'BABY DELTICS' AND BRUSH TYPE 2s

摘要

A journey by suburban train from King's Cross in the mid-1950s could be a protracted and smoky affair. Cambridge line workings were generally handled by B1 4-6-0s, L1 2-6-4Ts or an occasional 'Sandringham', while the inner-suburban jobs were still entrusted to Gresley N2 0-6-2Ts hauling pairs of his four-coach articulated sets ('Quad-Arts') or five-coach sets of BR non-corridor stock. Diesels ventured on to the Great Northern suburban scene towards the end of that decade, initially with under-powered Cravens DMUs supplemented by Type 2 locos of BRCW/Sulzer, North British and English Electric design. Why such Type 2 variety at that early stage of dieselisation? British Railways' plan for 174 'Pilot Scheme' main line diesel locos, from which experience could be gained gradually, had been thrown into disarray by the poor financial results of 1956. In a Government-driven attempt to cut costs and patronise as many UK loco builders as possible, a hotchpotch of moderately-powered diesels was purchased with ill-considered haste . . . and electrification of the King's Cross suburban routes - let alone the East Coast Main Line - was put on the 'back burner'.