Good to see that there is a “new breed” of industrial shunters: I’ve got a bit of a thing for industrials, always been keen on the 1960s Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 types and Ruston 0-4-0 locos. If it looks “American” to some eyes I suppose it’s because of the long nose and deep bufferbeam, which have always been a feature of industrial shunter designs in various forms.
And the design will only ever be an industrial type; as others have said above, there isn’t a requirement to replace the 08s, as the sort of work they were designed to do is largely disappearing: Most freight workings are trainload block workings that only require splitting and vehicles swapped/added very occasionally, and where pilot locos are required at freight terminals, it is now regular practice to use a main line loco from a previous working, or a dedicated “super shunter”.
The only need I can see for new shunting locomotives on the national network is at wagon repair depots, permanent way depots, and the few major marshalling yards that act as starting and terminating points for freight trains, as many marshalling yards now act principally as staging points for ready formed block trains. This only accounts for a handful of locos: For the time being, there are plenty of inactive 08s that can be cannibalised for parts to keep the few remaining active ones going.
hock:
