There's a story of a Rolls-Royce chap who made their famous radiator grills, who was walking along the road with a friend one day and said 'that's one of mine!'. He recognised his own work as opposed to that of others who worked for RR. The great days of British manufacturing.
I dont mean to be so offtopic but does someone know a trick to log back into an instagram account?? I was dumb lost the password. I appreciate any tips you can give me
As an American (YANK) LOL I FIND THAT LOCOMOTIVE A GOOD LOOKING EFFICIENT SIMPLE AND VERY SMART DESIGN !!! AND NOW CHINA MAKES JUNK TO SELL WORLDWIDE !!! (SAD AND INEXCUSABLE) ALL THE RELAYS ARE IN ONE CABINET ETC.. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. YOU BRITISH SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOURSELVES. BLOODY GOOD JOB MATE'S !!! ALL THE BEST !! FROM AMERICA.
I've never really liked class 31s but I must admit they did look rather smart in their original lined green livery. Certainly better than modern monstrosities like the class 68 and 70!
The Class 31 locomotives were in production in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Skinheads, Cybercons and Toffee Apples were nicknames given to the Class 31 locos built without roof mounted headcode boxes.
Toffee Apples were what became the class 31/0. They had non-standard electro-pneumatic control & one of the control levers had a large knob at the end which looked like a toffee apple, hence the nickname.
I worked at Finsbury Park TMD and these were my favourite loco to work on, unlike the 47s whose engines were filthy to work on due to the heavy carbonisation of the oil or the 55s that were slip hazards in the engine rooms and were nearly always hot.
Those opposing-piston "Deltic" engines must have been a maintenance nightmare, or was it the opposite ? Bus companies had to simplify their paint-schemes in the '50s to reduce maintenance costs against falling-revenue: did B.R. have to do the same, using spray-booths and thus getting rid of the men seen hand-painting the new "31s" in this video-clip ?
The sad thing is nowadays, we can't even build a lego wall without having to have a focus group, steering group, 100's of project managers, public enquiries and huge timescales and budgets which are never met, call centers and car washes are the future...sigh!
We still do build a lot of stuff (more cars than ever before), just that it's mostly foreign owned and using foreign IPR. Wish we still built locos instead of importing from Japan.
Gooch: 'we do it this way'; Stirling: 'this is how it's done''; Ivatt 'Ye do it this way': Gresley: 'lets' build it like this'. Then it all went wrong. Megalomaniac Thompson 'build it like this even though I'm told it's wrong' (and it was); Riddles 'I'm given an order and I'll provide'. Dieselisation - lets farm it off to other companies. Brush and co did wonderful work given the circumstances. From 1979: sod it all - let's farm it out - and asset-strip the infrastructure...
..and 2021 it`s closing, probably ending up a a retail park selling crap from the Far East. I visited these works in 1970 during my apprenticeship with BR and was amazed at the size of the Lathes and other machinery there. One lathe had a turbine rotor being machined and the machinist stood on the tool post operating it.
1968 was the last year for steam power on British mainlines. 1961 in America, 2005 in China. Eastern Germany never really stopped. They used what they had, steam, diesel and electric, all at the same period. Thier are still several countries using steam locomotives regularly, even today.
The Steam Engine still exists as the pinnacle of every western states technology. All they done was replace coal, with Uranium-238 to fill the boiler with juice 💦 And I ain’t wrong ☢️
The length of time these 1st generation diesels have been operating for is 50 or 60 years now! That's testament to their design. In the aeroplane world DC-3's using minimal upgrades will be flying in some cases 100 years in the next few decades. It just shows you. Ofcourse there are steam engines that have already achieved the century milestone already.
@@TheRip72 the Brush Type 2 (or Class 12/2 (originally the Class D12/2)) with either the 1250hp or 1365hp engines were allocated Class 30 when the TOPS classes were being allocated and Class 31 was allocated to the re-engine locomotives. As the TOPS classes were allocated in 2nd half if the 1960s many of the early diesel locomotives were given TOPS classes even though they never survived long enough to carry their new class numbers.
This of course,was when we had an Industrial base back in the sixties. Try looking for it today.....it`s impossible to imagine that we were once leaders in many industries throughout the world today. Still,never mind...we have China to thank,sending us all that we were making ourselves back then? Great piece of railway history...used to watch these 31`s pulling the Cambridge buffet every day...those were the day`s folks!
lol in America when I express that feeling of pride and self worth me and people who think like me get called racist. It's not racist to have pride in your country, it's heritage.
