Class 37 - Compact but Charismatic
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 เม.ย. 2024
- Good morning! :D
Another important locomotive range from the Modernisation Era, the Class 37s became very much the mixed-traffic backbone of British Railways throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, combining a compact bodyshell with a superbly powerful engine to create one of the most flexible machines ever to run on the UK network, as attested to by their continued use nearly 65 years after they entered the scene.
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References:
- Key Model World (and their respective sources)
- Class 37.co.uk (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references) - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
When we're colonising Mars and the mk1 inter-settlement units are being retired, no doubt a 37 will be there to pull it to the recycling facility.
you've made my day!
NC-0008, the United Planets Federation Diesel Shunter approves of this comment
In a Melbourne newspaper cartoon, there was a “standard” futuristic city in a dome and had these swirling curved roads going around the dome, there was a W-class tram rumbling along one of these aerial roads the caption was “Melbourne 2078”, (I forget the date).
That guy in the red car was supremely confident in his brakes.
Especially as it was an Austin Montego, most likely the brakes were not working so well 😂
😂 i thought that too.... I thought he was up for a game of chicken....
@@PJWey @7:15 ?
Definitely not a Montego.
The mere fact some of these machines are still doing good service today is a testament to their designers and builders (and drivers)
And, perhaps, the maintainers
@@andrewreynolds4949good point👍
It’s called maintenance. Everything in those trains still driving around is replaced over the years
@@MrJimheeren* locomotives
@@Mounhas yes Locomotives
A typically rich and rewarding film, with excellent narration, technical knowledge and no-nonsense presentation. Absolutely excellent.
I agree
I can’t believe Ruairidh went this long _without_ having made a Class 37 video.
I remember passing Sibelin hump yard (South of Lyon in the Rhône Valley) in my TER on the way home one spring in the late ´90’s. As usual I looked out to see what I could spot in the yard… the usual electrics: BB7200, CC6500, BB8100, even a CC7100, and the diesels : BB67400, BB63000, BB66000, a couple of class 37’s, a…. What? 😮, 37’s? Here ? I did a double take on that one I can tell you - I thought I was dreaming !
They were of course on the way down to Valence to work on the building of the LGV Méditerranée.
Over the following few weeks l’d regularly see pairs of them, sometimes sitting in the yard, and sometimes already included "dead" in a freight working.
Later we got 56’s too, but the good old tractors were a real surprise. I wish I’d taken some photos, but it was before the era of the mobile phone unfortunately.
During lockdown I was living near the Great Western Mainline, the Class 37s would pass by occasionally moving freight and empty stock. I would hear the distinctive engine and dash to my window to better hear these veterans pass by. Never failed to cheer me up.
😢if they still exist, perhaps one of the original African locos should be returned to UK?
Certainly some of the best locomotives to ever reign the rails! The sound, the ride, just everything tbh
Also notable for the 37/6s was the modification to use the bogies off scrapped class 50s to allow for prolonged high speed running
Unfortunately you may have missed their USP and the reason why they still operate today in spite of examples being around 60 years old. That is a very low axle loading, which leaves them as one of the few moderately powerful diesel locomotives that can pretty much go anywhere on the network, including up to Fort William. That's why they're used on a lot of maintenance of way jobs, like weeding.
I’m from Australia, (so I don’t know anything) What is significant about Fort William? Is it laid with lighter rail?
@@darylcheshire1618 I don't know the exact reason why, but most likely, yes. If you watch a video of the West Highland Line you'll see the track is pretty austere. There are also some old bridges on the route.
@@N330AA Thank you.
The engines we all love 🥰
A really useful engine… 😊
A true design classic. Underrated and unrecognised outside of the railway fraternity. It should be up there with the mini or E type Jaguar!
Metal thrashing goodness :)
Got to love a class 37. They still run top and tail on the test trains on the Boarders line. Normally coming past about 00:30 and back about 3am.
The Growler 37 distinctive sound. I remember them pulling steel plate rolls From South Wales steel mills through Chepstow to the midlands at night!
And who said that BR's modernisation plan was a failure when you see this amazing story? What an engine and what a great burbling sound it made when starting up. Super video.
it's one of very few good things from it...
@@davidty2006 There were a good few workhorses they produced and innovations.
37’s, 47’s & 08’s are my favourite diesel locomotives even though I’m a kettle man.
We have three 37’s at Bo’ness,one incomplete, and 403 had worked on the mainline earning its keep on various duties up until recent times 🏴
Hey man! I'm a frequent visitor of the B&KR myself and I wondered if you knew why 403 has been lying dormant for so long? 🤔
@@CWEditOfficial I think it needs new tyres so is seeing limited use… but I’m not sure as I’m not a diesel guy.
@@macjim Ah, I was worried it was more serious than that! Thanks for your reply 😁
The folk at B&K railway keeping the 37's alive. I do have a model of 025 it was nice to see her on the mainline for a bit.
