In the US, we've had the GP38 from the very beginning and the husky MP15 for a long time; in Germany we had the rather unsuccessful BR 204 but now the beastly BR 294. But on UK routes, still just the Gronk, the Class 08 and its "fast" variant the Class 09 (plus the 20 in pairs, but that seems to be used exclusively as a road engine). Surely Britain has a heavy shunter in the 1500-2000 hp class?
Not from my understanding, I don’t think we had a heavy shunter but we would use the normal freight trains if it was too much for normal shunters They would also just double class 08s and that did the job
In the UK there are several classes of main line diesels in the 1.5 - 2k hp range, such as the Class 37, so no need for a specialised heavy shunter.
In the BR Classic era you had the Sulzer Type 2’s, Class 24, 25, 26 and 27 which were used for trip freight and secondary passenger workings where DMU’s were considered unsuitable. But the concept of a dual purpose “road switcher” is alien to the UK. The closest you might get to that is the Class 14 Teddy Bears or the Class 17 Clayton’s neither of which were particularly numerous the main advantage being both having a central cab elevated over the main body.
The Class 14 was primarily built as a yard and docks shunter, but having a top speed of 45 mph and being quite powerful for their size, the preserved ones now find use as train locos on heritage railways. The SVR uses one for this purpose. It's only drawback is no steam heat, so it's not suitable for the winter timetable. The Class 17s weren't considered a successful class and ended their days as trackside remote controlled locos in steel works. Scunthorpe had a small fleet of them when I was there in 2000. They were never let out to play.
IIRC didn’t the NCB (Coal Board) have a small fleet, maybe British Steel too. Now there’s an idea for something different, DTG, the Corby steel complex and surrounding ironstone pits in their heyday, late 60’s and early 70’s.
Better to do an active steelworks like Scunthorpe, which also has main line movements and a heritage railway on site. See my addition to my previous post.
I couple of yards I've worked in the UK have had some really tight curves in places. Nothing bigger than a shunter could manage. Plus UK trains being much shorter than what you would see in the us, all that power was not necessary.
The 08 and 09s were all that were needed for yards and station shunts as they were usually low speed and they could move pretty much anything. For anything on the mainline usually a class 20 or 37 or anything that was available was used. Though I do remember many years ago being at Didcot station and an 08 trundled through with a consist bound for the Didcot Railway centre, this was long before the days on Real Time Trains or easily finding where it had come from. But my platform 5 Number book at the time said it was a Newport 08.
When there was a need for a heavy duty shunter, we just permanently bolted two BR Class 08’s together as a “Master and Slave” unit. The slave unit having its cab cut and controls removed. This was known as the BR Class 13!
What about Sentinel diesel locos that were used at places like Hope cement works? Wensleydale has one and also has an ex-NCB class 14.
Yeah but still really sad, they didn’t even release the blueprints (I don’t think) so it’s almost lost information
Personally I don't think heavy shunters really appear in countries that aren't situated in north America or Europe. As for us lads down under most marshalling are just done by regular locomotives rather than dedicated heavy shunters especially for longer trains. Due to us having trains like the NR class which can change their horsepower output and serve in shunting roles which I have personally seen trainspotting behind the Costco at Kilburn. This would apply to the Uk, but most long trains are just shunted by regular locos these days so there hasn't really been a need for dedicated heavy shunters. Though if you want to you could classify the class 21's version 2's as heavy shunters due to resemblance to one of the German shunters mention before but from my knowlede they've only operated near the euro tunnel no where else in the uk really.
Yeah the NCB and the British Steel Corporation got the deal of a century on them, effectively brand new locos on the cheap (given their service life with BR was basically only around 4 years!). Ultimatley why so many survived as their industrial Career lasted into the 80s when they were snapped up by preservation groups
Ultimatley I suppose it depends on the definition of a heavy shunter, by UK standards what classes as a light and medium shunter... In my book a light shunter would be something Like a Ruston 48DS or Motor Rail Simplex, something only about the size of a wagon and weighing about that too around 7-10 Ton. The German equivlant being like a Köf I. A Medium sized shunter would then be something like a Ruston 88/165DS, Class 03 or 04 weighing in around the 20-35 ton mark, the German equivalent falling somewhere between a Köf II or Köf III. That would invariably make a Class 08 a heavy shunter weighing in at a fairly standard 50 ton. Of course there are examples of some much larger and heavier industrial diesel shunters, or the aforementioned Class 13 which somewhat muddy the designation. Ultimatley the UK never really had something equivalent to say road switcher, the closest as mentioned being the Class 14/17 and I guess the rest of the Type 1-3s, but they're more treated as full on locos rather than shunters. The 14 is basically the equivalent of a V60 and weigh 50 tons as does the V60, so basically the same as an 08 so they can't exactly be considered heavier shunters when they weigh basically the same!
There's also the BR Class 15 which took on an American switcher inspired design, although I don't think it was built as a shunting focused locomotive.
The 15 and 16s suffered from the fact the visibility was poor in either direction thanks to the long and short hoods, so a shunting loco they are far from ideal. The 17s fared not much better being what would best be described as mediocre in either direction!
I’m very surprised though DTG never made a Teddy Bear (Class 14) for WSR. It would be significantly more challenging taking 6 or 7 coaches across the route than the 33, 52 or 47.
