British engines / units exported overseas

[Peter C]

Hello,
I was looking through my Modern Locomotives Illustrated just now and one of the issues (which I don't have) was about UK Traction Overseas. I was wondering about what sort of engines were exported, and where they are now. I'm not too fussed about steam engines. I'm more interested in diesel and electric engines in this context.
I read somewhere that some engines which were exported are now "lost", as in there is no record of what happened to them after they left the UK.
If anyone has any more information on this subject, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,

-Peter

If this has already been given it's own thread, please let me know.

 

[duesselmartin]

Obvious are the Metropolitan-Vickers exported to the Republic of Ireland in the mid 1950s known as A 001 and B 201 class.
the former CoCo, the latter BoBo.
Also a number of narrow and broad gauge railcars went to Ireland.

Portugal also had a number of UK build or designed locomotives. Among them a Class 50 derivative. Much can be found on Wikipedia.

Hope this helps as a starter.
Martin

 

[Peter C]

Obvious are the Metropolitan-Vickers exported to the Republic of Ireland in the mid 1950s known as A 001 and B 201 class.
the former CoCo, the latter BoBo.
Also a number of narrow and broad gauge railcars went to Ireland.

Portugal also had a number of UK build or designed locomotives. Among them a Class 50 derivative. Much can be found on Wikipedia.

Hope this helps as a starter.
Martin

Thank you very much. I'll have a look through Wikipedia and see if I can find anything else.

-Peter

 

[Groningen]

Class 66 is in the Netherlands.

Source: www.class66.railfan.nl

 

[SeanG]

See this thread for a comprehensive list

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/uk-trains-that-have-been-exported-to-other-countries.136245/

 

[Peter C]

Class 66 is in the Netherlands.

Source: www.class66.railfan.nl

Interesting. I'd heard that the 66s had been sent to other countries.

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

See this thread for a comprehensive list

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/uk-trains-that-have-been-exported-to-other-countries.136245/

Oh OK. Thank you very much.

-Peter

 

[Giugiaro]

Some stock is missing from the list for Portugal.
Yes, there were 67 Class 20 and 10 Class 50 derivatives, but there were also:

19 Class 0400 DMU's with Rolls Royce engines and transmissions;
6 Class 1000 shunters from Drewry Car Co.;
36 Class 1150 shunters from Rolls Royce-Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd. (plus two recently purchased by Ferrovias/Mota-Engil and Somafel in standard gauge, used);
A few shunters from Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. working for Cimpor;
11 Class 3100 EMU's from Cravens Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. (Metro-Cammell);
1 Class L301 DC Electric Locomotive from GEC-North British Locomotive Co.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Class 66 is in the Netherlands.

Source: www.class66.railfan.nl

Class 66s are complicated in this respect. DB and Freightliner have exported examples to France and Poland. GBRF imported 66747-51 from Europe for use in GB. 66s are not strictly British locos, being built in North America. Examples have been sold direct to Europe and Egypt.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Other British exports include

Hungary has 1x47, 3x56 and several 86s
Bulgaria has 86s, 87s and 92s
Romania and Croatia has 92s
France has 66s and 58s, plus class 20s and 37s many of which have now returned to this country
Spain had 37s and 58s
Netherlands had some locos similar to 08s, plus the Class 77s
Italy had some 03s
Liberia took some old DMUs
Iran took the 141s
Russia had Kestral
Cuba had some Brush locos which looked like Class 47s

Pushing the theme of the thread and looking at coaching stock:

Denmark had Mark 3 sleepers, most of which returned to the UK
Canada took the Nightstar stock from the abandoned European sleeper services via the Channel Tunnel.
Ireland has had various coaches, including the BREL International Train , some Mk2s and a former Gatwick Express set.
New Zealand took some Mk2s which were heavily rebuilt

 

[LeeLivery]

Not sure if this fits the requirement but the Gautrain units in South Africa are Electrostars built at Litchurch Lane.

 

[Fireless]

The NS (dutch railways) took over ten (NS 501-510) War Department 350hp English Electric shunters (similar to the what became the class 11) in the 1940s and later purchased 35 similar new locomotives (511-545), 65 locomotives of a 400hp version with automatic air brake equipment (601-665) and finally 15 locomotives similar to the 500 series but fitted with a dutch-made motor.

