The Class 17 locomotives were built by Clayton Equipment Company and their sub-contractor Beyer, Peacock & Co, for British Railways (BR). IT is a rather overlooked class of BR diesel with the exception of one preserved example on a heritage railway along with scale models being produced. A reason for this may be their unreliable performances in their days of service. Following problems with the single-cabbed pilot scheme Type 1 locomotives, the Class 17s were designed with a centre cab and low bonnets to maximize visibility for the driver. The low engine covers required the use of two Paxman six-cylinder horizontal engines and these gave unreliable performance even after extensive modifications. The class proved to be one of the least successful of the Type 1s. Withdrawals took place from the late 1960s to 1971, some locomotives having a working life of less than five years.The Class 17s had by far the shortest lives of any significant BR diesel-electric locomotive design, with many examples having a working life of less than five years. One survived into preservation, and does regular visits to diesel galas across the country but lives at the Chinnor and Prices Risborough Railway, a railway I volunteer at, and often works passenger services. In service, Class 17s were mainly based in Scotland. The Clayton examples were delivered to the Scottish Region depots at Polmadie and Haymarket, although some later migrated to Kingmoor on the London Midland Region. They proved far too under powered for this work, and so were moved to Ardsley shed in the Midlands a few months later where they undertook a variety of freight work both individually and in multiple. Subsequently all of the locomotives allocated to the Eastern Region were transferred to Haymarket where they were employed on freight traffic in southern Scotland and northern England. As for their inclusion in Train Simulator: The liveries that could be included are as follows: BR Green with yellow panel BR Green with full yellow ends (as currently preserved) BR Blue Ribble Cement (not much current scenario potential but a useful inclusion for potential future scenarios) Due to their allocations, I believe that this loco could have scenarios released for it on the Western Lines of Scotland Route. This could include both passenger and freight work for both shunting and mainline operations. The WCML North could also work to some extent, but may be based period wise too far ahead for suitable included scenarios with this type of locomotive. As for further scenario potential, there is quite a bit. Due to some being based in Haymarket, the Edinburgh-Glasgow Route would work well. As one survives in preservation, scenarios can be done on heritage railways by the community. Some were also moved to the Eastern Region, Tyne Dock, and so the ECML York-Newcastle would also be viable. Overall: This locomotive would be a good addition to train simulator for many reasons. One survives in preservation, so it would be easy to collect sounds. Variety of liveries. It is a unique locomotive class in it's looks and operations. Scenario potential on a number of routes. Very suitable route available for included scenarios. Let me know what you think of this suggestion, do you think this would be a welcomed addon for TS?
The Clayton's a nice looking little loco'- pleasant to drive (so I'm told) and with a nice comfy cab to sit in while you wait for a recovery loco'. They were such dogs though they'd make the Romanian built Class 56's look good. Kit Spackman (one of the engineers who developed the APT) has a story which I've told here before but it's worth repeating. After their undistinguished time in main line service a couple of Claytons were used at Old Dalby where the APT E-Train (the gas-turbines unit) was being tested. The unit would belt up and down the test track a couple of times then be dragged back to the shed by the Claytons. On one such occasion Kit was riding in the cab when smoke began to pour from one of the bonnets. The driver sighed and said, "hold this will you", meaning the throttle so the DSD didn't engage. Kit obliged and the driver took the fire extinguisher from its bracket, leaned out of the window as far as he could, aimed for the air-intake and emptied the extinguisher into the engine. He then retook his seat, said, "thanks", and they carried on. "Aren't you going to stop?" asked Kit. The Driver snorted. "If I stopped every time this bloody thing caught fire we'd never get anywhere", he said.
