British Rail Class 16


The North British Type 1 was a type of diesel locomotive ordered under British Railways'. Like other Type 1 designs, they were relatively small locomotives intended primarily for local freight traffic. They were numbered D8400-D8409.

Overview

The design evolved from an earlier prototype locomotive built by North British, No. 10800. Under British Railways' 'pilot scheme', ten locomotives were ordered for evaluation against rival designs from British Thomson-Houston and English Electric. The design shared some similarities with Class 15, both being of the road-switcher layout much like the design that was quickly becoming the standard in North America and Australia, and both being powered by an Paxman 16YHXL prime mover.

Delivery

The ten locomotives were completed at the North British Locomotive Company's Queen's Park Works in Glasgow, between May and September 1958. They were delivered to Devons Road depot, Bow, North-east London on the London Midland Region of British Railways for evaluation against the rival designs, but soon moved to nearby Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where they stayed for the rest of their lives. The allocation of all ten locomotives in October 1967 was Stratford.

Operation

The design was not a success, and no further examples were built. While the Class 15s also suffered problems with the Paxman engines, these were worse on Class 16 because inadequate ventilation resulted in frequent engine seizures. Another problem was coolant contamination of the oil, due to cylinder head failure. They were fitted with a non-standard type of electro-magnetic control equipment which was prone to failure, and they could not operate in multiple with locomotives fitted with the more common electro-pneumatic controls.

Withdrawal

Being non-standard and unreliable, the locomotives were an obvious candidate for early withdrawal. They were withdrawn between February and September 1968, and all ten had been cut up for scrap by the end of 1969.