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What are British Rail's 'Standard' locomotives?
When the railways were nationalised in 1948, the newly formed British Railways inherited a vast number of aging and non-standard steam locomotives. Realising that manufacturing and maintaining such a fleet would not be in the company's best financial interests, they quickly moved to design a range of 'standard' locomotives varying in size and capability.
Production started in 1951 and was based largely on LMS practices but with many upgrades and modifications. Many of the new locomotives shared design components and were visually recognisable thanks to their high running boards, twin cylinders and streamlined cab design.
In the end, 999 Standard steam locomotives were produced by BR, including tank engine classes 2, 3 and 4 and tender classes 2, 3 and 5 (all of which were mixed traffic locomotives). A class 4 tender engine was produced in two variants (2-6-0 and 4-6-0) and the class 6 (Clan Class) had a power rating of six for passenger and five for freight. In addition to these, a single example of a class 8 passenger only locomotive was built (71000 'Duke of Gloucester') as well as many examples of the mixed traffic Class 7 (Britannia Class) and the hugely capable freight only 9F.
Sadly, the modernisation plan of 1955 dictated the locomotives' early demise as diesel and electric traction swiftly took over the rails. That led to many of the new standard steam locomotives being withdrawn after as little as seven years in service and way before they were due to be life expired.
An interesting fact surrounding the standard locomotives is that less tenders were produced than engines. That was because a tender could be services much quicker than a loco, so could be bumped up to pair with an engine ready to leave the works after maintenance.
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