How To Fix Bad Locomotive Designs

Chapter 4: BR Class 17

It's no secret: British Rail sucks. Especially during the modernisation plan. The signals often were on the frits, the switches didn't want to work properly, and the majority of the diesels that were to "replace all steam locomotives in one sweep" wouldn't even work half of the time. One of these examples were the Class 17s.

These lemons were built from 1962 to 1965, having a short production time, and in total a woopen 117 Class 17s were built. But they had a design flaw: their engines were a pair of Paxman 6ZHXL six-cylinder horizontal engines, which had been intended for powering railcars, not normal diesels.

The locomotives were assigned to the north of Britain and the Scottish Region, where they failed miserably. They often over heated, so it was determined that the locomotive was not suited to heavy freight trains, and they quickly acquired a reputation for unreliability largely due to the engines, which continued to deliver poor performance even after extensive modifications.

Withdrawals took place from the late 1960s to 1971, some locomotives having a working life of less than five years. Several were sold to industrial users; only one example has been preserved.

After withdrawal in 1971, D8568 went on to see industrial use at Hemelite, Hemel Hempstead and at Ribblesdale Cement, Clitheroe, and was then secured for preservation. It is often based at the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway, but is currently at the Severn Valley Railway following an extensive overhaul.

The class was also shown in an episode of Thomas and Friends. The locomotive was named Derek, and worked with Bill and Ben in "Teething Troubles," broke down, and was towed to the works by the twins.

So, how do we fix this these British Rail lemons? The simplest way yet: give them different engines. The Paxman 6ZHXL six-cylinder horizontal engines were no good, and if British Rail replace these with better engines, they would've operated much better.

Till next time