British Rail Class 14

British Rail Class 14
Class 14 no. D9526 (as preserved), at Williton on the West Somerset Railway (2009)
Type and origin Power type Diesel-hydraulic Builder British Railways’ Swindon Works Order number Swindon Lots 456 and 460 Build date 1964–1965 Total produced 56
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0  • UIC C Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Wheel diameter 4 ft 0 in (1.219 m) Loco weight 48.50 long tons (49.3 t; 54.3 short tons) Prime mover Paxman Ventura 6YJXL Transmission Voith L217U hydraulic Train brakes Vacuum
Performance figures Maximum speed 40 mph (64 km/h) Power output Engine: 650 hp (485 kW) Tractive effort 30,910 lbf (137.5 kN)
Career Operators British Rail British Steel National Coal Board Numbers D9500–D9555 Nicknames Teddy Bear Axle load class RA 4 Disposition 19 Preserved, 5 Exported, 32 scrapped

The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was trip working movements between local yards and short distance freight trains. The good all-around visibility from the cab and dual controls also made them capable of being used for shunting duties. The order was expanded from 26 to 56 in mid-1963, before work had started on the first order.

Technical details

In July 1964, the first of a class of 56 locomotives appeared from Swindon Works. These were later designated as TOPS Class 14 by British Railways. They are known as 'Teddy Bears' by enthusiasts, following a comment by Swindon Works' foreman George Cole who quipped "We've built the Great Bear, now we're going to build a Teddy Bear!"

In outline they resembled the Clayton Type 1 (Class 17) locomotives, having a cab which was nearly central with bonnets at each end, but with a fixed 0-6-0 wheel configuration rather than bogies as seen on all the other Type 1 classes. The locomotives were powered by a Paxman 6-cylinder Ventura 6YJXL engine producing 650 bhp (485 kW), connected to a Voith L217U hydraulic transmission and Hunslet gearbox. The axles were connected by coupling rods and driven by a jackshaft located under the cab, between the second and third axles.

Operations and preservation

The Class 14s, like many other early types of diesel, had an extremely short life with British Railways, in this case not because of poor reliability but because many of its envisaged duties disappeared on the BR network a few years after they came into use. BR started to dispose of members of the class from mid 1968, the entire class had been sold to industry or scrapped by the end of 1970. In their new careers in industry many had a working life of two to three times than with British Railways. The industries in which they were employed, such as coal mining, declined during the 1970s and the class again became surplus to requirements. Several have found a third lease of life on preserved lines where they are ideal for both light passenger work and the maintenance of permanent way.

D9520, as preserved

Unusually, D9504 was leased in 2005 from its preservation group and found itself in revenue-earning service on the newest mainline in the UK – High Speed 1 (known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link during construction) – mainly in marshalling and stabling the 450 metre, 22-wagon concrete-pumping train on the final stretch to St.Pancras Station.

D9524 was re-engined under the ownership of BP Grangemouth – it was later re-engined again under the ownership of the Scottish RPS who, following BR practice, gave it a number of 14901. It now operates with a Rolls-Royce DV8TCE (640 bhp).

The last locomotive built, D9555, was the final locomotive to be built for British Rail at Swindon Works, in 1965; today the locomotive is privately owned and operates on the Dean Forest Railway, Gloucestershire, its original route.

In July 2014, The East Lancashire Railway, hosted 10 preserved members of the class as a celebration of the 50 years since their entry into service.

Fleet

Key:	Preserved	Scrapped	Exported

Depot codes
Code	Depot
50B	Hull Dairycoates
CF	Cardiff Canton TMD
LE	Swansea Landore

