design introduced by the LMS in 1945 (known as the Class 11s under TOPS) and started replacing steam shunters due to lack of speed in the yards but had equal or greater power to some classes they came to replace. By the time steam was abolished in 1968, they became the standard shunting locomotive for BR and in 1973, gained their famous classification '08' for the Total Operating Processing System (TOPS).

## EE Type 1/ BR Class 20

### Builder

English Electric (by Vulcan Foundry & RSH)

### Nickname/s

Choppers

The **English Electric Type 1**, aka **BR Class 20**, is a type of mixed traffic diesel-electric that appears in 'The Midlander' and its mini series. These are normally seen in pairs on a goods train.

### History of the Class

The Type 1 Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives were introduced by English Electric in 1957 to replace a fleet of aging steam locomotives, including the BR Standard classes (Stanley being a Standard 4MT 2-6-0) from 1951 onwards. The class was one of the famous products of English Electric that got some fame, even when they weren't made to be famous. By 1968, 288 EE Type 1s were constructed and that same year, BR mainline steam finally ended. The first time we see a EE Type 1, it was seen sitting on a turntable when Jinty was snooping around the diesel depot for answers about "dieselisation" at he heard from a Stanier Jubilee 4-6-0. They later on appear in the background. In 1973, the EE Type 1s were reclassified as the Class 20 under the Total Operations Processing System (TOPS). Some are planned to appear in the background in the proposed mini series by Shane Sowter (after 'The Midlander' is released). So far in real life, 22 Class 20s have been preserved, while some are still in mainline service.

### Trivia

Because of the noise of their motors/prime movers, the Class 20s are known by railway enthusiasts as "Choppers".

   One Class 20 (No. 20188) was used for a James Bond film in 1995. It had a piece of armour plating to make the locomotive look Russian/Soviet Union, not British. This locomotive was used at its home on the Nene Valley Railway.

The models seen in 'The Midlander' (and its planned mini series) are done by OO gauge models by Hornby and Bachmann.

* Between takes, soon have been renumbered to help with matching photographs.

   Class 20s are normally seen in pairs on merry-go-round (MGR) trains around British power plants. This is also seen in the mini series with loaded coal trains bound for the British electric power stations.

Shane Sowter is not planning on making one of the "choppers" a resident of the MSR, instead replacing it with a Class 24 "Rat".

## EE Type 3/ BR Class 37

### Builder

English Electric (by Vulcan Foundry & RSH)

### Nickname/s

Tractors

The **English Electric Type 3**, aka **BR Class 37**, is a type of mixed traffic diesel-electric that appears in 'The Midlander' and its mini series. They are one of many classes that are world famous.

### History of the Class

The English Electric Type 3 was introduced in 1960 as part of the British Railways 'Modernisation Plan' of 1955 to replace steam traction on certain trains. The Type 3s were normally seen on goods trains, and sometimes double-heading with their steam-powered ancestors (the LMS Stanier Black Five 4-6-0s) they were built to replace.

After the 11th of August, 1968, the EE Type 3 (and the Brush Type 4) became the standard mixed-traffic locomotives on British Rail but production had ended in 1965, only three year earlier. In 1973, the EE Type 3 were reclassified under the Total Operating Processing System (TOPS) as 'Class 37', just to keep the new computer working properly. The other reason for the new TOPS numbers was because of the withdrawal of steam locomotives, which was the main reason why their old numbers started with the prefix 'D'.

The Class 37 became one the most notorious classes of diesel-electrics on the whole railway network, which lead to many steam locomotives that formerly worked for the Southern Region (including Westminster and Audie) furious that they have stolen numbers. There have been two accidents reported for this class, which the locomotives were 37671, 37672 and 37069. The Moorland Steam Railway doesn't own any Class 37s but 35 have been preserved and 67 were still in active mainline service by 2012.

### Trivia

The Class 37s are nicknamed "Tractors" because the noise of their prime movers sounds like a farm tractor.

Models of the Class 37s are done by Bachmann, with one by Hornby.

   No. 37069 is claimed to be haunted following an unreported accident that killed its driver. It is said that the fire bottles and the horn would go off. The accident was never authenticated but the strange events tell us that this did happen, but BR decided to perform a cover-up.

A Class 37/0 in BR RailFreight Distribution Steel Sector livery is seen with the nameplates 'Australian Iron & Steel'. The real locomotive was never given a name and the fictional name is to make reference to the fallen Australian steel industry, which still holds strong at Port Kembla, on the South Coast of NSW. The steel mill uses NSWGR/ State Rail Class 81 diesel-electric locomotives owned by Pacific National.

## BR Classes 24 and 25

### Nickname/s

Rats, Spluts (Class 25)

The **Sulzer Type 2 diesels**, **BR Classes 24 and 25**, are a group of diesel-electrics that were built for mixed0traffic duties on the British Rail network. These are commonly known as "Rats", while the Class 25 were sometimes known as "Spluts".

### History of the Class

#### Class 24

Introduced to replace the now outdated fleet of mixed traffic steam locomotives built by British Railways as part of the '1955 Modernisation Plan', the Sulzer Type 2 (first generation) was built by Derby, Darlington and Crewe in 1958. Due to so many of these produced by the time production ended in 1961 (in order to make the new Sulzer Type 2s/ Class 25s), they were nicknamed "rats" because they said that they were all over the country like a "pack of rodents brought into a new country".

#### Class 25 "Spluts"

The new generation of Sulzer Type 2s came out in 1961 and were built by Derby, Darlington, Crewe and Beyer Peacock & Company, in order to keep the Modernisation program going. The new design looked exactly like the older one and even had (thanks to British Railway's pre-TOPS classification for diesels) the same class designation as the older ones, Sulzer Type 2. Unfortunately, unlike their predasessors, these broke down often and steam locomotives often brought them in and took over from their trains.

### Trivia

Bulldog (formerly Class 24) is a member of this class.

Most of the models seen are Bachmann models, but there are a few Sutton's Locomotive Works model versions of the Class 24 used.

## Brush Type 4 (TOPS Class 47)

The **Brush Type 4**, aka **BR Class 47**, is a type of mixed-traffic diesel electric locomotive.

## Virgin Trains Class 57/3

The **Virgin Trains/BR Class 57/3** are a group of 16 diesel-electric locomotives owned by Virgin Trains West Coast and are used to rescue stranded passenger multiple units. Due to their rescue engine role, they are commonly known as **"Thunderbirds"**.

### Trivia

The nickname "Thunderbirds" came from how all 16 locomotives were named after characters and vehicles from the 1960s British science-fiction show 'Thunderbirds'.

* This's extended further with the Class 57/3s responding to messages with, "F-A-B," a phrase used by the fictional International Rescue which means "message received and acknowledged."