@@CWEditOfficial403 is in working order. 025 is needing tyres
If I had to pick a favourite loco, the 37 would definitely be a front runner. I love the sound and the styling. I remember standing at Southampton Airport (Parkway) as a kiddo waiting on our train home to Motherwell after a fortnight spent on the south coast with family. Normally a 47 hauled train, on this occasion it rolled in, smoky and late, with a 37 at the head that stayed with us until Birmingham. Sticking my head out the droplight window on the leading coach, taking in the smell and sounds as we powered north.
BR certainly got value for money with the 37's.
A slight correction, D6700 is actually in operation at the Great Central Railway on loan from the NRM in conjunction with 37714
I worked with many a pair of 37s on heavy Ballast Trains and although sometimes they may have struggled, they always got the job done. They were certainly good value for money.
Great video as always, but something to mention is that the cumbrian coast and furness line workings weren't sellafield workers trains. They were drafted in by Northern to cover dmu moves due to the pacer scrappings.
Also of note is the DRS service when the main road bridge at Workington was washed away in the early 2000's
I remember them in their last days on the Norwich-Yarmouth turns. They were old, but they did the job.
They're probably one of the best BR diesel designs, they work well and are adaptable.
Such an amazing locomotive and a favourite amongst nearly every train fan!!
King of the railway, in my book.
I grew up worshipping the mighty Deltic as a child in the 1970s. These days the tractor is just as loved. 😊❤❤❤😊
It's the police train from the intercity 125 advert
I worked on them for nearly 50 years, great loco
The opening shot was made some time ago, Mirlees Pioneer was still residing on the East Lancs Rwy, and Gunnie's 37109 at the front.
These were the most successful of diesel classes, and 4 or 5 years ago still a very regular sight on the mainline. I did the Cumbrian Coast behind the 37s in 2019.
I love 37s, iconic design and yes as a kid i would get them mixed up with peaks until i learned better!
I haven't been this early to a Ruairidh MacVeigh video since The Class 37s were called English Electric Type 3s.
The best Diesel locomotives ever built in this country 👍. Iconic shape and the sound is amazing 😊
Absolutely the best ever type of class of diesel locomotives that I really like as I went to see one at the Kent & East Sussex Railway last weekend.
Thank you again Ruairidh for yet another well researched and enthralling video.
I sorely miss having these run the Cumbrian line. Coaching stock with them was so comfy compared to the damned Sprinters...
Nice to see your own work included in the video.
Both the 37s and 20s and their current use is a testament to the durability of the EE designs.
I've seen 37108 at Crewe Railway Centre, a number of years ago. Always liked these EE locos. I might be biased as my dad worked for English Electric. 😊
What is the source for the British Transport Films footage? There seems to be quite a few shots of 37s in Inverness so I'd like to see more of that
I have fond childhood memories of buying a platform ticket and seeing these thundering through Colchester (North) what must have been late 1960s. Thanks for another great watch.
What a wonderful sound !:-)
Could you do a video about the history of the class 168/170/171/172? I reckon it would be interesting as they have had so many different operators and so many different types of services
Good suggestion, I love the class 171s
Could throw in the class 168 too as they are essentially the same, and I think came before the 170s.
@@rbeamish6492 Didnt think about that but yes!
I'd been waiting for this one, probably my favourite British diesel, Thank you
Oh this is a good omen, starting off a Saturday morning with a Rory video about old British trains
Saw a pair of these last week in Rail Operations Group colours at Lydney.
They just keep going, going and going.
I've often said that the Class 37 is to the UK the same way the Geep is to the US.
It's definitely a UK Geep.
You did mention that they were occasionally used in threes. In the early 1980s, this was a regular working from Margam to Llanwern steelworks, where there were one or two blast furnaces in those days. There were iron ore trains from the docks that could handle the ships in use, and the route has some challenging gradients for the loads involved. Thus three 37s were used for each iron ore train.At that time, the normal procedure was to avoid them being stopped anywhere west of Newport. These days there are several extra stations and passenger services that probably wouldn’t fit in now.
It was the iron ore trains that needed 3 in Scotland too. They came from Hunterston deep water port to Mossend where the third 37 was added to help get the train up the incline to Ravencraig steel works near Motherwell.
Replaced by a single class 60 that could handle the same train as the 3x 37s in both Scotland and Wales.
Amazing locos!
another thoroughly informative and entertaining watch. Thank you for delivering the content we all love so much
This is it, the video we've all been waiting for... have we reached peak Ruairidh MacVeigh Motion History?
There's a couple of them on standby at all times for GA in case a train needs recovering, one is usually parked at Orient Way sidings
We were still using the 37's on Gt Yarmouth's & Lowestoft's up until they were replaced by Stadler units just before covid hit & still using flags & lamps to trts at each stop with a rake of mk2's & a DBSO in between, still miss the old Postwick alarm clocks as they were known by locals when we accelerated out of Norwich Thorpe on a run.
Thank you for accepting my request! Hope you will do more locomotive histories soon.