We have the same problem. Fortunately some of those of ethnic minorities are starting to wake up and realise we are all under threat.Yes it affects them. Yes it does.
soundnicetome you’ve got Thatcher to thank for the loss of our industry, China just took the opportunity to fill the gap. The tories in the eighties, as now, believe that blue collar jobs mean labour votes, something they don’t want. Hence the destruction of the shipbuilding, mining, railway and steel industries. Anyone that’s ever voted Tory has the blood of these industries on their hands.
@@jonjon9047 What a load of rubbish. UK manufacturing is as strong as ever, but it 's no longer focused on oily rags and metal bashing. Since Thatcher broke the stranglehold of the unions, great progress has been possible in industries like aerospace. Deep mining ended because surface transport advances made it cheaper to import surface-mined coal from US and Australia. If you want to blame Thatcher, you must account for all the deep mines in Germany, France and Belgium closing at the same time (incidentally saving a great deal of 'blood' from people's hands). But if you're keen to experience the dirt and danger of mining, I think they still have deep mines in Poland, assuming you're happy with Polish pay and conditions. It's your kind of Neanderthal mindset that risks putting Corbyn into No 10 and the real destruction of the country. What a moron.
In the 1960s they’d deliver the new locos by rail from Brum via Cambridge shed 31A then out to the eastern main line and on the Liverpool St GE lines to Stratford. Cambridge Shed was hard to get round (Jobsworths ) Stratford despite having bonded warehouses nearby was easier. Great video. took me back.
What a fantastic sound these Mirrlees power units had (assuming they used original sound in this film). Would it not be a great recreation project, sourcing one of these engines and put it back in a 31?
dover one foxtrot The same comments are made in Switzerland. In the case of trains, only one manufacturer remains, and people complain that the rest is made by Bombardier in Canada.
The New Eurostars are basically German ICE's (Siemens e320). And the HST replacements on the GWR are Japanese (Hitachi), although tbf the Class 395 Southeastern trains are also Japanese made.
One of the engines that worked well out of the mid 50s " Modernisation" programme . Quite a few designs from other companies were dropped rapidly though design faults , breakdowns and poor performance . They certainly lasted the course .
Had a relative who drove the original D550x series of Class 30/31's before they were withdrawn early because they were "non-standard". D5508 was "his loco"; Liverpool Street to Yarmouth South Town & back, stabled at Stratford. Later on, managed to travel over to Crewe TMD in early 1985 with him and a few over drivers before they had a cull of a number of locos there; I was in my teens whilst they were 60+. I ended up with a couple of toffee apple control keys from D5508 and (another loco that'll remain nameless) along with the carrying cases those control keys came with. All legal & above board as the Crewe TMD manager handed them over, along with sheet cuttings off other locos containing the TOPs numbers. Mind you, at least one loco survived. 14:06 - D5627 - aka 31203 - survived the cull of the 31's in the 1980/1990s and survives at The Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway - pic: static.wixstatic.com/media/1e71c3_cb302fdbbf8c486daacba76d19523e2e~mv2.jpg
Like no other class EVER had to have different engines fitted, eh? That they were still in service 60 years after being first built shows your post up as the cheap sneer it is. Pathetic.
The original version of this got a bit boring going on about the windings in the generaters and traction motors so I trimmed it down a bit but had to delete it because of copyright fears realy good film got lots of views and coments.
Supposedly couldn't pull the skin off rice pudding!, I would argue the panacea of British rail technology were the late 70's and late 80's, i.e. the HST, APT, 442 and 158/159 all fine machines (even if the APT was a bit too advanced to be reliable/ready for full production).
Indeed the Class 31 was so reliable they had to re-engine the whole fleet !!!! Originally fitted with a Mirless engine that BR kept uprating (from 1250hp to 1600hp) to the point where most suffered serious failure. They were then re-engined with a Sulzer 1470hp plant. Very nasty locos, always developed problems whenever I had to drive one. Indeed two in multiple proved to be double trouble, one summer Saturday. But at least they managed to happily coast all the way from Cullumpton to Exeter. Which was downhill all the way, and luckily I had a clear road right into St.David's. Where they were found to be both dead as door nails. Although being almost two hours late, I'm not sure the tourist passengers were too happy. Fortunately I was finished and off home !
No the Class 30 had the problems. The Class 31 wirh the EE powerplant proved to be reliable. You also missed D5507 which was delivered with a 1450hp Mirrlees engine and D5835 which had a 2,000hp engine.
I need to be stand corrected on this. I am sure that the power output of the Mirlees engine for the Brush Type 2 was 1,250bhp then 1,365bhp. Yet, I am sure that two members of the class was rated 1,600bhp and 2,000bhp.
