Fred Kerr
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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...
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Scotland is renowned worldwide for its engineering prowess, which of course included locomotive building. This lavishly illustrated and detailed publication celebrates standard gauge steam locomotive building North of the Border. Focussing not only on the achievements of the major companies, North British Locomotive Co Ltd, Neilson & Co Ltd, Neilson Reid & Co Ltd, William Bearmore Ltd, Sharp Stewart & Co Ltd,and Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd it also...
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When British Railways initiated its Modernisation Plan in 1955, its Western Region elected to trial locomotive designs with hydraulic transmission whilst BR encouraged designs with electric transmission. The Western Region felt that the lighter weight of 78 tons for a diesel hydraulic locomotive producing 2000 hp, compared to an equivalent weight of 132 tons for a diesel electric locomotive producing 2000 hp, would better meet BR's requirement for...
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The Patriot class, often referred to as 'Baby Scots', were an immediate success displaying consistently good performance. The class was withdrawn over a two year period between 1960 and 1962 having all covered around 1.3 million miles each, unfortunately too early to be considered for preservation. The last two withdrawn were in good condition on withdrawal, but unfortunately all were scrapped.
Although no Patriot in either rebuilt or unbuilt forms...
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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...
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In an earlier album titled BR Diesel Locomotives in Preservation Fred Kerr detailed the many classes of BR diesel locomotives that had been preserved and noted that some purchases had been made with the hope of operating them on the national network.
The Railways Bill 1993 provided an opportunity for this to happen and this album shows such locomotives at work during the early part of the 21st century up to December 2016. During this period many...
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When British Railways (BR) was privatised in April 1994 a series of passenger franchises was created that included services on both the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and competing West Coast Main Line (WCML) routes. The WCML franchise was won by Virgin Trains and it quickly set about improving service by introducing a range of standard trainsets to replace the variety of traction fleets that it had inherited. It also became a constant critic of Government...
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You didn't just meet with Fred Dinah you were instinctively drawn close to him, his larger than life personality was truly infectious and his communication skills second to none. Fred had the uncanny and somewhat unique knack of talking through a TV camera so that the viewer actually felt a personal contact with him. The Bolton born steeplejack became nationally known and loved following a series of TV programs. Although an admirer of all things,...
9) Class 66
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A two-decade pictorial history of the British locomotive class and its "jack of all trades" design.
When British Railways (BR) was privatised in April 1994 some of the freight companies were bought by English Welsh Scottish Railways (EWSR), which immediately reviewed the mixed locomotive fleet and led to the decision to purchase 250 locomotives from General Motors (USA), based on that company's earlier Class 59 design supplied to Foster Yeoman in...