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Shortest-lived rolling stock

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Bob Price

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Some one said we can't count the prototypes which is a shame as the 151's sprang straight to my mind. Then there was Falcon, Kestrel, Lion and DP2. And the GWR Gas Turbine thing.

BTW don't forget some of the old locos ended up in the departmental fleet hence why there is a 15, a Clayton and a CoBo in preservation.
 
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Strathclyder

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Interesting the 82s and 83s lasted that long into the eighties; I say that as despite several visits to Stafford from around 1983-85 I never saw examples of either. I do recall 81s though, primarily on freight or unadvertised passenger services. What services were using them by that stage?
A few examples of both classes (two 82s and a total of 3 83s) were used on ECS duties between Euston & Willesden TMD. The last active examples of each class of Roarer - bar the 84s - saw out the last years of their mainline career on this duty (two 85s briefly saw use on similar duties in Manchester & Liverpool in 1991).

BTW don't forget some of the old locos ended up in the departmental fleet hence why there is a 15, a Clayton and a CoBo in preservation.

A minor point of correction here: the sole preserved Clayton (D8568) never saw use in BR's departmental fleet. Consulting my copy of Anthony P. Sayer's book on the 17s, D8568 was sold into industrial use in September 1972 after withdrawal from service the previous October.

Three Claytons (D8512, D8521 & D8598) did end up in the Railway Techincal Centre (RTC)'s fleet (8512 & 8598 for mainline use, 8521 for static use) throughout the 70s (8512 first, later replaced by 8598), but none were spared the cutter's torch in the end; perhaps you were thinking of 8598?
 
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Peter Sarf

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"The 4-SUB story" by Brian Rayner and the Southern Electric Group. About 40 years old but he's a pretty informed author. One of the things it described is just how old-fashioned the various auxiliaries were compared to the EPBs that followed. I certainly remember myself getting off a train at Earlsfield in about 1984 and being amazed that an electric service was being sent off at each stop with a green flag.

"4 Sub" Story: Amazon.co.uk: Rayner, Bryan W., Brown, David, Southern Electric Group: 9780906988091: Books
I seem to recall the 4SUBs did not even have speedometers ?.
 
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Some one said we can't count the prototypes which is a shame as the 151's sprang straight to my mind. Then there was Falcon, Kestrel, Lion and DP2. And the GWR Gas Turbine thing.

BTW don't forget some of the old locos ended up in the departmental fleet hence why there is a 15, a Clayton and a CoBo in preservation.
There were two GWR Gas-Turbine locomotives - a Swiss-built 18000 and a MetroVick 18100.

18000 spent a few years in service before being sent back to Switzerland in 1960 for experimental work there for another 10 tears. However the locomotive returned to the UK for preservation around 1994.

18100 was converted to electric locomotive and became E2001 in the late 1950s. It was withdrawn in 1961 and was scrapped in 1972.

There was another gas turbine - GT3 - and only lasted a year in service and was scrapped a year later.

On the Glasgow Subway, when trailers cars (built in 1898) were lengthened in around 1910, some trailers were scrapped by 1914 and this means that it only lasted 14 years!
 
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norbitonflyer

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. And the GWR Gas Turbine thing.
Both of them.
18100 was converted to an electric loco (E2001) in 1958 and scrapped ten years later.
18000 was returned to its Swiss builders in 1960 and used in various experiments. It is now an unpowered exhibit at the Didcot Railway Centre.
 

Sm5

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Anyone mentioned DHP1 ?

Eurostar 3308 has been out of service for years before it went to the NRM.
 

Recessio

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Class 424 "Electrostar Classic", don't think it even saw revenue service.

Was a one-off prototype though, so doesn't really count, especially as built onto a Class 421 slam-door frame that had done decades of service!
 

Bikeman78

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Anyone mentioned DHP1 ?

Eurostar 3308 has been out of service for years before it went to the NRM.
Did all the short Eurostars run in passenger service? I know several sets ran with GNER but I don't think they all did. Didn't some run for SNCF for a few years on TGV routes?
 

