In 1957 the Western Region of BR identified a need for 400 Type 1
diesel locomotives for short-haul freight duties but it was 1964
before the first was introduced. General-purpose Type 1s were being
delivered elsewhere but WR management regarded these as too
expensive for their requirements. After completion of design work
on the Western' locomotives, Swindon turned to creating a cheap
no-frills' Type 1\. At 65% of the cost of the Bo-Bo alternative,
the Swindon 0-6-0 represented a better fit' for the trip-freight
niche. Since 1957 the privatised road-haulage industry had
decimated BR's wagon-load sector; whilst the 1962 Transport Act
released BR from its financially-debilitating public-service
obligations, the damage had been done, and the 1963 Beeching Plan
focused on closing unprofitable routes and associated services. By
1963 the original requirement for 400 Type 1s had been massively
reduced. Fifty-six locomotives were constructed in 1964/65\.
Continuing traffic losses resulted in the whole class becoming
redundant by 1969\. Fortuitously, a demand for high-powered diesels
on the larger industrial railway systems saw the bulk of the
locomotives finding useful employment for a further twenty years.
This book covers the life of these locomotives on British Railways;
a companion volume will provide an extensive appraisal of "Their
Life in Industry" for the forty-eight locomotives which made the
successful transition after withdrawal from BR
General
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