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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton LMS Route: Rugby to
Leamington LMS Route: Rugby to Tamworth LMS Route: Rugby to
Leicester LMS Route: Rugby to Market Harborough
Rugby Station: lnwrrm2521
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A pair of unidentified English Electric Type 1 diesel
locomotives are seen heading an up freight train beneath the GC bridge. These
locomotives belong to a class of two hundred and twenty-eight diesel-electric
locomotive which were built by English Electric Vulcan Foundry (135) and Robert
Stephenson & Hawthorn Ltd (93) between 1957 and 1968. The locomotives were
originally numbered D8000D8199 and D8300D8327. Designed around
relatively basic technology, the 73-tonne locomotives produced 1,000 horsepower
and could operate up to 75 mph. Designed to work light mixed freight traffic,
they had no train heating facilities. Locomotives D8000 to D8127 were fitted
with disc indicators in the style of the steam lamp headcodes. When headcodes
were introduced in 1960 the design was changed to incorporate headcode boxes.
Whilst older locomotives were not retrofitted with headcode boxes, a few of the
earlier batch acquired headcode boxes as a result of repairs. Unusually for
British designs, the locomotive had a single cab. This caused serious problems
with visibility when travelling nose first, though in these circumstances the
driver's view is comparable to that on the steam locomotives that the Type 1's,
later classified under TOPs as Class 20s, replaced. They are known by railway
enthusiasts as "Choppers", a name derived from the distinctive beat that the
engine produces under load which resembles the sound of a helicopter.
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