The British Railways Class 11 is a batch of diesel shunters built from April 1945 to December 1952, based on the earlier D3/6 built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) between 1934 and 1936.
Overview[]
An initial batch of twenty locomotives was built during World War II, fourteen of which were built for the War Department, with the first ten of these (70260-70269) subsequently going to the Nederlandse Spoorwegen post-war as NS 501–510. LMS numbers 7120–7126 went straight into LMS stock, and a follow-up batch was built, 7129 being the last diesel shunter to be built for the LMS. British Railways continued to build the class from 1948 to 1952.
Withdrawal[]
British Railways eventually withdrew the members of this class from service between May 1967 and November 1972.
Preservation[]
About eight examples of Class 11 have been preserved:
- 12052 is at the Caledonian Railway
- 12077 is at the Midland Railway - Butterley
- 12083 is at the Battlefield Line Railway
- 12088 is at the Aln Valley Railway
- 12093 is at the Caledonian Railway
- 12099 is at the Severn Valley Railway
- 12131 is at the North Norfolk Railway
- A ninth example 12049 (renumbered from 12082) is preserved at the Watercress Line in Hampshire. 12082 was renumbered to 12049 in October 2010 and painted in BR green with a late crest but without the yellow/black ends. This was as a replacement for the original Mid Hants locomotive 12049 that was scrapped after suffering catastrophic damage during an engine shed fire on July 26, 2010.