Yes to 1600hp, but no to 2000hp. They abandoned this plan as the standard 1350hp engines were failing at an alarming rate; the original 1250hp engines were not prone to the same failures. As the more powerful engines were based on the 1350hp engines BR decided that they didn't want to risk the higher power Mirrlees engines.
Lea Fewell yes they also had their engines replaced even though the 1260hp engines of the pilot scheme locos were not suffering from fatigue failures. Class 30 was reserved for the Mirrlees engined locos, but they were all gone long before the locos were renumbered.
D5507 was delivered in April 1958 with a 1,470hp engine (achieved by increasing fuel delivery to the engine) for testing but soon reverted back to 1,260hp. The oilit scheme locomotives were the last re-engined with the EE 12SVT engines as their 1,250hp Mirrlees JVS12T engines were unaffected by the failures of the 1,365hp versions. D5545 was the first locomotive fitted with a 1,600hp engine and was fitted with modified cooling equipment, D5655 to D5670 were built to this standard. D5835 was fitte with the 2,000hp version of the original engine which needed a modified underfram built by Bagnall as well as additional ventilation grills on the A side at the number 2 end (when viewed from the number 1 or radiator end on non-symmetrical locomotives end the A side is always on the right). All of the production batchs of locomotives had their engines down rated in 1965 to 1,250hp except for D5835 which went straight to 1,470hp. The first locomotive to get the new engine was D5677.
I nearly bought one of these but couldnt find a railway that would let me leave her there to work on - end of line.☹ I love the H&S these days ( or rather the lack of it) bloke welding 4:12 right next to his mate who has no goggles or protection on FAG in his mouth🤣😂😅 9:11 British craftsmanship at its best - NO SPRAY GUNS in thise days - COACH PAINTED! I always wondered why the old locos shined like a Rolls Royce..........THAT is why , SUPERB.
The script is a bit off. The standard powerplants for the production series locomotives produced only 1365hp at 950rpm (the 30 pilot scheme locomotives were fitted with Mirrlees JVS12T engines produced ing 1250hp at 850rpm). Only D5545 nd D5635 to D5670 were produced with the 1600hp (950rpm) JVS12 engine. D5835 was intended to be built with a JVS12 engine producing 2000hp. However, the 1365hp engines were showing signs of fatigue failure n the fabricated engine housing and cylinder columns after running for only 500,000 miles and so all the higher powered engine trials were abandoned. Eventually all the locos, including the 20 pilot scheme locos, had their engines replaced with the EE 12SV engine producing 1470hp.
Those were the days when we had an industry and a happy low paid work force content with fish and chips on a Friday and footy match on Saturday, pruning roses outside ones smart council house on Sunday.
These locomotives are NOT Class 31 locomotives being built they are Brush Type 2 (class 30) locomotives. The class 31 only came into existence when the power units where replaced from Mirrlees Blackstone with English Electric power plants during 1964 History need to be changed to stop this missing piece of history being stated each and every time
When the locos were fitted with EE Power units in 1964 there was not yet known as the class 31. They were all classified as Brush type 2s (being reclassified as 31s round about 1967 onward.
@@PreservationEnthusiast Actually, the 30/31s have more examples in preservation than most other Diesel loco classes. A great locomotive, still going strong on many heritage railways. So, no, NOT "good riddance" at all!!
It states that the power unit was 1600hp. However, were the Mirrlees units not just 1,250hp or 1.350hp? Indeed, wasn't one reason for their eventual replacement with English Electric units, the fact that they were deemed to be underpowered?
There was at least one loco fitted with a 1600hp engine as an experiment. They even considered a 2000hp engine, but never proceeded with it as the 1350hp engines fitted as standard were beginning to fail alarmingly.
You know we always used to make our train, cars and other things ourselves nowadays we import all our stuff! i ask whats happened to us? weve gotten more lazy!
@Ben Conway like which side is the Front and which is back it has 2 cabs so which is the front cab and which id the back its one of those questions that keeps bugging me
The engines for the 31/0s were never as problemstical. It was the extra power for the 31/1s that cause fatigue problems lesding to the re-engining with a down-rated version of the EE engine used in the Class 37. There was even some Class 31s with a 1600/1700hp engine and a plan to fit a 2000hp engine; but these were return to standard power ratings or in the case of the 2000hp version never proceeded with. The experimental locos could be identified by the extra bodyside grills.
just what is a absolute disaster?. after the EE engine was fitted the mirlees engines was sold back serviced and fitted into trawlers .and worked at less revs in the ships.so not absolute disaster.
