British Rail Class 14 - Operations and Preservation

Operations and Preservation

The Class 14s, like many other early types of diesel, had an extremely short life with British Railways, in this case not because of poor reliability but because many of its envisaged duties disappeared on the BR network a few years after they came into use. Most were resold for industrial use, where the vast majority had a working life of two to three times that with British Railways. Unfortunately the industries in which they were employed, such as coal mining, declined during the 1970s and the class again became surplus to requirements, but several have found a third lease of life on preserved lines where they are ideal for both light passenger work and the maintenance of permanent way.

Unusually, D9504 was leased in 2005 from its preservation group and found itself in revenue-earning service on the newest mainline in the UK – High Speed 1 (known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link during construction) – mainly in marshalling and stabling the 450 metre, 22-wagon concrete-pumping train on the final stretch to St.Pancras Station.

D9524 was re-powered under the ownership of BP Grangemouth - it was later re-powered again under the ownership of the Scottish RPS who, following BR practice, gave it a number of 14 901. It now operates with a Rolls-Royce DV8TCE (640 bhp). This engine may have been originally installed in one of the two Rolls-Royce-engined Class 17 Claytons.

The last locomotive built, D9555, is notable as the final locomotive to be built for British Rail at Swindon Works, in 1965; today the locomotive is privately owned and operates on the Dean Forest Railway, Gloucestershire, its original route.