The Hydraulic era

The end of the 1950's saw a significant change in the type of locomotive that would be used on the western Region of British railways. The hydraulic era was upon us.

The hydraulics played a major part in the decline and eventual withdrawal of steam power on the Western Region. They can broadly be put into 5 classes. The two North British built classes, the D600 Warship class and the D6300 Baby Warship class. The D800 Warship Class, the D7000 Hymek and the D1000 Western classes.

The first of these the D600 class were shortlived. Built in the late 1950's there were just 5 of them, and they were all withdrawn by 1967. Two ended up at Woodham brothers on Barry dock where they remained for several years.The last of them cut up in 1980. The other 3 were disposed of by Cashmores in Newport.

The D6300 baby warship class faired a little better, introduced in 1959 they were soon to be outshone by the developing D800 Warship class. The first withdrawals took place in 1967, but in the early 1970's due to the lack of locomotives available, a reprieve was given. However by 1972 all had been withdrawn. There are no surviving examples of this or the D600 classes.

1956 saw the introduction of 3 prototype D800 warship class locomotives. D800-D802. The locomotive was similar in design to a German locomotive. So sure were British railways of their reliability, in February 1957 they ordered another 30 locomotives of the class, this was even before D800 had been built. Then in July 1958 when D800 was undergoing trials, a further 33 locomotives were ordered. The last orders came in 1959. They began work almost exclusively on the London to Penzance and London to Bristol services. They were reliable locomotives, but the first withdrawals came in 1968 when the original 3 prototypes were withdrawn. 1971 saw a further 45 locomotives withdrawn followed by 9 more in 1972. Three of these nine were re-instated that same year due to the locomotive shortage, but it was short lived. Toward the end the surviving members of the class were running in poor condition, many with nameplates missing. By the end of 1972 all were withdrawn. D832 Onslaught being the last one. There are 2 surviving examples of the class.

1959 also saw the first order for the D7000 Hymek class. named after their Hydraulic status (HY) and the that supplied their transmission Mekydro, (MEK) these Beyer Peakcock built locomotives came onto the railway scene with a bang. Like the Warship, British railways was so confident in their relaibility, that in July 1960 they ordered a further batch, this was 10 months before the first batch even came into service. At £80,000 each they were not cheap. In May 1961, amidst great pomp and ceremony the first of the class D7000 was handed over to British railways at a ceremony at Paddington station. In December 1961 the final batch were ordered. In 1966 Beyer Peacock closed down and spare parts for the class and other classes became difficult to obtain. Many of the locomotives were cannibalised to keep sister engines going. In september 1971 the first withdrawals took place when 12 were taken out of service. Another 72 went the following year leaving just 10 in service at the start of 1973. 1974 saw 4 more withdrawn and then by february 1975 two were left. These were withdrawn in  March of that year. There are 4 surviving members of the class.

And so onto the most famous of the hydraulic fleet, the Class 52,s D1000 Western Class. The first batch were ordered in 1959 and like the D800 Warship class were similar in design to a German counterpart. The construction was split between Crewe works and Swindon Works. Originally D1000 - D1034 were to  be built at Swindon, and D1035 - D1073 at Crewe. However, due to pressure of other business at Swindon eventually only D1000 - D1029 were built there. All remaining locomotives were Crewe built. They were introduced in a variety of colour schemes which went to vote, and Maroon was the chosen colour following this vote. Trials on the locomotive started in Plymouth Laira sheds in 1961. On trial at the same time was prototype class 47 D0280 Falcon. They did remarkably well during the trials, however even at this early stage the writing was already on the wall for hydraulic powered locomotives. In 1973 the first 2 were taken out of service and this was followed by a further 11 in 1974. 18 more followed in 1975 leaving just 34 in service at the end of that year. 27 were withdrawn in 1976 leaving just 7 now in service. In January 1977 two of the surviving members were withdrawn and finally on the 28th february that same year, the remaining 5 locomotives were withdrawn from service. This not only ended the Western era, but also the Hydraulic era. There are 7 members of the class in preservation today.