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British Railways - The Prototypes


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A "prototype" is defined (according to google) as

"a first or preliminary version of a device or vehicle from which other forms are developed"

 

So things like 47901/47601 and 87101 would definitely count under that. Though things that went nowhere like the 37/9s might not - though they were clearly intended as prototypes so I'd include them.

 

Not locomotives, but the XP64 set and the Leyland coach?

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I'm not sure it was a hard and fast rule, but my memory is that common parlance on BR was that something moved from "experimental" to "prototype" if/when it entered revenue service.

 

Another word that sometimes gets involved in this is "test" but, again in common parlance on BR, a "test" vehicle was usually a vehicle arranged to carry out tests or measurements of the infrastructure, other vehicles to which it was coupled, or of distinct components fitted to it for testing purposes, e.g. bogies, suspension arrangements, or pantographs. Some "test" vehicles were wholly set aside for that purpose, and fully kittedout as mobile test-labs, while others were vehicles borrowed from revenue service, and fairly lightly kitted with intrumentation for the duration. I recall fitting-up two 4-CEP DMBS with instrumentation for brake-block testing, and they were typical "borrows", in that they were on their way from traffic to heavy overhaul/refurbishment; that was good, because it didn't matter if we damaged paintwork or soft-furnishings, drilled holes in non-structural parts for cables etc.

 

If you visited the Derby research centre in its latter BR heyday, you could see a fascinating collection of vehicles that fell into all these different categories in various states of undress.

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12 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

10201-3, and 10203 in particular, were very much the prototypes for and developed into the EE Type 4 Class 40s not the Peaks.

Well, as someone from third-rail territory, all I can say is that both of those looked alike to me. Sorry, what a mistakea to makea.

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Hi Folks,

 

Just for fun why not post photographs of any of these prototypes that you may have built, no RTR stuff that is cheating !

 

158551303_DSCF0240(2).JPG.016018c23a698b544bf9dedce62590de.JPG

I can only claim the APT-E as the HST is by the layout owner.

 

DSCF0971.JPG.d0db75adfa6dc1785c19b83ade0bd6b6.JPG

This is E3173 it was the testbed locomotive for the Flexicoil suspension system and was also fitted with a streamlined nose cone as part of the HST program to asses wind resistances though lineside structure especially tunnels and past other trains. Another notable achievement of E3173 was that it was the first locomotive to officially exceed Mallard's 126 mph record in Britain.

 

Gibbo.

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On 05/10/2021 at 00:10, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Folks,

 

Just for fun why not post photographs of any of these prototypes that you may have built, no RTR stuff that is cheating !

 

158551303_DSCF0240(2).JPG.016018c23a698b544bf9dedce62590de.JPG

I can only claim the APT-E as the HST is by the layout owner.

 

DSCF0971.JPG.d0db75adfa6dc1785c19b83ade0bd6b6.JPG

This is E3173 it was the testbed locomotive for the Flexicoil suspension system and was also fitted with a streamlined nose cone as part of the HST program to asses wind resistances though lineside structure especially tunnels and past other trains. Another notable achievement of E3173 was that it was the first locomotive to officially exceed Mallard's 126 mph record in Britain.

 

Gibbo.

 

Have I seen somewhere someone is working on or has released a 3d printed E3173 nose cone? Your rendition does look spot on Gibbo, I imagine it was quite tricky to get it right?

 

Also to keep the pics of models coming, here's my heavily converted Clayton to DHP1 model, made long before KR Models entered the market.

 

post-5804-0-99179800-1444344028.jpg.7cf4e2753321617ca57ef19ee59446fb.jpg.b930a9267aca96d8918a1929a192fb69.jpg

Cheers

James

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On 05/10/2021 at 00:10, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Folks,

 

Just for fun why not post photographs of any of these prototypes that you may have built, no RTR stuff that is cheating !

 

158551303_DSCF0240(2).JPG.016018c23a698b544bf9dedce62590de.JPG

I can only claim the APT-E as the HST is by the layout owner.

 

DSCF0971.JPG.d0db75adfa6dc1785c19b83ade0bd6b6.JPG

This is E3173 it was the testbed locomotive for the Flexicoil suspension system and was also fitted with a streamlined nose cone as part of the HST program to asses wind resistances though lineside structure especially tunnels and past other trains. Another notable achievement of E3173 was that it was the first locomotive to officially exceed Mallard's 126 mph record in Britain.

 

Gibbo.

They went through Linslade single bore at well over a ton in that. Though commonplace now, the thought makes me shudder!

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Defining a prototype,  your list seems to be constrained to locomotives of 1 or 2 examples,  BR  introduced diesels in sensible  batches of 10 or more for the key types 1 to 4 by engine bhp known as the "Pilot Scheme" to see how they performed before placing fleet orders, the Class 47, D1500 - 19 and D5900 - D5909, the Baby Deltics and others

Edited by Pandora
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8 hours ago, Pandora said:

Defining a prototype,  your list seems to be constrained to locomotives of 1 or 2 examples,  BR  introduced diesels in sensible  batches of 10 or more for the key types 1 to 4 by engine bhp known as the "Pilot Scheme" to see how they performed before placing fleet orders, the Class 47, D1500 - 19 and D5900 - D5909, the Baby Deltics and others

 

That's deliberate. I don't feel that the modernisation plan's 'pilot scheme' locomotives count as 'prototypes' for the purposes of this list as there are too many of them in each batch.

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On 05/10/2021 at 00:10, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Folks,

 

Just for fun why not post photographs of any of these prototypes that you may have built, no RTR stuff that is cheating !

 

158551303_DSCF0240(2).JPG.016018c23a698b544bf9dedce62590de.JPG

I can only claim the APT-E as the HST is by the layout owner.

 

DSCF0971.JPG.d0db75adfa6dc1785c19b83ade0bd6b6.JPG

This is E3173 it was the testbed locomotive for the Flexicoil suspension system and was also fitted with a streamlined nose cone as part of the HST program to asses wind resistances though lineside structure especially tunnels and past other trains. Another notable achievement of E3173 was that it was the first locomotive to officially exceed Mallard's 126 mph record in Britain.

 

Gibbo.

Have you got "Mentor" to go with E3173?

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6 minutes ago, rodent279 said:

Have you got "Mentor" to go with E3173?

Hi Rodent,

 

The locomotive was built for a friend of mine and although we since both looked into converting a coach neither of us have actually got around to it.

 

Gibbo.

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15 hours ago, Pandora said:

Defining a prototype,  your list seems to be constrained to locomotives of 1 or 2 examples,  BR  introduced diesels in sensible  batches of 10 or more for the key types 1 to 4 by engine bhp known as the "Pilot Scheme" to see how they performed before placing fleet orders, the Class 47, D1500 - 19 and D5900 - D5909, the Baby Deltics and others

 

Class 47 D1500-19 were nothing to do with pilot scheme, in fact at least three times removed from it, they were a a development of the class 46, also not pilot scheme, which were a development of the class 45, also not pilot scheme, which was a development of the class 44, which was. If it was not built with head code discs, it was not pilot scheme, at least as far as diesels are concerned.

Edited by Titan
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