Bloody gorgeous, back in the day when we had an industry.
Real skilled jobs for the workers aplenty. Now its call centres and shit
@@oddities-whatnot Burger selling. The destruction of UK industry really is depressing.
I liked the idea of Tees Valley. Factorys with passenger route near
I sometimes wish we could go back to these days. Great film
Love it! Proper pronunciation, and proper haircuts
:)
Yes - Vacu-um
And then the 70s came along.
It's amazing the amount of man hours going in to make a train and they were not rushing around, probably enjoyed every minute of it and no stress.
There's a story of a Rolls-Royce chap who made their famous radiator grills, who was walking along the road with a friend one day and said 'that's one of mine!'. He recognised his own work as opposed to that of others who worked for RR. The great days of British manufacturing.
What's more amazing is that some of The Class 31's are still running today with Network Rail having a few that and preserved examples.
Always that Whistler in every factory isn't there?
@@ryansta Yes always a whistler it means they are happy I guess.
I dont mean to be so offtopic but does someone know a trick to log back into an instagram account??
I was dumb lost the password. I appreciate any tips you can give me
Great piece of narration by the late Richard Baker......one of my clients in his later years. Nice man - sorely missed.
Love these old movies showing manufacture in the 50s and 60s. Just a show of human ingenuity.
It looks fantastic.
Class 31 locomotives where in production in 1957.
31430 is at now at the Spa Valley Railway.
The owner has done and continues to do a bloody good job on the old girl!
Worked on her with a mate while she was at Mangapps museum. Lovely to drive as well.
Superbly detailed film - great to catch a bit of the original Mirrlees engine sound!
A very smart looking locomotive. Excellent film. Nice to hear Richard Baker.
As an American (YANK) LOL
I FIND THAT LOCOMOTIVE A GOOD LOOKING EFFICIENT SIMPLE AND VERY SMART DESIGN !!! AND NOW CHINA MAKES JUNK TO SELL WORLDWIDE !!! (SAD AND INEXCUSABLE) ALL THE RELAYS ARE IN ONE CABINET ETC.. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. YOU BRITISH SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOURSELVES. BLOODY GOOD JOB MATE'S !!!
ALL THE BEST !!
FROM AMERICA.
Thank you! All the best to our American cousins, much respect back :-)
True, I agree with you.
What a thoroughly excellent film this is!
The guys whistling in the background in the workshop scenes is hilarious.
He who whistles is happy and live longer.
The tune he is whistling is "When you and I were young Maggie" also known as "I wandered today to the hills Maggie".
I've never really liked class 31s but I must admit they did look rather smart in their original lined green livery. Certainly better than modern monstrosities like the class 68 and 70!
Used to regularly go cross-country from New Street to Norwich. The 31s were obligatory on that route!
Paul Caswell ŵ
0
L
Ngg
9:18 the D5695 was preserved under its new class as BR 31 430 now called 'Sister Dora', it warms my heart to see such history preserved.
I remember that one being named, done at a Bescot open day I seem to remember
theres like 26 of them preserved
The Class 31 locomotives were in production in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Skinheads, Cybercons and Toffee Apples were nicknames given to the Class 31 locos built without roof mounted headcode boxes.
Toffee Apples were what became the class 31/0. They had non-standard electro-pneumatic control & one of the control levers had a large knob at the end which looked like a toffee apple, hence the nickname.
I worked at Finsbury Park TMD and these were my favourite loco to work on, unlike the 47s whose engines were filthy to work on due to the heavy carbonisation of the oil or the 55s that were slip hazards in the engine rooms and were nearly always hot.
hey morbeus my dad worked from there in the early sixties
Those opposing-piston "Deltic" engines must have been a maintenance nightmare, or was it the opposite ?
Bus companies had to simplify their paint-schemes in the '50s to reduce maintenance costs against falling-revenue: did B.R. have to do the same, using spray-booths and thus getting rid of the men seen hand-painting the new "31s" in this video-clip ?
@@None-zc5vg still had painters at Eastleigh works on type 73 and 33 loco's when I worked there up to 1984 all hand painted..and sign written.
@@peteavery3799 Thanks, Pete.
@@DiggerEvans Clarence yard?
I fully enjoyed watching this.
Love the use of good 'ole tongue and groove for the cab flooring!
The sad thing is nowadays, we can't even build a lego wall without having to have a focus group, steering group, 100's of project managers, public enquiries and huge timescales and budgets which are never met, call centers and car washes are the future...sigh!
