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  • British Rail class 58

  • Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.
Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.

Moderators: Komachi, David Benton

 #1431787  by george matthews
 
Yes, the Pacer was an attempt to make a cheap passenger vehicle mainly for branch lines. They built rather a lot but they were not very nice to ride in. I tended to see them when travelling to unfamiliar regions in the early Spring. I remember them on rainy and rather cool days. Not a pleasure to ride in. Gradually they are being withdrawn. A few were sold to third world countries. I have seen comments that they were basically bus bodies given a rail under-carriage.

I know nothing about the class 58.
 #1434037  by UP 7076
 
The British class 58's - of the 50 built - yes many are stored in France. 12 are active in Spain (one 58050 destined for the U.K. National rail museum) currently and one preserved - 58016, two being readied for a return to use in the U.K. - 58023 and 58048 with a third 58012 in a bad way awaiting work to start. Not the best product from BR. Though largely they were used on the wrong traffic - allocated to heavy coal traffic wasn't smart for locomotives designed for speed and intermodal work alas they were withdrawn before their time.

BR's most successful design? Probably the class 37 with the class 08/09 shutters not far behind and the class 47 a close third. Given in 2020 the class 37 will be 60! Years old they are still being overhauled and seeing reuse. Six freight companies and two passenger rail companies in the U.K. Still using the old girls.
 #1434045  by johnthefireman
 
UP 7076 wrote:BR's most successful design? Probably the class 37 with the class 08/09 shutters not far behind and the class 47 a close third.
I think that's a pretty fair assessment and I would agree with you. I would add that one of my personal favourites, the Class 55 Deltic, was extremely successful for the specific work it was designed to do, and the short working life of twenty years or so was due more to electrification of the East Coast main line than any flaws in the locos.

It's also interesting to see some of the Class 73 electro-diesel being rebuilt and returned to front-line service recently. My understanding is that despite the number of new classes in operation in UK (including the very successful Class 66), it is still cost effective to rebuild older designs, particularly as they are exempt from some of the latest restrictions, which are not imposed retroactively on older classes.

As David says, welcome to Worldwide Railfan forum.