most unattractive looking BR diesels

[43096]

I think I read recently that the DB versions were designed so that the engines and transmissions were interchangeable, so a Paxman engine could be changed out for an MAN, or a Voith transmission for a Mekydro, but that this had proved impossible within the more restrictive BR loading gauge, so there had to be two distinct classes - Paxman/Mekydro (Class 42) and MAN/Voith (North British). This also meant than when the MAN engines proved to be less than perfect, they couldn't be changed for Paxmans.

The BR built Warships (class 42) were all Maybach engines with Mekydro transmissions, with one exception. The exception was D830 which had Paxman Ventura engines.

 

[Morayshire]

I always liked the nose of the Class 37s and other similar EE classes. To my eyes, it gave them a sense of purpose. Hate the look of the Class 47s though. They just look horrible to my eyes.

 

[D6130]

I think I read recently that the DB versions were designed so that the engines and transmissions were interchangeable, so a Paxman engine could be changed out for an MAN, or a Voith transmission for a Mekydro, but that this had proved impossible within the more restrictive BR loading gauge, so there had to be two distinct classes - Paxman/Mekydro (Class 42) and MAN/Voith (North British). This also meant than when the MAN engines proved to be less than perfect, they couldn't be changed for Paxmans.

IIRC the class 42 Warships had Maybach engines....with the exception of D830, which was experimentally fitted with Paxman's.

 

[gg1]

Class 43 HST always looked beautiful to me. I also quite like the 50s.

In the case of the 50s, I thought they looked a lot better post refurbishment. The front doesn't look quite right without the headlight, and the roof recess wasn't especially attractive. They're definitely my favourite of all the classes I'm old enough to have seen in operation outside of preservation.

The HST powercars are a design that I think has aged very well, the 15 years younger class 91s look far more dated to me.

I also quite liked the previously mentioned Western, Warships and Hymeks but my favourite in terms of looks was Kestrel.

 

[D1537]

The Class 31 (31018/D5500) on display at Locomotion actually has a sentence on its description board saying that 31s were nicknamed "Goyles" after the work gargoyles, for their ugly looks.

I can't remember if it actually uses the word "ugly", but it definitely implies it if it doesn't!

 

[Sun Chariot]

The Class 31 (31018/D5500) on display at Locomotion actually has a sentence on its description board saying that 31s were nicknamed "Goyles" after the work gargoyles, for their ugly looks.

I can't remember if it actually uses the word "ugly", but it definitely implies it if it doesn't!

The pilot (31/0) twenty also well known as "Toffee Apples", due to the shape of their master control handles.
In the 80s, we called 31/4s "Ped Goyles" - but I can't for the life of me remember what Ped meant!

 

[Tetragon213]

In the case of the 50s, I thought they looked a lot better post refurbishment. The front doesn't look quite right without the headlight, and the roof recess wasn't especially attractive. They're definitely my favourite of all the classes I'm old enough to have seen in operation outside of preservation.

The HST powercars are a design that I think has aged very well, the 15 years younger class 91s look far more dated to me.

I also quite liked the previously mentioned Western, Warships and Hymeks but my favourite in terms of looks was Kestrel.

The 50s definitely look better with the headlight. As for the Westerns and Warships, I'm oddly not a fan of them at all, though I still prefer those over the 15!

 

[Ashley Hill]

but I can't for the life of me remembe what Ped meant

Pedal Cars I think.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Pedal Cars I think.

Pedal power.
The only way to shift 'em whenever they failed

 

[Ashley Hill]

I’ve always liked 31s,the design is very much of its time. The cab is well laid out and comfortable, unlike the doorway in the engine room which is too small (for me anyway).

 

[gg1]

In the 80s, we called 31/4s "Ped Goyles" - but I can't for the life of me remember what Ped meant!

Pedal Cars I think.

I though it mas moped.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I though it mas moped.

As in, that's how fast they managed with the ETH on? Or the splutter?

 

[gg1]

As in, that's how fast they managed with the ETH on? Or the splutter?

