British Rail 18000 was a prototype mainline gas turbine-electric locomotive built for British Railways in 1949 by Brown, Boveri & Cie. An earlier gas turbine locomotive, known as the No. 18100, was ordered from Metropolitan-Vickers from the Great Western Railway, but construction had to be delayed because of World War II. So, a second, being the 18000, was ordered from Switzerland. From then after, it operated on the Western Region of British Railways, doing express jobs from Paddington Station, in London.
Overview[]
The GWR chose a gas-turbine locomotive because, at the time, there was no single-unit diesel locomotive of sufficient power available. The King class steam locomotive could deliver about 2,500 horsepower, and the LMS diesel locomotives could only deliver about 1,600 horsepower. And after allowing transmission losses, this would be taken down to 1,300 horsepower. Meaning that two LMS diesel locomotives would be needed to match a King class.
No. 18000 had the A1A-A1A wheel arrangement, with the total horsepower of the gas turbine being 2,500. It had a top speed of 90 mph and was about 117 tons. It was in the black BR livery with a silver stripe going across the middle and silver numbers.
Performance[]
When reliable operation could be achieved, it did show itself capable of meeting expectations. Unfortunately, however, it was neither possible to achieve a consistently acceptable level of reliability nor to operate it under conditions which would allow reasonable fuel economy.
Post-BR use[]
At the end of 1960, 18000 was withdrawn from operation and was stored at Swindon Works for four years. It then returned to mainland Europe, where for more than ten years it was used, in substantially altered (and no longer gas-turbine-powered) form, for experiments concerning the interaction between steel wheels and steel rails, under the auspices of the International Union of Railways. In 1975 it was moved to Vienna and displayed outside the Mechanical Engineering Testing building of the Arsenal research centre.
Preservation[]
In the early 1990s it was secured for preservation. It returned to the UK and was kept at The Railway Age, Crewe. It was then moved to Barrow Hill Roundhouse and was repainted in green livery.
Exhibited at Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway[]
In mid-April 2010 it was delivered to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in order to take part (as a static exhibit) in the celebrations for the 175th birthday of the Great Western Railway from 29 May to 6 June 2010.
Moved to Didcot Railway Centre[]
Since then, it has moved to Didcot. It arrived at the yard, west of Didcot Parkway railway station, on 20 July 2011 and was moved into Didcot Railway Centre on 29 July 2011. It is now owned by the Pete Waterman Trust.
Models[]
18000 is made as a kit and ready-to-run in OO gauge by Silver Fox Models. A further ready-to run version is planned in 2020 by Rails of Sheffield.
See also[]
- British Rail 18100
- British Rail GT3
- British Rail APT-E
- Union Pacific GTELs
Gallery[]