JKF

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Maybe a thread could be started on which U.K. classes survived the longest time with their numbers intact, with or without accident damage? Perhaps qualify it with having at least ten class members so long-lasting one-offs aren‘t unfairly disadvantaged.

I think it would be hard to beat one international example I know of, the Portuguese 2-4-6-0 metre gauge henschels E201-E216, out of the class of 16 built 1911-1923 all still survive, although some are in a pretty rotten state.
 

etr221

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The stock that I am surprised has not been mentioned is the Southern Railway's CW stock, for extension of the ex-LBSCR AC OH electrification to Coulsdon and Wallington: built in 1923/24, electric service inaugurated 1925-04-01, last AC train 1929-09-22 - so less than 4 and half years service...

Although all - or virtually all - were rebuilt for further sevice in dc third rail units, or other service, and some had earlier been used as steam stock, perhaps a record for a significant fleet (c20 sets) intended for long (though truncated by change of policy) service.
 

43021HST

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The C08 carriages had a very short life, being built in 2008 to replace damaged C69/77 stock cars from the London 7/7 bombings, being withdrawn around 2013/14

*edited to remove comments basically saying the same thing up-thread

I believe there were some GWR Broad gauge locos with a 2 year lifespan although they were rebuilt as standard gauge.
 
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Harvester

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9F 92220 Evening Star only had a service life of 5 years, and now a considerably longer one on preservation. As a complete shot in the dark and I'm going to suggest that 9f 92217 had the shortest overall life of any BR steam engine (not including accident damage) of 6 years and 6 months. Unlike Evening Star and and 92218 it's not been preserved, 92219 managed to linger on until 1968. Although maybe there were broad gauge engines with even shorter life spans.
9F 92210 lasted 5 years 3 months (Aug 1959-Sep 1964)
Pannier 9499 only 4 years 2 months (July 1955-Sep 1959)

This has been mentioned up thread.
 

Matt Taylor

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Maybe a thread could be started on which U.K. classes survived the longest time with their numbers intact, with or without accident damage? Perhaps qualify it with having at least ten class members so long-lasting one-offs aren‘t unfairly disadvantaged.

I think it would be hard to beat one international example I know of, the Portuguese 2-4-6-0 metre gauge henschels E201-E216, out of the class of 16 built 1911-1923 all still survive, although some are in a pretty rotten state.

Well we could start with with Class 158/159 which are still complete-at least for now. 158872 was delivered in 1992 and 159022 in 1993 so getting on for thirty years. Similar dates for Class 91 provided we ignore the 91023/91132 renumbering.
 
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A Class 158 vehicle was written-off in July 1992 and had to obtain a replacement vehicle, the unit involved was 158861.

52209 (150209) and 52212 (150212), both DMSL vehicles, didn't last even long, being on separate accidents in the late 1980s. Their orphaned DMS vehicles, 57209 and 57212, were both used as centre cars on different Class 150/1 units at various times. Both DMS vehicles even formed as unit 150209 on Northern until recently.
 

bramling

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A Class 158 vehicle was written-off in July 1992 and had to obtain a replacement vehicle, the unit involved was 158861.

52209 (150209) and 52212 (150212), both DMSL vehicle, didn't last even long, being on separate accidents in the late 1980s. Their orphaned DMS vehicles, 57209 and 57212, were both used as centre cars on different Class 150/1 units to create 3-car sets at various times. Both DMS vehicles even formed as unit 150209 on Northern until recently.

153, 155 & 156 should be in with a shout though. The latter two remain fully intact, and the 153 fleet was until 153302 was scrapped this year.

On LU, D stock lasted from start to finish without losing any vehicles, though their lifespan wasn't one of the longest. None of the current LU stocks are likely to take the title for a while, 72 & 73 stocks have both suffered losses (indeed one 73 stock vehicle never entered service), whilst 92, 95, 96 and S stocks are still fairly modern, though the 92 stock is now pushing on 30 years and is fully intact.

Tyne & Wear Metro also did well, only having lost one unit fairly recently.
 

norbitonflyer

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Class 455? All units still present and correct nearly 40 years on, albeit two of them have replacement intermediate cars
 
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