When British Railways (BR) initiated its Modernisation Plan in 1954
it had little experience of diesel locomotives thus initiated a
Pilot Scheme to trial combinations of the three elements comprised
within a locomotive the engine, transmission and body. The initial
orders for 174 locomotives were placed in November 1955, but even
before the first locomotive had been delivered, changes in
Government policy led to bulk orders for most designs being
trialled. It was only in 1968, once steam traction had been removed
from the network, that BR was able to review the success, or
otherwise, of its diesel fleet and decide which designs to withdraw
from service. The nascent preservation movement of the time was
concerned to preserve steam locomotives whilst only buying diesel
shunting locomotives for support roles on heritage lines and it
wasn t until 1977 that any effort was made to preserve main line
diesels. Once it was confirmed that diesel locomotives had an
appeal to enthusiasts, further purchases were made that resulted in
examples of most of the BR diesel classes being represented within
the preservation movement. Fred Kerr s book details those classes
which are represented on heritage lines, identifies where possible
their location as of December 2016, shows many of them at work and
shows what is involved in the restoration, maintenance and
operation of diesel locomotives by the volunteers whose efforts are
vital but rarely acknowledged. Some of the preserved locomotives
were bought for possible use on the national network and this was
facilitated by the Railways Bill 1993\. A complementary album of
preserved and heritage locomotives titled _Heritage Traction on the
Main Line_ details the locomotive classes whose representatives are
still in regular use on the national network as at December 2016
and follows a similar format to this album.
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