Madge Wildfire
Member
Reading an article in the Railway Magazine, concerning the arrival of D1500 at Finsbury Park towards the end of September 1962, it occurred to me that had the BTC just waited a few more years and not had their rush to build large quantities of untried Pilot Scheme locomotives, the taxpayer could have been saved millions of pounds.
It might have meant a railway dieselised with only a small number of classes such as 08, 20, 31, 37, 47 (plus 55s hopefully) but built in even larger quantities than they actually were. And the savings may have led to either more rapid electrification, or volume production of a locomotive based on Kestrel with sub-classes for both freight and passenger work.
Ok, so Kestrel could cope with more 16t mineral wagons than the sidings could hold, but by 1968/9 the mgr idea was well under way and also the locos could have been deployed on aggregates, oil, and steel traffic which would have meant no need for later classes 56 and 58, thus saving even more money.
It might have meant a railway dieselised with only a small number of classes such as 08, 20, 31, 37, 47 (plus 55s hopefully) but built in even larger quantities than they actually were. And the savings may have led to either more rapid electrification, or volume production of a locomotive based on Kestrel with sub-classes for both freight and passenger work.
Ok, so Kestrel could cope with more 16t mineral wagons than the sidings could hold, but by 1968/9 the mgr idea was well under way and also the locos could have been deployed on aggregates, oil, and steel traffic which would have meant no need for later classes 56 and 58, thus saving even more money.