Shortest-lived loco/train in the UK?

[Steve14]

It's now nearing the end of a long restoration project.

Do you know who is overseeing the restoration of this?

 

[stj]

The APT?

Some of the vehicles must never have seen a fare paying passenger?

 

[Steve14]

To be fair despite being a one-off, the privatised railway brought it back into service for a good few years before another catastrophic failure.

It's now nearing the end of a long restoration project.

Found it! Looks really smart!

Photo courtesy of Tim Bralesford and DB Cargo.

Also, a comprehensive video of what’s been restored - a painstaking long list for sure!

 

[norbitonflyer]

How long was the class 140 in service for? Not sure if it actually entered service?

It did - I travelled on it once on the Birmingham - Stratford on Avon line

 

[Ashley Hill]

SuperClayton?

Here's its Wiki entry.

British Rail DHP1 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Not my photo.

 

[webbfan]

Presumably the losers at the Rainhill trials didn't last very long

Hackworth's locomotive was purchased by the L&M and used for a few years, then ran on Bolton and Leigh Railway for several years. Not too bad for those days.

 

[xotGD]

Here's its Wiki entry.

British Rail DHP1 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

View attachment 82803
Not my photo.

Never heard of that beast before. Every day is a school day. With 4 engines no wonder it didn't become the first of many.

 

[TheSel]

How long was the class 140 in service for? Not sure if it actually entered service?

Seen here on 14 September 1981 at Ormskirk.

 

[gg1]

Never heard of that beast before. Every day is a school day. With 4 engines no wonder it didn't become the first of many.

Only 4? The Fell had 6:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_10100

 

[Non Multi]

Fowler's Ghost. An embarrassing failure of a locomotive.

 

[4REP]

390033 might be the short lived emu only a few years old. Destroyed on WCML Feb 2007

 

[thenorthern]

Class 151s didn't last very long about 4 years I think.

 

[43096]

390033 might be the short lived emu only a few years old. Destroyed on WCML Feb 2007

It’s already been said that one car of 317301 was written off before it even entered service.

 

[Journeyman]

For an entire production build fleet of reasonable size, I'd say it's a toss-up between the 14s and the 17s. Both around five years, less in some cases.

 

[43096]

For an entire production build fleet of reasonable size, I'd say it's a toss-up between the 14s and the 17s. Both around five years, less in some cases.

I’d argue the 17s were worse as a sizeable number of 14s went on to have a much longer career on industrial railways.

 

[Journeyman]

I’d argue the 17s were worse as a sizeable number of 14s went on to have a much longer career on industrial railways.

True...the 14s were a real gift to industrial users looking to modernise on the cheap.

 

[colchesterken]

What about the southern electrics forget the number was it 701, replaced before entering service, privation madness

 

[Journeyman]

What about the southern electrics forget the number was it 701, replaced before entering service, privation madness

707s. They're all going to Southeastern, so will probably last a respectable time.

 

[AlexNL]

If trains from abroad are allowed: the AnsaldoBreda built "V250" units are a good contender.

They were in 'trial service' for about 5.5 months after which they entered squadron service on 9 December 2012 running the "Fyra" high speed train service between Amsterdam and Brussels. Less than 6 weeks later it was all over: on 18 January 2013 the type certification was revoked by DVIS (the Belgian equivalent to ORR) which immediately ended the class' use in revenue service.

The trains never carried another fare paying passenger in the Netherlands or Belgium, and were sold back to the manufacturer. Nowadays the trains have been overhauled and are in service as "ETR 700" with Trenitalia.

 

[MP33]

In the modernisation plan were there any types of locomotives where just the one prototype was built and completely rejected by British Railways?

I have seen photographs of one of short lived freight locomotives. Apart from the reliability issues, it had a centre cab which had very poor visibility for shunting wagons.

 

[Ashley Hill]

In the modernisation plan were there any types of locomotives where just the one prototype was built and completely rejected by British Railways?

I have seen photographs of one of short lived freight locomotives. Apart from the reliability issues, it had a centre cab which had very poor visibility for shunting wagons.

Does the YEC Taurus loco count here?

 

[Journeyman]

In the modernisation plan were there any types of locomotives where just the one prototype was built and completely rejected by British Railways?

I have seen photographs of one of short lived freight locomotives. Apart from the reliability issues, it had a centre cab which had very poor visibility for shunting wagons.

Not during the actual modernisation plan, I don't think, but there were some classes where only ten pilot locos were built, with none to follow afterwards.

 

[Spike Bank]

Some of the BR built Hawksworth 94xx class had short working lives, with the last ones built not entering service until 1956. If Wikipedia is to be believed, 8447 was in service for only 4 years and 9 months. Similarly, many of the late build BR standards - 'Evening Star' included, went too soon...

 

[GlosRail]

Class 460 only lasted 12 years in it's intended form. I know some are now used in other units.