LMS Route: Trent Valley Line

LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Nuneaton Station: lnwrns3799

British Railways Class 08 D3055 is seen shunting on Nuneaton up goods hump in the 1960s. The Class 08 design was based on the LMS 12033 series (later TOPS Class 11) design. There were also twenty-six of the near-identical but higher-geared Class 09, and one hundred and seventy-one similar locomotives fitted with different engines and transmissions (some of which became Class 10), which together brought the total number of outwardly-similar machines to one thousand one hundred and ninety-three. The pioneer locomotive, No 13000, was built in 1952 although it did not enter service until 1953. Production of the class continued until 1962 with nine hundred and ninety six locomotives being produced, making it the most numerous of all British locomotive classes. As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, almost any duty requiring shunting would involve a Class 08. The class became a familiar sight at many major stations and freight yards. Since their introduction some sixty years ago at the time of writing, the nature of rail traffic in Britain has changed considerably. Freight trains are now mostly fixed rakes of wagons, and passenger trains are mostly multiple units, neither requiring the attention of a shunting locomotive. Consequently, a large proportion of the class has been withdrawn from mainline use and stored, scrapped, exported or sold to industrial or heritage railways.

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