DIESELS IN DEPTH: Westerns

As a result of the BR Modernisation Plan of 1955, the decision was taken to phase out all of BR’s steam locomotives and replace them with diesel or electric traction. Whilst most of the replacement main-line diesel locomotives were constructed with electric transmission, for the Western Region it was decided to adopt hydraulic transmission, based upon post-war German technology. Three classes of main-line locomotive, the ‘Warships’, ‘Hymeks’ and ‘Westerns’, were the result. Introduced in 1961 and built between then and 1964, the 74 members of the ‘Western’ class proved to be highly successful, and during their career engendered a great following amongst the enthusiast fraternity. The ‘Westerns’ replaced steam on many of the WR’s most prestigious express trains, but were also to be found on more mundane duties, including china clay trains in the West Country, parcels trains out of Paddington and commuter services to Oxford. However, as with a number of other diesel classes, the reduction in the number of locomotives required as a result of the decline in the size of the railway industry resulted in the last of the type being withdrawn in 1977, amidst scenes highly reminiscent of the final demise of steam almost a decade earlier. It was, undoubtedly, the ‘Western’ class that helped to generate the interest witnessed today in the first-generation diesel locomotives operated on British Rail.

With the model railway market growing, the needs of the enthusiast and modeller for more detailed information grows in parallel. Our new ‘Diesels in Detail’ series provides a comprehensive and detailed guide to the locomotive class featured. In this, the third volume in the series, David Clarke provides a useful reference work for the modeller and historian on these popular locomotives. The book includes detailed 4mm scale drawings along with a comprehensive selection of both colour and mono photographs that illustrate the considerable variety of liveries carried by the locomotives during their careers and the detail differences that marked out each individual locomotive at particular dates.