Whilst all of them, bar a few 600 series locomotives working for private operators, of them have been retired, the 500 and 600 series locomotives are well represented in preservation, including ex WD locomotive 508 at the national railway museum in Utrecht and working examples at every standard gauge heritage railway except the Stoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik.

The NS also took over all BR EM2 locomotives which formed the six-strong 1500 series (27005 ended up as a spare parts donor).

 

[randyrippley]

go through this list on Wikipedia, it shows the full range of English Electric loco exports
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:English_Electric_locomotives

 

[hexagon789]

Ireland has had various coaches, including the BREL International Train , some Mk2s and a former Gatwick Express set.

Some Mk1s which became steam heating generator vans for Cravens sets, think they went over in 1984 at the same time as the first lot of Derby-constructed IÉ Mk3s.

 

[etr221]

Obvious are the Metropolitan-Vickers exported to the Republic of Ireland in the mid 1950s known as A 001 and B 201 class.
the former CoCo, the latter BoBo.
Also a number of narrow and broad gauge railcars went to Ireland.

The 201 series were originally, as built, C201 series (550hp) - they only became Bs when re-engined with EMD engines in later life (c1970)
Also British built were some (3?) Walker B-Bs for the West Clare narrow gauge (F501-F503?); and substantially British the B101-B112 series of A1A-A1As (BRCW bodies, Sulzer engines, forget whose electrics)

NIR had some EE built Bo-Bos (Type 1/Class 20 development) 101-103; also shunters 1-3, can't remember who built these.

Others that come to my mind, that haven't been mentioned:
AEI (and associates) diesels for various African countries (East, Central and West IIRC). Egypt I think had some British built diesels (EE?)
AEI were also involved with various diesels for Australia. W Australia had some Crossley engined, MetroVick 2-Do-2 diesels - but a lot of Australian diesels were licence built. Also (IIRC) British electrics for NSWGR (46 class) and VGR (L)
India had British built electrics, in particular pre-war for use round Bombay.
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) had some British built diesels , by Brush and others

There were some Brush Co-Co diesels for Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe); and some Bo-Bo road switcher type for Cuba (MINAZ or FdC, don't recall)

Taiwan had some British electrics for their initial electrification, don't recall details, now superseded. Also Bo-Bo electrics went to Pakistan. Both these 25kV 50Hz

EE had a design of Co-Co electric, examples built for India, Spain (7701 class) and Brazil. And possibly Chile. 3kV dc.

FS (Italy) Ne700 class were ex LMS/WD 0-6-0 diesel shunters (jack shaft drive type), a post war inheritance - at last one went to a concessionary railway, and was in service until relatively recently.

SJ (Sweden) also had some British 0-6-0 shunters of the EE standard type.

Both first and second generation Copenhagen S-bane emus had British designed electrical equipment.

Poland also had British electrical equipment in some emus; and a batch of British built electrics (EU06 - look like BR 85s), with many others built under licence (EU07, ET41 and EP07/8)

I think British input into Argentine electric units, and early (inter-war) diesel trains

 

[36270k]

In the early 1960's English Electric built some 3000V DC locos for South Africa.
Some of the BREL Nightstar coaches that were exported to Canada are still in use between Montreal and Halifax.
Seeing a picture of them coupled to a Budd dome car shows how small the BR loading gauge is.

 

[Bigchris]

Just one to add off the top of my head, I saw some 158s in Thailand about 10 years ago (although I seem to recall they're a different gauge over there).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Interesting. I'd heard that the 66s had been sent to other countries.

That's stretching it a bit.
They are GM EMD locos (built in USA/Canada), tailored originally for the UK market (EWS).
Subsequently, similar designs were used by EMD for delivery to freight operators across Europe.
Some UK versions delivered as class 66s were also sent overseas, notably by DB for their freight arms in various countries.
However, there are hardly any UK components in these engines.

During recent LGV construction in France, many ex-BR locos were used, eg class 56.

If you go back far enough, you'll find British (Robert Stephenson notably) steam engines were the first locos to be used in many countries in the 1830/40s.
(Germany, Austria, Italy etc).

The Empire/Commonwealth was full of British-built and designed locos, also South America and Asia.
Post war, English Electric locos to Portugal have been mentioned, also to New Zealand and East Africa.
War-time and post-war development saw British locos in places like Turkey and Iran.
All these are mostly gone or are on their last legs now, replaced by Japanese, American and local designs.