Probably a bit of both

 

[Harpo]

Pedal Cars I think.

Heard that term used in East Anglia.

 

[D6130]

I though it mas moped.

I thought it was an abbreviation for 'pedestrian'....which was an accurate description of their acceleration.

 

[Sunil_P]

The Class 28 Bo-Cos and their asymmetric weirdness...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Modern ones yes, but surely not the likes of these:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/c7/26/aec7267f2a3f3435d53c1b8da1f51b73.jpg

(Link to an image - not mine - of EMD E-unit diesels in Santa Fe Warbonnet livery)

If only some of the early modernisation plan locos could have looked like that!

That's why I said most North American diesels... and I was mostly referring to later designs. The "car body" types (if that's the correct term) such as the example you gave look much more elegant, though they'd have a job on to look any worse than more typical US diesels!

I'd argue that the LMS twins and the prototype Deltic did have a very North American look about them, being not a million miles away from a dual-cab version of an E unit. Peaks also look as though they were slightly influenced from over the pond. I'm certainly glad we didn't persist with single-cab designs for the most part. One saving grace of our restricted loading gauge is that the 59s and 66s had to come in more of a "bespoke" package, rather than just being an off-the-shelf EMD SD-40 with a second cab bolted on.

The pilot (31/0) twenty also well known as "Toffee Apples", due to the shape of their master control handles.
In the 80s, we called 31/4s "Ped Goyles" - but I can't for the life of me remember what Ped meant!

31s certainly aren't short of nicknames! I've heard some refer to the locos which lacked headcode boxes above the cabs (which may have been the same 20 pilot scheme examples with the "toffee apple" controls) as "skinheads".
Ped being short for "pedestrian" was also my understanding, if we're comparing notes!

 

[EyeKay]

31s certainly aren't short of nicknames! I've heard some refer to the locos which lacked headcode boxes above the cabs (which may have been the same 20 pilot scheme examples with the "toffee apple" controls) as "skinheads".

Similarly in my area, the early 24s without roof boxes were called “skinhead sulzers”.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I thought it was an abbreviation for 'pedestrian'....which was an accurate description of their acceleration.

Ah that's the one I heard in the 1980s.

 

[Harpo]

In the 80s, we called 31/4s "Ped Goyles" - but I can't for the life of me remember what Ped meant!

Alongside jokes about their heat/haul selector. (There wasn’t one.)

A friend tells of a Stratford driver cussing about one until it was pointed out that he was doing 93mph. And that they’d just passed Harlow Mill. And had a booked stop at Harlow Town. A couple of choice words and full service followed.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The BR built Warships (class 42) were all Maybach engines with Mekydro transmissions, with one exception. The exception was D830 which had Paxman Ventura engines.

My mistake - corrected

31s certainly aren't short of nicknames! I've heard some refer to the locos which lacked headcode boxes above the cabs (which may have been the same 20 pilot scheme examples with the "toffee apple" controls) as "skinheads".

The 31/0s were not the only "skinhead" class 31s. Note the blue star coupling code in tghe example below. This is 31106 (nee D5524)

As built, twenty 31/1s (D5520–29/35/39/42/47/51/52/55/56/59/62) had no headcode boxes, but some cabs were swapped during the class's history following accidents - at least one example (D5639, aka 31219) ended up having a headcode panel at one end only.

31215

Brush built class 31 loco 31215 built as D5639

www.flickr.com

D5518 (31101) had them fitted when it was converted to class 31/1 specification during accident repairs.

 

[43096]

Ah that's the one I heard in the 1980s.

"Brians" was another name for them - after Brian the snail on Magic Roundabout.

 

[D1537]

I thought it was an abbreviation for 'pedestrian'....which was an accurate description of their acceleration.

That was certainly our definition of their nickname in the 80s!

 

[gg1]

at least one example (D5639, aka 31219) ended up having a headcode panel at one end only.

