Baby Deltic

There a loads of grounded van bodies just outside Thetford on the B1088, between Thetford and Ixworth. They are being used as pig shelters, so I would be a bit wary about going off and photographing them.

Just ordered a green one ready for a later West London Line project.

This is the best clip I've seen, as far as sound is concerned.

There was plenty of nostalgia when the last Wizzo's and Deltic's ran, let alone the last diesel loco's.

I wondered what loco that was when I caught a glimpse of the freightliner at Marks Tey as I drove on the A12 this afternoon. Was it a 66 on the front? I only noticed the train as I was passing in the opposite direction. The class 70 coupled inside was unmistakeable.

Looking at the clip, I'm not very impressed with the sound of it. It sounds just like a truck.

Just entering pedantic mode.... the cab steps were positioned differently......... just exiting pedantic mode.... just incase someone thinks of adapting a class 20 chassis for a baby deltic.

The loco's spent a lot of time shedded at Hitchin. They were mainly worked by Hitchin crews.

This is true. But many loco classes were failing at the time of introduction, or it took a while for problems to rear their ugly heads, such as the power unit crankcase fractures on class 47's (and class 28's). Some of these problems were not fully resolved, and in the case of class 47's it meant the engine had to be downrated.

I've certainly seen photo's of them at Peterborough. There is a photo somewhere on Flickr of D5903 (GFYE) passing Peterborough North Signalbox in 1968.

The Baby Deltics weren't a disaster. The reason that there were only ten built may reflect more on BR's dislike of two stroke engines, especially those without cylinder heads. They had a few problems early on due to the power unit and some of the auxilliary drive shafts, but once they were refurbished, they settled down with good reliability figures. They were more than a match for the Brush/Mirrlees class 30's which shared some of their duties. It could be argued that the Brush type 2's were a bigger disaster because BR had to re-engine the entire class.

The sound is won't be quite right. OK, the engine's the real deal, but on a real baby deltic there were whirring sounds caused by the compressors, and traction motor blowers driven directly by the engine. There's a good recording of D5909 at Hitchin in 1959, by Peter Handford on a CD called 'Diesels Through The Decades'.

D5909 made it to Skegness in 1959. It was in the local newspapers.

Indeed. Infact, I should really add another 10 when the unrefurbished variant is released. Gotta have D5909 in BR blue, and do D5908 in GFYE with double arrow symbol for starters.

I think a collection of all 10 would be highly desireable.