Why Britains SCRAPPED 116 BRAND NEW Locomotives

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Why Britains SCRAPPED 116 Brand New Locomotives Subscribe: @legendarylocomotives In 1962, British Railways ordered 117 diesel locomotives straight off the drawing board. No prototype. No extended testing. They announced the Class 17 Clayton as the future of Type 1 traction - the new standard that would replace everything before it. Four years later, rows of them sat abandoned in Scottish sidings. Some still in grey primer, never even numbered, delivered from the factory and immediately stored as unserviceable. The story of the Clayton is one of ignored warnings, engineering compromises, and institutional pride. Paxman, the engine manufacturer, warned BR that the aluminium crankcases might crack under sustained use. They suggested cast iron from the start. BR refused - they wanted the engines exactly as tested. The crankcases cracked. Paxman rebuilt every single engine at their own expense. But the problems didn't stop there. Camshaft failures. Cylinder head issues. Availability dropped below 50%. The rear engine failed more than the front because the locomotive's own bodywork was starving it of air. The visibility problem that justified the entire design? The long bonnets meant crews couldn't see immediately in front of them. The one thing the Clayton was built to fix, it failed to deliver. D8611 lasted 46 months. Factory to scrapyard in under four years. By 1967, the National Traction Plan made it official: Class 17 had no future. BR ordered 100 new Class 20s - the same locomotives the Claytons were supposed to replace. One hundred and sixteen went to the scrapper. One survived because a cement company bought it when nobody else wanted it. None lasted long enough to receive TOPS numbers. The entire class simply vanished from the roster. Even the Heljan model of the Class 17 suffered manufacturing problems. And Thomas the Tank Engine's Derek - the diesel who keeps breaking down - is based on the Class 17. British Railways announced the Clayton as the future. Within a decade they erased it and moved on. #britishrail #trains #railway #diesel #locomotive #class17 #clayton #railwayhistory