Locos of the RTC
WHEN most enthusiasts recall the departmental locomotive fleet in British Rail days they think of Nos. 97201 Experiment, 97403 Ixion, the Crewe remodelling Class 40s (Class 97/4s), or the large number of Class 47s transferred to test train service in the late 1980s and early 1990s (see Part 1 of this feature in the April 2020 issue). However, the majority of machines that joined the departmental ranks after withdrawal from the revenue-earning fleet had no powered role, at least not one that required the use of their traction motors. Most were hidden away from the general public and worked specific roles that often only provided a brief respite before the final visit to the scrapman.
These tasks included employment as mobile and static carriage heaters and generators, as ‘dead loads’ that would simulate much longer trains, training locomotives for apprentices, test units, spares donors and, the ultimate ignominy, stripped of their engines and other equipment to act as power unit test beds or transporters. Despite these insults, departmental service did give preservationists a chance to save types that might otherwise have been swept away while most people were still mourning the loss of