Theser are what I think of when I think "British diesel". They are true workhorses
My favourite sounding train
The perfect example to show they don't build them now how they used to.
NSWGR 46 Class gets a shot. Excellent!
I alway had difficulty telling Class 37's and 40's apart.Same dog nose but the 40's has the buffers on the boggies!
If you want to know which locomotives were the best from the modernisation plan , you only have to look at the locomotives that are still running on the main line. The 37s and 47s have more than proven their ability. And they have many more years of service left.
The 37 is my favourite loco. I just wish the company I drive for had them so I could sign them…Mainly because they sound like amplified thunder.
I certainly remember a four day railtour to the West Highlands of Scotland where we had DRS class 37s for lines like Oban and Kyle of Lochalsh where the line weight lomits meant they were the only loco type allowed. At Edingburg the class 47 that was meant to take us to Kings Cross was failled and we had double headed 37s all the way back to London. The first time that had happened for many years and perhaps the last time it did.
Being compact and having exceptional Route Access (RA) is what keeps these locos still running. You can hear and know when one is thundering past the office.
It is a shame Vulcan Foundry has completely been demolished and next to no landmark for it apart from the old workers Vulcan Village (even the pub is boarded up)
Where's that?
@@ShanakeeFeverDreams if you are on about Office it is near Bank Quay station in Warrington, if you are on about Vulcan Foundry it is near Newton-le-Willows, north of Warrington
@@JonBowe I've been in the pub next to Earls Town station a fair few years ago. Is that the Vulcan? If so sad it's boarded up
@@ShanakeeFeverDreams No that was the Railway Inn, I think. That has been demolished. Vulcan Village is alongside the tracks from Earlestown to Warrington, next to the Winwick Junction. All the houses had been modernised a couple of decades ago and all painted an off white colour.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4393538,-2.6245161,17.75z?entry=ttu
The ""tractors" my favourite diesel electric locos, along with 55s & 43s.
Ever memorable unit !!!!!
Very well made video. Thanks
Great video!
Can you videos on the BR Class 15, 16, 17, 20, & 28 please.
lovely
I bloody love these.
Great vid 😀
Iconic sound!
Hi there
There are several clips of 37106 on a BTP unfitted working
I have worked this train many times can you tell me what video/dvd this was taken from for a bit of personal nostalgia thanks John
A diesel Black 5 or Gresley v2 even 🙂
Definitely a unique sound to the English Electric produced locos. ...the good old days
Love the thrash
My heart skips a beat when I hear & see one. The 37's are the mutts nuts.
Feels like yesterday- Foreigner 🥁
for spam cans its 37s, for kettles its gwr's duck(all variants) 🥰
Ahhh my second favorite class of Loco. My first favorite is, I'm sure, obvious to everyone who loves diesel locos.
Deltic
Class 40.
Western
@@georgepom328 👍🥳
Class 50, obviously!
I would sooner see them rebuilt into the Class 38s to keep them going into the 2030s, than for the railways to lose such a reliable workhorse.
97301 has been stored since a long time. It donated its engine a whole ago to 97303 and is now being stripped for scrap.
Didn't Network Rail also use them as test loco's for the in cab signalling system on the Cambrian Line too? There was a rail tour to Pwllheli that had to use those converted locos as nothing else has the equipment to run on the line (except for the Class 158's that run regularly run on the line)
Yes they still run to Aberystwyth with test rains and the log trains to Chirk.
Yes the four 97/3s are owned by network rail and based at Shrewsbury for use on the cambrian with the "ERTMS" system and the only loco's autherised down the line, the 158s (and now 197s) are the only DMUs autherised down there.
@@elljones6159only three. Not four.
Since 2010 or so
@elljones6159 197s are still on nightly test
Tractor!
nothing beats the sound of a 37
Except the roaring drone of two Napier D18-25s at full chat
@@dangerousandy or a lancaster bomber at full power
RB211 on takeoff.
Did anyone else think that at 7:16 the car was about to get hit?
you can never beat a 37 - not sure what they going to do when they need replacing
Thrash that we never miss
Class 59's were Canadian made, London, ON!
The Die Hard Tractors. What will we do once they're gone? 😢
It’ll be a very sad day when they are gone from the mainline. Replaced by crap electric locomotives that will break as soon is they hit a bird
The sound they make will wake the dead at the cemetery!!
Would you mind making a video about history Network Southeast?
Like ur vids btw
-from a NSE/BR era train enthusiast
Finally
Locomotives that were built to last
I still don't know why you only have 120k subscribers
The Class 37 is the best.
Next locomotives type 1 Class 20, or type ,24,25,26,27 or type 3 ,33 . Plus bule star system.
1:11 is that Star of the east name plate (Immingham TMD ) my old shed RIP they maybe useful locos but noisy/ draughty
Please do a video on the BR Class 20😊
English electric - EMD of the uk
I'm gonna play the first part of the engine around my friend who likes tractors (farm equipment) to see if he thinks it is a tractor lol