Then we get some other country to do it for us. Oh how things have fallen
Billy Fish Your comparing this to legos?
Yes a real shame what things have become. Not looking good on Jaguar and few other companies at the moment.
We still do build a lot of stuff (more cars than ever before), just that it's mostly foreign owned and using foreign IPR. Wish we still built locos instead of importing from Japan.
Gooch: 'we do it this way'; Stirling: 'this is how it's done''; Ivatt 'Ye do it this way': Gresley: 'lets' build it like this'. Then it all went wrong. Megalomaniac Thompson 'build it like this even though I'm told it's wrong' (and it was); Riddles 'I'm given an order and I'll provide'. Dieselisation - lets farm it off to other companies. Brush and co did wonderful work given the circumstances. From 1979: sod it all - let's farm it out - and asset-strip the infrastructure...
That was jolly informative old bean, back from the days when we made stuff
..and 2021 it`s closing, probably ending up a a retail park selling crap from the Far East. I visited these works in 1970 during my apprenticeship with BR and was amazed at the size of the Lathes and other machinery there. One lathe had a turbine rotor being machined and the machinist stood on the tool post operating it.
Gladdens the heart to see these old 31's, beautiful engineering, I'd love one to nip to the shops.
1968 was the last year for steam power on British mainlines. 1961 in America, 2005 in China. Eastern Germany never really stopped. They used what they had, steam, diesel and electric, all at the same period. Thier are still several countries using steam locomotives regularly, even today.
The Steam Engine still exists as the pinnacle of every western states technology. All they done was replace coal, with Uranium-238 to fill the boiler with juice 💦
And I ain’t wrong ☢️
Fabulous video. Nice to see and here the mirlees engine. The loco D5695 is still with us. Preserved 31430.
The length of time these 1st generation diesels have been operating for is 50 or 60 years now! That's testament to their design. In the aeroplane world DC-3's using minimal upgrades will be flying in some cases 100 years in the next few decades. It just shows you. Ofcourse there are steam engines that have already achieved the century milestone already.
What a brilliant video full of vintage colour of a iconic loco the class 31.. thanks for sharing regards Tony
10.26mins.........Stratford TMD? What a fabulous slice of nostalgia this film is.
excellent film, the 31's were re-engined due to cracks in the cylinder blocks (aluminium casting), it was more cost effective to replace Than repair
No they weren't the Class 31 were the re-engined locos, prior to that they were the Class 30.
@@neiloflongbeck5705 That's the first mention I've seen on here that the film was actually about the class 30s. The 31s were a conversion from them.
@@TheRip72 the Brush Type 2 (or Class 12/2 (originally the Class D12/2)) with either the 1250hp or 1365hp engines were allocated Class 30 when the TOPS classes were being allocated and Class 31 was allocated to the re-engine locomotives. As the TOPS classes were allocated in 2nd half if the 1960s many of the early diesel locomotives were given TOPS classes even though they never survived long enough to carry their new class numbers.
Fantastic film!
Nice locos to drive!very reliable as well😀👍
This of course,was when we had an Industrial base back in the sixties. Try looking for it today.....it`s impossible to imagine that we were once leaders in many industries throughout the world today. Still,never mind...we have China to thank,sending us all that we were making ourselves back then? Great piece of railway history...used to watch these 31`s pulling the Cambridge buffet every day...those were the day`s folks!
lol in America when I express that feeling of pride and self worth me and people who think like me get called racist. It's not racist to have pride in your country, it's heritage.
soundnicetome
We have the same problem. Fortunately some of those of ethnic minorities are starting to wake up and realise we are all under threat.Yes it affects them. Yes it does.
soundnicetome you’ve got Thatcher to thank for the loss of our industry, China just took the opportunity to fill the gap. The tories in the eighties, as now, believe that blue collar jobs mean labour votes, something they don’t want. Hence the destruction of the shipbuilding, mining, railway and steel industries. Anyone that’s ever voted Tory has the blood of these industries on their hands.
@@jonjon9047 What a load of rubbish. UK manufacturing is as strong as ever, but it 's no longer focused on oily rags and metal bashing. Since Thatcher broke the stranglehold of the unions, great progress has been possible in industries like aerospace. Deep mining ended because surface transport advances made it cheaper to import surface-mined coal from US and Australia. If you want to blame Thatcher, you must account for all the deep mines in Germany, France and Belgium closing at the same time (incidentally saving a great deal of 'blood' from people's hands). But if you're keen to experience the dirt and danger of mining, I think they still have deep mines in Poland, assuming you're happy with Polish pay and conditions. It's your kind of Neanderthal mindset that risks putting Corbyn into No 10 and the real destruction of the country. What a moron.
