Invention and Engineering

British Rail Class 53

D0280 Falcon was a single one-off prototype diesel-electric locomotive, built for British Railways in 1961. It was one of a series of three prototypes: Falcon, DP2 and Lion, eventually leading to the Class 47 and Class 50. A requirement was expressed by the BTC at a meeting on 15 January 1960 for new Type 4 designs of Co-Co arrangement, which would be lighter than the earlier 1Co-Co1 locomotives such as the Peak classes, produced under the Pilot Scheme. Brush had a licence to build the Maybach MD655 engine, as already used in the Western region diesel-hydraulics, although their licence limited them to diesel-electric locomotives. These engines were of lower weight than their competitors, which led Brush to consider using a pair of them, like the Western hydraulics. Design work began in 1959 under contract Nº 04/20600, before the BTC requirement had been issued. British Rail later assigned Class 53 and the running number 1200. While not in any sense a failure, the design was the victim of advances in locomotive technology (specifically, the power obtainable from single medium-speed diesel engines) and was never duplicated.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Finnish Steam Locomotive Class C1
• ▸Battle of Glarus (1799)
• ▸Graphene

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