There was a thread on that subject a few years ago, there were quite a few examples of locos which ended up with a different style cab/nose at either end:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-locos-with-different-cabs-at-each-end.210009/

 

[Taunton]

I think I read recently that the DB versions were designed so that the engines and transmissions were interchangeable, so a Paxman engine could be changed out for an MAN, or a Voith transmission for a Mekydro, but that this had proved impossible within the more restrictive BR loading gauge, so there had to be two distinct classes

Indeed. DB locos often ended up with one of each. Incidentally, although described by German manufacturer names this only applied to the basic design - the MAN engines were physically built by North British in Glasgow, and the Maybachs by Bristol Siddeley in Coventry. A number of the technical issues with these were not experienced by the German-built ones.

The Paxman-engined D830 could be identified from the others by sound, it was about an octave higher.

 

[Sun Chariot]

"Brians" was another name for them - after Brian the snail on Magic Roundabout.

Oh yes! That one I remember too. Thanks for reminding me!

Class 58 - looks like a school group project gone wrong.

The much maligned Eggtimer / Bone. When they came out in 1982, I recall thinking it must be an April Fool joke. Then one rolled past my school, during an English lesson - and several of us used a few lurid English Language phrases at it...

 

[Strathclyder]

Modern ones yes, but surely not the likes of these:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/c7/26/aec7267f2a3f3435d53c1b8da1f51b73.jpg

(Link to an image - not mine - of EMD E-unit diesels in Santa Fe Warbonnet livery)

If only some of the early modernisation plan locos could have looked like that!

The GM/EMD E & F ranges, the Baldwin Sharknoses (particularly the RF-16), the Fairbanks-Morse streamliners (Erie-Built & C-Liners) and the Alco PA/FA are the best looking of the early North American diesels and some of the best-looking period imho. The early streamliners couldn't be further removed from the likes of the GE U-Boats & EMD's GP7, SD40-2 etc. If you want a unhappy/ungainly looking American diesel from the early years, look no further than EMD's BL2.

For some time, I've been aware of an incredible site (Railroad Picture Archives) stuffed full of old-school North American diesel pics (late 40s on), though my eye has fallen squarely on the Pennsylvania Railroad (following on from pics, given they operated streamliners from every major diesel loco builder in the mid-late 40s through to the early/mid 60s (GM/EMD, Alco, Baldwin & Fairbanks-Morse). These images - all part of the Thomas C. Ayers collection - best illustrate the latter three at work. While PRR Black is not the most photogenic livery (especially compared to those Santa-Fe EMDs!), the lines of these machines still manages to come through pretty well.

Fairbanks-Morse CF-16 (C-Liner): resembles a EMD if you were to squint, but it has enough of it's own distinct differences to set it apart.


Fairbanks-Morse FF-20 (Erie-Built): perhaps the fussiest/messiest of the bunch, in terms of the side-panels/grilles


Alco FA-1: a design classic in it's own right. While not terribly successful, Alco's offering is tied with the Baldwin Sharks in terms of aesthetics for me.


Baldwin RF-16 & BP-20 aka Sharks or Sharknoses: among the most attractive diesels ever to run state-side. Criminal that only two of these (RF-16s) survive today.


All 4 builders side-by-side in profile (more or less)

 

[Pigeon]

I think I read recently that the DB versions were designed so that the engines and transmissions were interchangeable, so a Paxman engine could be changed out for an MAN, or a Voith transmission for a Mekydro, but that this had proved impossible within the more restrictive BR loading gauge, so there had to be two distinct classes - PaxmanMaybach/Mekydro (Class 42 - one had a Paxman engine) and MAN/Voith (North British). This also meant than when the MAN engines proved to be less than perfect, they couldn't be changed for Paxmans.

They were supposed to be interchangeable, but they cocked up the position of the mounting points as a result of having two different builders, so only the original combination would fit. This kind of half-ruined the proposed unit-replacement maintenance scheme before it could get started.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Any bonnetted diesel with split headcodes

 

[Stathern Jc]

It might just be me, but I can't believe that we've got well into the 3rd page of this thread without any mention of the 66s.

(Ah! Perhaps that's why the title of the thread refers to "BR Diesels"!)