British Rail Main Line Locomotives Specification Guide identifies the major detail differences and livery variations that have appeared on all British Rail, ex-British Rail and privatized railway diesel and electric main line classes from 14 to 92. The book provides a record of the main specifications of each class of locomotive, and details of variations, including: numbers, liveries, headcodes, headlights, wheel arrangements and bogies, brakes, names and - where appropriate - details of refurbishment programmes.Diesel locomotives are a relative newcomer to the railway enthusiast and modelling scenes, and this book brings together information on detail changes in a coherent reference form for the first time, illustrated with photographs of major changes. A useful resource for modellers and those with an interest in the differences that have occurred to the British Rail fleet. Superbly illustrated with around 300 colour photographs.

Train Doctor is the story of Roger Senior's career in the railway industry, from 1968 when the author joined British Railways, until his retirement from Great North Eastern Railway.The book takes you from the 1970s period, with its first generation Diesels, through to privatisation in 1994 and the electrified East Coast main line.This will be of interest to enthusiasts and modern railway historians, with its inside look at the railway industry during a time of considerable change.The author began his career with first generation diesel classes, on the Eastern Region, of what was then British Railways and went on to work with the High Speed Train Fleet, when they were first introduced to main line service, in the 1970s.This is a story of troubleshooting, with many different types of modern traction over a period of twenty-five years, an insight in to the trials and tribulations of keeping the railway running, in all weathers and at all costs.Roger Senior later worked with electric traction, both before and after privatisation, on the East Coast main line, finishing his career with Great North Eastern Railway as the Resident Engineer for the refurbishment of the MK1V fleet known as the Mallard project.

The Type 3 Diesel Locomotive album comprises over 200, mainly unpublished, full sized colour photographs of four classes of British engines, developed in the earlier years of the Modernisation Plan.The Type 3 included four classes of locomotive of medium power output, which undertook a wide range of duties from Main line and local passenger services, various freight duties and departmental work. Several are still in use on the national network, and can be seen in various parts of the countryThe Book has been compiled by David Cable, who has authored a range of very successful colour albums for Pen and Sword Books Ltd. The photos illustrate the many duties and colour schemes of the classes in a variety of locations and colour schemes of the classes in a variety of locations, using largely unpublished photographs from his extensive collection.

When British Railways (BR) initiated its Modernization Plan in 1954 it had little experience of diesel locomotives thus initiated a Pilot Scheme to trial combinations of the three elements comprised within a locomotive the engine, transmission and body.The initial orders for 174 locomotives were placed in November 1955, but even before the first locomotive had been delivered, changes in Government policy led to bulk orders for most designs being trailed. It was only in 1968, once steam traction had been removed from the network, that BR was able to review the success, or otherwise, of its diesel fleet and decide which designs to withdraw from service.The nascent preservation movement of the time was concerned to preserve steam locomotives whilst only buying diesel shunting locomotives for support roles on heritage lines and it wasnt until 1977 that any effort was made to preserve main line diesels. Once it was confirmed that diesel locomotives had an appeal to enthusiasts, further purchases were made that resulted in examples of most of the BR diesel classes being represented within the preservation movement.Fred Kerrs book details those classes which are represented on heritage lines, identifies where possible their location as of December 2016, shows many of them at work and shows what is involved in the restoration, maintenance and operation of diesel locomotives by the volunteers whose efforts are vital but rarely acknowledged.Some of the preserved locomotives were bought for possible use on the national network and this was facilitated by the Railways Bill 1993. A complementary album of preserved and heritage locomotives titled Heritage Traction on the Main Line details the locomotive classes whose representatives are still in regular use on the national network as at December 2016 and follows a similar format to this album.

In the prelude to the privatisation of BR the Provincial Sector (later Regional Railways) became responsible for local / secondary train services and initiated the refurbishment of 31 Class 37 locomotives, fitted with train heating equipment – hence designated Class 37/4 - to support the shortfall of DMU trainsets. Their initial task was to work services on Scottish lines radiating from Inverness to points north and Glasgow to service the West Highland Line with a small batch based in South Wales to service Cambrian Line services and services from Cardiff traversing the Marches Line to serve Liverpool. These services were soon replaced by Sprinter trainsets thus releasing the fleet to other duties including freight operators hence, at privatisation in April 1994, the fleet became owned by freight companies who subsequently hired locomotives to both other freight companies and passenger operators. Throughout their working life the fleet members have proved invaluable and capable of powering a variety of services whose history confirms both the locomotives’ adaptability and prowess in handling the duties allocated to them. Fred Kerr’s book seeks to show this adaptability by detailing the reason for their initial creation and the tasks successfully undertaken once released from their initial roles as support for the shortage of DMU trainsets. The advent of privatisation saw an increased demand for their ‘go-anywhere do anything’ ability which is also displayed by the range of photographs that illustrate the wide range of duties performed by class members. Once withdrawn from service some class members were purchased for preservation and – such was their adaptability – that preserved examples were hired by train operators to cover duties that no other class of diesel locomotive was capable of achieving.

As British Rail approached modernisation of its locomotive fleet in the mid-50s, there was two competing means of using diesel engines as main-line locomotives - hydraulic and electric. This title explores the history of the standard classes that emerged after the victory of the diesel-electric school.

This informative, illustrated guide to the British Railways locomotive series covers its full production lifespan, from 1962–1965. In the early 1960s, the Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotive known as The Clayton was conceived as the new standard for British Railways, superseding other Type 1 classes. While the early classes suffered from poor driver visibility, the Claytons were highly successful and popular with operating crews. However, the largely untested high-speed, flat Paxman engines proved to be highly problematic. As a result, the Claytons were eventually withdrawn from BR service by December 1971. Anthony Sayer draws on considerable amounts of archive material to tell the full story of these ‘Standard Type 1’ locomotives and the issues surrounding their rise and fall. Further sources provide insights into the effort and money expended on the Claytons in a desperate attempt to improve their reliability. Supported by over 280 photographs and diagrams, dramatic new insights into this troubled class have been assembled for both historians and modelers alike.

This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of the evolution of freight services and the ‘Rise and Fall’ of the local goods train, from the early days to the modern privatized railway and from the steam age to today’s modern traction era, with particular emphasis on the British Railways years from 1948 to 1997.

• The first detailed study of this huge mainline through its operational history • Features extended commentaries from the authors, rich in detail • Superbly illustrated with black and white photographs, many never seen before In this second and final volume, the whole of the East Coast Main Line between King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley stations is examined closely, with a particular emphasis on the ways and structures: the line, stations, connections, yards, and other physical features. Interposed are accounts of the traffic at the principal stations – including connecting and branch line services – with observations on changes over the period 1939 to 1959. Some emphasis is placed on freight traffic on account of its importance and, perhaps, its relative unfamiliarity to the reader. The lines, stations and many other elements are described as they were in August 1939, but as some plans on which they are based are dated before the late 1930s, there may be marginal differences from the precise layout in 1939.