In the 1960s they’d deliver the new locos by rail from Brum via Cambridge shed 31A then out to the eastern main line and on the Liverpool St GE lines to Stratford. Cambridge Shed was hard to get round (Jobsworths ) Stratford despite having bonded warehouses nearby was easier. Great video. took me back.
Love these old british DE locos, they were real beasts ... great sound
Sounds like richard baker narrating.
Nice to see one of these old films in colour.
What a fantastic sound these Mirrlees power units had (assuming they used original sound in this film).
Would it not be a great recreation project, sourcing one of these engines and put it back in a 31?
It could be done, as I think I read somewhere that the original engines were reused in marine applications, maybe there are some still in use.
Great footage
About this time BR was still going through years of under investment and decline. Great optimistic attitude as usual though.
Ha the Erection shop - that was a young mans game
Welding without an eye guard or face shield - BRILLIANT! - 2:18
Look at the skill we had. It makes me weep to think that all of our rolling stock now come from France or Switzerland, how can this be progress ?
dover one foxtrot The same comments are made in Switzerland. In the case of trains, only one manufacturer remains, and people complain that the rest is made by Bombardier in Canada.
And the most powerful freight engine in Britain was made in North America
The New Eurostars are basically German ICE's (Siemens e320). And the HST replacements on the GWR are Japanese (Hitachi), although tbf the Class 395 Southeastern trains are also Japanese made.
One of the engines that worked well out of the mid 50s " Modernisation" programme . Quite a few designs from other companies were dropped rapidly though design faults , breakdowns and poor performance . They certainly lasted the course .
After they had an English Electric diesel prime mover fitted in them.
Exactly what Rober Thill said!!! :)
Don't you just love seeing workers wearing ... SUITS
Had a relative who drove the original D550x series of Class 30/31's before they were withdrawn early because they were "non-standard". D5508 was "his loco"; Liverpool Street to Yarmouth South Town & back, stabled at Stratford. Later on, managed to travel over to Crewe TMD in early 1985 with him and a few over drivers before they had a cull of a number of locos there; I was in my teens whilst they were 60+. I ended up with a couple of toffee apple control keys from D5508 and (another loco that'll remain nameless) along with the carrying cases those control keys came with. All legal & above board as the Crewe TMD manager handed them over, along with sheet cuttings off other locos containing the TOPs numbers.
Mind you, at least one loco survived. 14:06 - D5627 - aka 31203 - survived the cull of the 31's in the 1980/1990s and survives at The Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway - pic: static.wixstatic.com/media/1e71c3_cb302fdbbf8c486daacba76d19523e2e~mv2.jpg
Very interesting video of the Class 31, a just recognise the voice of Richard Baker in his younger days. Watching the video is very good. Ian t.
What a stunning locomotive.
This is quite wonderful!
4:15 - 'erection shop'! OMG! My favourite phrase of the decade!
We have a deep throat gauges at work
@@thelostusername5013 I want a job where you work lol!
That's what she said 🤣
Never seen one of them in the high street 🤣
what a beautiful construction!
So reliable they had to be re-engined! Great video, thanks for sharing.
Like no other class EVER had to have different engines fitted, eh? That they were still in service 60 years after being first built shows your post up as the cheap sneer it is. Pathetic.
I really enjoyed that.thankyou for posting
Nice hearing all the whistling!
I’ve had the pleasure of driving a Class 31
You have the same name as my grandfather
Great video, thank you for uploading :)
1B66 Cambridge Buffet from Kings Cross, worked that many times. (got mileage payment as well for two trips in a day)!!!
Never knew we ever built locos in my City......Still the crisp are the best.
Brush made some damned fine locos. The 47s are probably their most well known design.
My God, we were a great country
This country's doomed mate. Muslim party in government within 10 years I reckon.
@@thebollock9427 "White to move".
@@thebollock9427 so brexit
The railways of Britain have the most interesting history than any country in the world.
@Airbus A340-600 True.
But I have to say, America comes pretty close.
To be pedantic, Brush type 2 construction. Only became class 31 under tops AND after replacement of the Mirlees engines by English electric units.
What a job!
The original version of this got a bit boring going on about the windings in the generaters and traction motors so I trimmed it down a bit but had to delete it because of copyright fears realy good film got lots of views and coments.
nablicman do you have the full length version uploaded? the electric parts are the most interesting to me... :-)
I had the honours I guess, if you call it that, of driving class 31 206 on my local line at Rushden 3 years ago. Very interesting.
