For those who say it was slow pulling away you could not go full throttle till over 20-25 mph or they would overload, as for the smoke they are two stroke opposed piston engines originally built for fast inshore boats.
0:08 this is when back in 1982 the deltics got succeeded by the hsts As this clip shows this is how the high speed train powercars took over the deltic operations on the east coast mainline So it’s great to see the hst and the deltic meet each other for the first time since the 1980s
When I was a young trainspotter in the 70's on York Station trying to tick off all 22 Deltics I saw Alycidon more than any other to the point where it got boring. How things have changed.
Maybe its the passage of time but when i used to watch these hauling expresses out of kiiiings cross they never seemed so laboured or persistently high revving??
No, these engines were rated at twice of those power used in the class 55, the napier deltic was used in MTB and mine sweepers with turbo's fitted and "battle power" setting of well over 3000hp and in those cased they could have been over fed, but in the class 55 they were normally asperated at 1650hp each (2/traction unit). What you are seeing here is an old girl with 100k's miles on her - and with 2 stoke diesel, you are going to get a lot of shit in the exhaust.
@@garethifan1034 A class 37 has more starting tractive effort than a 40. Perhaps more interestingly, a class 08 shunter has more tractive effort than a class 66!
the class 37 had a starting tractive effort of 55K lbf while the class 55 had a tractive effort of 50k lbf but the class 55 was double the HP. The class 37 in the UK are known as "tractors" - as they "pull anything.... slowly". The class 55 (known as a "bomber" from its noise) was designed as a main line engine and were limited to 125 mph intially, though this was down-graded to 100mph, much faster than the class 37. I regularly used the east coast main line in the UK in the 70s and 80's and you knew when the deltic was on the front - 13-15 coaches, and you were leaving London as some fair whack - while being pulled by the 37 or 42 and things were more sedate. So, yes, the tractors could start with more traction than a bomber, but once going, they went like shit. The main reason for the limited traction on the class 55 was they had 6x500hp electric motors which was under-rated for the power of the diesel engines (3300hp), so the drivers were told to be careful on startup so they blow the motors apart.
The significant thing about Bromsgrove Station is that it's at the bottom of the (once infamous) Lickey hills incline. Decade's past, northbound steam trains needed a hefty push up the hill from a 0-10-0, engine that was always kept in steam and waiting at the station for its next customer. The modern, rebuilt station is on the site of one of the earliest rolling-stock works, opened about 1840ish.
I get it the big engine(that I really like, too) that's kind of a symbol. But to worship these monsters comes with a morbid twist if you look at the history of an old locomotive and all the people it ran over. Just ask the drivers -they don't like to talk about it though.
