Class 37/9 - 37901 being started up on Ropley (England) shed during the 2013 april diesel gala (Watercress line). Démarrage de la 37901 en gare de Ropley (Angleterre) lors de fête du Diesel d'avril 2013.
She spent a fair bit of time at Shrewsbury in the early 90s, rember my Dad coming home, me pestering after him, "what you been on today"? Never asked how he was, lol. It was there for crew training and route learning. Did some time on steel coils to Dee Marsh. She isn't far from me now at Llangollen. Not as many hours on that engine as an original EE motor. Should help keep her going for many more years. I hope.
Similar Mirlees-Blackstones powered the Lady Class ferries on Sydney Harbour. One of my favourites was the Lady Northcott. I'd take a railing position on the top deck right below the funnel on my thirty minute trip to Manly and just drink the lazy sound of the engine.
Nice loco I seem it at crewe works open day February 1986 when they was rebuilding loads of class 37s plus renumbering them and 37901 was in there I will have to go to the east lancs railway to see her soon 😀 good video of these beasts 👍 😀
If you go to see 37901 at the East Lancs then you will be disappointed. Its no longer preserved and is now owned by Europhoenix. It is undergoing overhaul at Leicester depot.
you don't see Austin maestro vans on the roads anymore but up to 2019 there was one for sale in mint condition. sat there for months in a car showroom forecourt on the A6 in Derbyshire. it must have been for sale for a long time before it just disappeared one day. I'm guessing it eventually got sold but what an unusual find among all the modern cars that were for sale there. i think it was for sale at £2000.
These engines were being tried out for the proposed class 38 loco which never materialised . Do any plans or drawings exist of these locos as it would be interesting to see what they would have looked like.
Mirlees and Blackstone's got "screwed over" by British Government great shame they built some first class engines ! my friend worked for them in both factories until the end sadly . They would rather " purchase abroad" !!! nothing left here now . all gone !
Glos Warwickshire Railway Diesel Gala held late July ,this year it is the 26th-27th-28th July, so bring that Blackstone Beauty for some serious singing.
is the miralees engine bigger than the EE engine because I notice that the roof is bit higher than the original 37s which I never really thought of before
It sounds weird a tractor with a class 60 power unit installed no they're supposed to be very expensive to maintain that's why all them class 60s are lined up withdrawn at toton tmd at least one thing theres plenty of spares available for class 37901 and and other class 37'9's good looking loco tho I love tractors best loco's on the rail network plus the class 20's
Top view surprised me in that I didn’t expect to see that big fan , and thought there would be four exhausts not one. I’m apparently thinking of another locomotive type .
The Mirrlees-engined prototype 37901 has been restored to working order and is now awaiting the completion of some internal work before returning to the main line (Europhoenix company)
Great sound, great little video this...I have a question, prior to the engine cranking what is the whirring noise, I have seen it on a few start-ups on other videos.thanks
Probably the fuel pump priming the engine. Don’t know the technical details but if you listen carefully when you turn a key in a car to the step before ignition, you can hear a similar humming.
That's not why the rad fan is turning. On the slugs the radiator fan drive was modified so that it ran constantly. On the standard 37 it was thermostatly controled
wondering what kind of starter unit this locomotive uses.and what other vehicles could the starter unit be used for,maybe a generator,bus or semi motor or for tractors
Back in the day they were never really turned off for any length of time. Always working. I remember in the 80s people living next to Bescot marshaling yard complaining all the locos were left ticking over all night and they could not sleep,thw yard claimed if they turned them off they were impossible to get going again so they kept them ticking over
A Blackstone Beauty!!! that poor starter motor sounded like Michael Ball on weed. When are you intending to bring the Tractor to the Glos Warwick's Diesel Gala held every late . That is some serious music f---k Glynbourne spin that Blackstone bruiser to life and smell the burnt diesel.
British Rail evaluated two different engine packages across 37901-37904 and 37905-37906 to determine which would be suitable for the Class60 settling in the end on the Mirrless Blackstone unit. I recall 37901 when at Canton and nicknamed the slug due to the engine governor used for the Mirrless powerplant rendering it quite slow to respond to throttle changes, I also have had the pleasure of listening to it on saturdays when it did haulage on the MHR and the sound of it reminded me of the days at Cardiff Central when the thing used to rumble through. The revised engine packages also had new Brush alterantors, replacing the original GEC generators fitted and the roofline modifications were done at the rebuilding as BR wished to use a new roof profile that would be cleaner and also easier for inspection. The only thing that BR did not do and in hindsight and which should have been done was test Sepex with them, and possibly convert them to straight AC machines
I was just thinking the same. Don't 37s have the nickname tractors? This doesn't sound tractor like but that's explained by the different engine. Not a criticism, just an observation
@@darreng745 so what engine was in the other test bed locos then cos I remember them having 2 different engines obviously 1was Mirrlees but what was the other??