Great old footage there. With all that engineering and design knowhow, where did it all go so wrong?
Thatcher
@HighHopesBass K
@HighHopesBass Thatcher was just a front-person, a mouthpiece, for the interests that controlled her Party and her government.
It never existed.
Absolutely fascinating :D
From being the envy of the world...to a mere shadow of what we were...sad days indeed?
Priceless.
British Engineering at its best.
What's happened, why have we taken 4 steps backwards?
Supposedly couldn't pull the skin off rice pudding!, I would argue the panacea of British rail technology were the late 70's and late 80's, i.e. the HST, APT, 442 and 158/159 all fine machines (even if the APT was a bit too advanced to be reliable/ready for full production).
Fantastic video
Indeed the Class 31 was so reliable they had to re-engine the whole fleet !!!! Originally fitted with a Mirless engine that BR kept uprating (from 1250hp to 1600hp) to the point where most suffered serious failure. They were then re-engined with a Sulzer 1470hp plant.
Very nasty locos, always developed problems whenever I had to drive one. Indeed two in multiple proved to be double trouble, one summer Saturday. But at least they managed to happily coast all the way from Cullumpton to Exeter. Which was downhill all the way, and luckily I had a clear road right into St.David's. Where they were found to be both dead as door nails. Although being almost two hours late, I'm not sure the tourist passengers were too happy. Fortunately I was finished and off home !
The were re engined with a V12 English Electric , similar to what was fitted to the class 37's that had the 12 CSVT in later years
No the Class 30 had the problems. The Class 31 wirh the EE powerplant proved to be reliable. You also missed D5507 which was delivered with a 1450hp Mirrlees engine and D5835 which had a 2,000hp engine.
WOW just WOW. My favourite class
Now we only have the odd 47 and 08 as a reminder of what once was...
And numerous 21s and 37s...
I need to be stand corrected on this. I am sure that the power output of the Mirlees engine for the Brush Type 2 was 1,250bhp then 1,365bhp. Yet, I am sure that two members of the class was rated 1,600bhp and 2,000bhp.
Yes to 1600hp, but no to 2000hp. They abandoned this plan as the standard 1350hp engines were failing at an alarming rate; the original 1250hp engines were not prone to the same failures. As the more powerful engines were based on the 1350hp engines BR decided that they didn't want to risk the higher power Mirrlees engines.
@@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819 Was the 1250hp loco engines also changed to EE or did these become class 30, if not what was class 30?
Lea Fewell yes they also had their engines replaced even though the 1260hp engines of the pilot scheme locos were not suffering from fatigue failures. Class 30 was reserved for the Mirrlees engined locos, but they were all gone long before the locos were renumbered.
you are correct but only as a test that did not last long.
D5507 was delivered in April 1958 with a 1,470hp engine (achieved by increasing fuel delivery to the engine) for testing but soon reverted back to 1,260hp. The oilit scheme locomotives were the last re-engined with the EE 12SVT engines as their 1,250hp Mirrlees JVS12T engines were unaffected by the failures of the 1,365hp versions. D5545 was the first locomotive fitted with a 1,600hp engine and was fitted with modified cooling equipment, D5655 to D5670 were built to this standard. D5835 was fitte with the 2,000hp version of the original engine which needed a modified underfram built by Bagnall as well as additional ventilation grills on the A side at the number 2 end (when viewed from the number 1 or radiator end on non-symmetrical locomotives end the A side is always on the right). All of the production batchs of locomotives had their engines down rated in 1965 to 1,250hp except for D5835 which went straight to 1,470hp. The first locomotive to get the new engine was D5677.
the drivers cabs are lined insulated: put some wood floor in .Done !! 3:42
I nearly bought one of these but couldnt find a railway that would let me leave her there to work on - end of line.☹ I love the H&S these days ( or rather the lack of it) bloke welding 4:12 right next to his mate who has no goggles or protection on FAG in his mouth🤣😂😅 9:11 British craftsmanship at its best - NO SPRAY GUNS in thise days - COACH PAINTED! I always wondered why the old locos shined like a Rolls Royce..........THAT is why , SUPERB.
Excellent film
Thanks .... loved this ! .... Fred
My first Hornby model :)
Freightliner set?