Loco	Final depot	Industrial career	Dates	Disposal
D9500	CF	NCB Ashington	11/69—?	Preserved at Peak Rail
D9501	CF	-	-	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (6/68)
D9502	CF	NCB Ashington	07/69—?	Preserved at East Lancs Railway
D9503	50B	BSC Harlaxton BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—07/74 07/74—09/80	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/80)
D9504	50B	NCB Philadelphia NCB Bolden NCB Burradon NCB Ashington	11/68—08/73 08/73—12/74 01/75—09/81 09/81—?	Preserved at Kent & East Sussex Railway
D9505	50B	APCM Hope, Derbyshire	09/68—05/75	Exported to Bruges, Belgium (05/75)
D9506	CF	-	-	Scrapped at Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate (05/68)
D9507	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—09/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/82)
D9508	LE	NCB Ashington	03/69—01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9509	CF	-	-	Scrapped at G Cohen Ltd., Kettering (11/70)
D9510	50B	BSC Buckminster BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—06/72 06/72—08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9511	50B	NCB Ashington	11/68—07/79	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (07/79)
D9512	50B	BSC Buckminster BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—09/72 09/72—02/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (02/82)
D9513	CF	Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate NCB Crigglestone NCB Astley NCB Ashington	07/68—11/68 11/68—09/69 09/69—10/73 01/74—?	Preserved at Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
D9514	CF	NCB Ashington	07/69—12/85	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (12/85)
D9515	50B	BSC Buckminster BSC Corby Steelworks Hunslet Ltd	11/68—09/72 09/72—12/81 12/81—07/82	Exported to Charmartin, Madrid, Spain (07/82)
D9516	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—10/81	Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre
D9517	CF	NCB Ashington	11/69—01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9518	CF	NCB Ashington	06/69—??/87	Preserved at West Somerset Railway
D9519	CF	-	-	Scrapped at G Cohen Ltd., Kettering (11/70)
D9520	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—03/81	Preserved at Nene Valley Railway
D9521	LE	NCB Ashington	03/70—11/84	Preserved at Dean Forest Railway
D9522	CF	-	-	Scrapped at Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate (05/68)
D9523	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—10/81	Preserved at Derwent Valley Light Railway, York
D9524	LE	BP Grangemouth	07/70—9/81	Preserved: currently at Peak Rail
D9525	50B	NCB Philadelphia NCB Ashington	11/68—03/75 03/75—10/87	Preserved by Heritage Shunters Trust
D9526	CF	APCM Westbury	01/70—4/80	Preserved at West Somerset Railway
D9527	CF	NCB Ashington	07/69—01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9528	CF	NCB Ashington	03/69—12/81	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (12/81)
D9529	50B	BSC Buckminster BSC Corby Steelworks (as No. 61) Bardon Hill Quarry	08/68—9/72 09/72—03/81 02/09—06/10	Preserved - normally at Kent & East Sussex Rly
D9530	CF	Gulf Oil Co.Ltd., Waterston NCB Mardy Colliery NCB Tower Colliery	09/69—10/75 10/75—08/82 08/82	Scrapped at NCB Tower Colliery (08/82)
D9531	CF	Arnott Young Ltd., Parkgate NCB Crigglestone NCB Burradon NCB Ashington	07/68—11/68 11/68—10/73 10/73—04/74 04/74—?	Preserved at East Lancashire Railway
D9532	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—02/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (02/82)
D9533	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—09/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/82)
D9534	50B	APCM Hope, Derbyshire	10/68—05/75	Exported to Bruges, Belgium (05/75)
D9535	CF	NCB Burradon NCB Backworth NCB Ashington	11/70 — 01/76 01/76—09/80 09/80 — 01/84	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (01/84)
D9536	LE	NCB Ashington	03/70—12/85	Scrapped at NCB Ashington (12/85)
D9537	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—11/82	Preserved at East Lancashire Railway
D9538	LE	Shell-Mex & BP Ltd., Shellhaven BSC Ebbw Vale BSC Corby Steelworks	04/70—2/71 02/71—04/76 04/76—9/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/82)
D9539	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	10/68—02/83	Preserved at Ribble Steam Railway Currently on loan to Spa Valley Railway
D9540	50B	NCB Philadelphia NCB Burradon NCB Ashington	11/68—11/71 11/71—06/72 06/72—01/84	Scrapped at D. Short, North Shields (01/84)
D9541	50B	BSC Harlaxton BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—08/74 08/74-08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9542	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9543	50B	-	-	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (11/68)
D9544	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—09/80	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/80)
D9545	50B	NCB Ashington	11/68—07/79	Scrapped by D. Short, North Shields (07/79)
D9546	50B	-	-	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (11/68)
D9547	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9548	50B	BSC Harlaxton BSC Corby Steelworks Hunslet Ltd	11/68—08/74 08/74—11/80 11/80 — 07/82	Exported to Charmartin, Madrid, Spain (07/82)
D9549	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks Hunslet Ltd	11/68—11/81 11/81—7/82	Exported to Charmartin, Madrid, Spain (07/82)
D9550	50B	-	-	Scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham (11/68)
D9551	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	12/68—06/81	Preserved at Severn Valley Railway
D9552	50B	BSC Buckminster BSC Corby Steelworks	09/68—06/72 06/72—09/80	Scrapped at BSC Corby (09/80)
D9553	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—?	Preserved at Vale of Berkeley Railway
D9554	50B	BSC Corby Steelworks	11/68—08/82	Scrapped at BSC Corby (08/82)
D9555	LE	NCB Burradon NCB Ashington	03/70 — 02/75 02/76—??/87	Preserved at Dean Forest Railway

Models

Hattons commissioned Danish company Heljan to produce a limited run in OO gauge in three liveries. Since then they have announced plans for further examples, still in limited numbers, but in a wider variety of liveries.

Graham Farish also produce the Class 14 in several liveries in British N Scale.

In 2011 a 7 1/4" model of D9522 won best locomotive and best model in show at the national model engineering exhibition in Harrogate.

Further reading

• McManus, Michael. Ultimate Allocations, British Railways Locomotives 1948 - 1968. Wirral. Michael McManus.
• Kelly, Peter (September 1982). "Teddy bears' picnic...". Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. pp. 28–31. ISSN 0262-561X. OCLC 49957965.

External links

• D9531.com website
• Website covering D9500 and 14901 (D9524)