When a small group of enthusiasts came together to form the Deltic Preservation Society in 1977, they could perhaps have only dreamed of ending up with two examples of the class, let alone three. However, such was the support for their dream and their fundraising success at the start that the society was able to purchase two Deltics straight from BR – and operational ones at that! The class was introduced in the summer of 1961 with 22 examples built and entering traffic by the following year.
They were, of course, a major part of the BR Modernisation Plan for ousting steam, with the Deltics going on to become synonymous with the East Coast Main Line, replacing more than double their number in Pacific steam locomotives. The production batch of the Deltics owes its success to that of the prototype DP1, which was rather fittingly named DELTIC after the Napier Deltic engines used within.
Built by English Electric, the firm had taken over engine builder D Napier & Son on the instruction of Ministry of Aircraft Production. EE managing director Sir George Nelson and his son (also George) looked into the possibility of using Napier’s Deltic engine in a new locomotive, it having been used at that point in ships.
The two 18-cylinder engines were downrated from the 1750hp of the marine engines used in minesweepers to 1650hp, generating a combined output of 3300hp, which reduced the stress on the engines and thus increased both the service life and length of time between overhauls. The design of the prototype was reminiscent