Does anyone know the year this film was made ?? Excellent quality & great sound !!! thanks
1961
Always thought these are good looking locomotives. I did not know the difference between type 2 and class31, until now, that is.
that type classification is how powerful is, at 1,600 hp or something, its a type 2
Fantastic 👍
The script is a bit off. The standard powerplants for the production series locomotives produced only 1365hp at 950rpm (the 30 pilot scheme locomotives were fitted with Mirrlees JVS12T engines produced ing 1250hp at 850rpm). Only D5545 nd D5635 to D5670 were produced with the 1600hp (950rpm) JVS12 engine. D5835 was intended to be built with a JVS12 engine producing 2000hp. However, the 1365hp engines were showing signs of fatigue failure n the fabricated engine housing and cylinder columns after running for only 500,000 miles and so all the higher powered engine trials were abandoned. Eventually all the locos, including the 20 pilot scheme locos, had their engines replaced with the EE 12SV engine producing 1470hp.
Mirrlees Bickerton & Day became Mirrlees National Ltd in 1961 until 1969 when they became Mirrlees Blackstone Ltd.
Those were the days when we had an industry and a happy low paid work force content with fish and chips on a Friday and footy match on Saturday, pruning roses outside ones smart council house on Sunday.
Nice video
Love how meticulously they were made.
These locomotives are NOT Class 31 locomotives being built they are Brush Type 2 (class 30) locomotives.
The class 31 only came into existence when the power units where replaced from Mirrlees Blackstone with English Electric power plants during 1964
History need to be changed to stop this missing piece of history being stated each and every time
Class 30/31 was only the tops classification for these locos introduced in the late sixties to replace the original D prefix numbers
Go away time waster
When the locos were fitted with EE Power units in 1964 there was not yet known as the class 31. They were all classified as Brush type 2s (being reclassified as 31s round about 1967 onward.
Most of these have been cut for scrap now. Good riddance!
@@PreservationEnthusiast Actually, the 30/31s have more examples in preservation than most other Diesel loco classes. A great locomotive, still going strong on many heritage railways. So, no, NOT "good riddance" at all!!
Bruh that engine they put in is dummy thicc
It states that the power unit was 1600hp. However, were the Mirrlees units not just 1,250hp or 1.350hp? Indeed, wasn't one reason for their eventual replacement with English Electric units, the fact that they were deemed to be underpowered?
JOHN RILEY Not so much underpowered but they suffered from terrible reliability problems which led BR to use EE power units.
There was at least one loco fitted with a 1600hp engine as an experiment. They even considered a 2000hp engine, but never proceeded with it as the 1350hp engines fitted as standard were beginning to fail alarmingly.
Hi, does anyone know what music is used in this video or where to find similar music for old railway videos?
Brilliant locos
people who whistle at work certainly take joy in their occupation...
And annoy everybody else
You know we always used to make our train, cars and other things ourselves nowadays we import all our stuff! i ask whats happened to us? weve gotten more lazy!
As well as saving money. Cheap labour abroad and greed of British companies ruined many of our industries.
Now i have to ask The Question
Which side Is The Front?
Wat the hell do you mean? ?
@Ben Conway like which side is the Front and which is back it has 2 cabs so which is the front cab and which id the back its one of those questions that keeps bugging me
@@finndahuman57 all locos with two cabs were numbered inside , no 1 cab/end no2 cab.end
The front end is the end with the cooler group.
Strictly speaking Class 30 construction 😉👍
Good locos but underpowered
Anyone know the source of the music 0:11 to 0:28?
Probably music from one if the big UK libraries - KPM, Dr Wolfe, Standard or Chappel. Unlikely to be a commisioned piece.
@@primeporkycut Thanks. Do you know a lot about the subject?
@@californiaslastgasp6847 A little. It's just a guess though. Really like the piece.
@@primeporkycut It must have been stock music because it can be heard at 1:39 in this 1966 U.S. Navy film: ruclips.net/video/0oVZ-D8tls8/видео.html
Harwich passengers seemed mostly BR employees, unless it was a traffic warden's convention!
Particularly like th way it ends with music like an episode of Star Trek
News to me that the original Mirlees engines weren't an absolute disaster
The engines for the 31/0s were never as problemstical. It was the extra power for the 31/1s that cause fatigue problems lesding to the re-engining with a down-rated version of the EE engine used in the Class 37. There was even some Class 31s with a 1600/1700hp engine and a plan to fit a 2000hp engine; but these were return to standard power ratings or in the case of the 2000hp version never proceeded with. The experimental locos could be identified by the extra bodyside grills.
just what is a absolute disaster?. after the EE engine was fitted the mirlees engines was sold back serviced and fitted into trawlers .and worked at less revs in the ships.so not absolute disaster.
I watch the video religiously
Suprising how many people dont know that deisels arent run by deisel specifically,that they powere electric motors which drive them...Genius..