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Class 52 Western
Seventy-four diesel-hydraulic express locomotives that British Railways built at Swindon and Crewe in 1961-64 for the Western Region, the last and most powerful of its hydraulics, with two Maybach engines and Voith transmissions for 2,700 hp. They hauled the Western Region's main expresses from London Paddington, among them the Bristol trains, until the InterCity 125s and BR's standard diesel-electrics took over.
Class 52 Western · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/class-52/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries 1
The same measured train in each livery, each drawn from a cited source. The drawing above shows the largest fleet’s.
Former liveries 1
- Type
- Diesel-hydraulic locomotive (C-C)
- Builder
- British Railways, at Swindon (30) and Crewe (44)
- Built
- 1961-1964
- In service
- 1961–1977
- Formation
- 1 locomotive (C-C)
- Trains in fleet
- 74
- Top speed
- 90 mph (145 km/h)
- Power
- 2,700 hp: two Maybach MD655 12-cylinder four-stroke engines of 1,350 hp each, each driving a Voith L630rV hydraulic transmission
- Bogies
- the Westerns' C-C hydraulic bogies (Class 52)
- Train length
- 68 ft (20.726 m)
- Car height
- 12 ft 10 in (3.908 m)
- Car width
- 9 ft 0 in (2.743 m)
- Profile
- main-line
- Status
- Withdrawn between May 1973 and February 1977; the last Western-hauled train on British Rail, the 'Western Tribute' railtour, ran on 26 February 1977. Seven are preserved.
unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | Class 52 diesel-hydraulic locomotive | 68 ft 0 in20.726 m |
Sources
How we source figures → · Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)
Show the 9 sources from Wikimedia Commons, British Railways, Wikipedia
- Diagram Book D.M.L. 0.329: diesel locomotive diagrams, with DH/4102/1 (the 2,700 hp Type 4 C-C diesel hydraulic, Class 52) and DE/5001/1 (the 3,300 hp English Electric Type 5 C-C, Class 55) British Railways (original copyright BRB Residuary Ltd; diagrams courtesy of Steve Branch, 2017), p. diagram DH/4102/168 ft 0 in over buffers, 42 ft 6 in bogie centres, 54 ft 8 in total wheelbase, 6 ft 1 in + 6 ft 1 in bogies, 3 ft 7 in wheels, 9 ft 0 in over body, 12 ft 11 7/8 in over ventilators, 13 ft 1 in over walkways; two Maybach MD655 12-cylinder engines of 1,350 hp, Voith L630rV transmission, 90 mph (145 km/h), 108 tons in working order
- British Rail Class 52 Wikipedialead only: builders and numbers, 1961-64, 74 built, withdrawals 1973-77, the farewell railtour, seven preserved, the Western Region and Paddington
- Diagram Book D.M.L. 0.329: diesel locomotive diagrams, with DH/4102/1 (the 2,700 hp Type 4 C-C diesel hydraulic, Class 52) and DE/5001/1 (the 3,300 hp English Electric Type 5 C-C, Class 55) British Railways (original copyright BRB Residuary Ltd; diagrams courtesy of Steve Branch, 2017), p. diagram DH/4102/1 (p. 71)the drawing's outline, layout, windows, doors, grilles, roof joints and bogie positions (side elevation scaled by its 42 ft 6 in bogie centres); bogie centres, wheelbase, wheels, buffer height, length over buffers
- D1015 Western Champion (1).jpg (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Tony Hisgett), 24 October 2010the whole locomotive nearly broadside, in maroon: the layout checked on it; the maroon livery
- D1015 Western Champion - 53227462174.jpg (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (kitmasterbloke), 1 October 2023BR blue, the B end
- 267. D1062 Western Courier in Early Morning Mist.jpg (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Two Penny Theatre), 17 May 2024BR blue with the yellow cab window surround
- BR D1062 Western Courier at Kidderminster.jpg (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Steve Knight), 1 October 2023the A end's nose, buffers, lower nose openings and cab window at close range
- D1062 Western Courier at Kidderminster 2023-10-01.jpg (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (kitmasterbloke), 1 October 2023the bogie (laid out from it), the vent and step under the cab door, the yellow ends
- BR Class 52 Diesel Hydraulic ‘D1023’ ‘Western Fusilier’.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (HawkeyeUK), 9 January 2016BR blue with the yellow cab window surround; the bogie
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- Builders and numbers (Swindon 30, Crewe 44), dates, the withdrawals (May 1973 to February 1977), the farewell railtour and the seven preserved: from Wikipedia, used as a lead only
- Height: DH/4102/1 gives 12 ft 11 7/8 in over the ventilators and 13 ft 1 in over the walkways (13 ft 1 in (3,988 mm)); Wikipedia 12 ft 11 3/4 in (3.96 m); the sheet's side elevation draws the roof line at about 3,908
- The end of their work: the InterCity 125 and BR's diesel-electrics are named as their successors by the scope study, not by a source read here
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