 

[pdeaves]

Cuba had some Brush locos which looked like Class 47s

Even down to the paint scheme. The Thai '158's someone else mentioned also had the UK paint scheme, giving a very familiar look.

 

[Bigchris]

https://locotravels.smugmug.com/Overseas/Thailand-9-231109/i-D9fMMQq/A

Here's one of the 158s I found in Bangkok.

 

[Peter C]

That's stretching it a bit.
They are GM EMD locos (built in USA/Canada), tailored originally for the UK market (EWS).
Subsequently, similar designs were used by EMD for delivery to freight operators across Europe.
Some UK versions delivered as class 66s were also sent overseas, notably by DB for their freight arms in various countries.
However, there are hardly any UK components in these engines.

During recent LGV construction in France, many ex-BR locos were used, eg class 56.

If you go back far enough, you'll find British (Robert Stephenson notably) steam engines were the first locos to be used in many countries in the 1830/40s.
(Germany, Austria, Italy etc).

The Empire/Commonwealth was full of British-built and designed locos, also South America and Asia.
Post war, English Electric locos to Portugal have been mentioned, also to New Zealand and East Africa.
War-time and post-war development saw British locos in places like Turkey and Iran.
All these are mostly gone or are on their last legs now, replaced by Japanese, American and local designs.

Oh OK. Thanks for clearing that one up.

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

Thanks everyone for the information. Out of all of the exported engines, I personally find the Kestrel the most interesting as it was the most powerful engine we had before we sold it to Russia, where it was essentially just used for testing before it was taken apart and the broken up in 1993. Why BR decided to get rid of it I'll never know.

-Peter

 

[pdeaves]

(Kestrel) Why BR decided to get rid of it I'll never know.

Non standard, really heavy (I think), probably more powerful than anything we need, there's likely to be loads of reasons.

 

[Peter C]

Non standard, really heavy (I think), probably more powerful than anything we need, there's likely to be loads of reasons.

Fair point. It would have been extremely heavy; am I right in thinking that it had the largest engine of any British locomotive?

-Peter

 

[ac6000cw]

'Kestrel' was heavy for a 6-axle 'mixed traffic' loco (135 tonnes originally, later reduced to 126 tonnes after being fitted with different bogies), but not excessively so.

I think it was more that BR decided it wasn't interested in the concept. It went down the HST route for diesel IC passenger trains, and there was little freight that really *needed* that much power.

And yes, I think 'Kestrel' is/was probably the highest power diesel loco ever to run on British railways (although I suspect that a class 70 or 68 would get very close to the 'power at rail' of Kestrel, as they both have engines rated at close to its engine power, but with more modern transmission systems).

 

[AlexNL]

We've also had two Pacers (141106 and 141112) over here in the Netherlands. They've never been used in passenger service though.

 

[43096]

Both first and second generation Copenhagen S-bane emus had British designed electrical equipment.

Poland also had British electrical equipment in some emus; and a batch of British built electrics (EU06 - look like BR 85s), with many others built under licence (EU07, ET41 and EP07/8)

I think British input into Argentine electric units, and early (inter-war) diesel trains

The OP’s use of “engine” is ambiguous - to me it means diesel engine, but I assume it was meant in terms of locomotives.

If we’re talking engines and components, then the XPT design in Australia has a large number of British built parts, including the electric system including alternators (Brush), cooler groups (Serck) and engines (Paxman, initially Valentas, later replaced by VP185s).

Plenty of other traction equipment exported around the globe by British companies, too.

 

[DPWH]

It's a good job you're "not bothered about steam engines" because if you were, that'd be another kettle of fish. There was a time when Britain was a major industrial manufacturer, while other countries weren't, and moreover had an Empire run by people who would naturally buy British.

 

[hexagon789]

Fair point. It would have been extremely heavy; am I right in thinking that it had the largest engine of any British locomotive?

-Peter

Not sure if we have had more than 4000hp locos.

I know 68s are 3,805hp not sure if there's anything more powerful.

 

[43096]

Not sure if we have had more than 4000hp locos.

I know 68s are 3,805hp not sure if there's anything more powerful.

Classes 86-92 for a start....