Sunday 13 November 2016

Great Central Railway 47292 and 8274

Sundays often sees the "Great Central Railway - Nottingham" heritage railway bringing one or more of its fleet out for a trip along the line. The line's engine sheds are located in Ruddington. NSB occasionally takes pictures of trains that are and has been digging into their history...

47292 Class 47 Diesel

Class 47  Diesel Engine 47292

Designed by Brush Traction, a total of 512 Class 47s were built in the 1960s at Crewe and the Brush Loughborough works.

They were powered by 12 cyclinder Suzler diesel engines manufactured by Vickers at Barrow in Furness (perhaps using some of that famous Lanarkshire Steel?). According to Chris Brooks, Vickers made some 1500 engines over a five year period, representing one of Suzlers largest single contracts.

There are currently some 32 Class 47's operating on various heritage railways in the UK.

LMS Stanier Class 8F Steam engine 8274

LMS Stanier Class 8F Steam Engine 8274

Some 852 of the Class 8F engines were built between 1935 and 1946 for freight use. Many saw use across the British Commonwealth during WW2.

The Class 8F's were built in a number of locations, with 8274 being produced by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow - at the time the largest locomotive manufacturing company in Europe and the British Empire. The company sold engines to customers around the world, including Canada, Argentina, Spain, Angola, Palestine and China. (Again, on wonders whether the engines were made with local Lanarkshire Steel.)

8274 was one of 25 exported as kits to Turkey in 1940 (although 7 were lost at sea en route), returned to UK in 1989 and then restored to operational condition. One of its sister engines can be seen in the Çamlık Railway Museum in Turkey (see also here)

Interesting to see the role that a single scrapyard in South Wales had in providing many of the engines for the Steam Heritage industry that sprang up following.

Image Sources
Full image of 47292 Related Content
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