BR Deltic 55022 - start, horn & departure, at York, 16-Aug-2008

[internet123ism]

and a head in every window...great stuff

[irelandbloke]

Cool vid

[yaraihan]

i like this

BR comes to york with semboyan 35

sorry that is horn

[a217andy]

can any1 tell me what cc engine this has

thanks

[stellarartwars07]

Trains sadly have gone the same way as cars, very sleek looking buy not really a lot of character, and I can't imagine a modern train being particularly exciting to drive with all the electronic aids etc. Whereas the power of a Deltic required a lot of skill to handle.

[TimRuffle]

When I lived in Durham City in 1981 I simply could not get to sleep until the 11:20 (IIRC) southbound mail train left the station and accelerated away up the hill into Redhills cutting.

This is why.

(Never heard five of them at once mind you- until Shildon a couple of weeks ago.)

[kemp6670]

i drove the royal scots grey for my 50th birthday treat

[MyPlonkerboy]

Very nice video and Locomotive but, I do prefer the sound of the 37s.

[plasticspastic201]

good sound indeed.

[trainlover658]

Makes me wonder how the baby deltic is going to perform when it's finally done.

[brownbrador45]

i agree with magicmaybach give me smells and smoke of a diesel motor all day

[TheWacoKid1963]

For once BR got something right

[freethoughtmusic]

Bloody engineering marvel they were.

[NiallMS]

I believe that "saving a Deltic from the scrapyard" was one of the most successful appeals of all time. No wonder!!

I used to see them (and hear them) going past Abbots Ripton at full tilt. They were a great post-script to steam!

[AlbionRail]

Excellent video thanks for sharing, a classic!

[carldonno]

yayyyyyyyy! strayed on this vid. ..just cheered me up thats all :oD

[Johannes1955]

love this clip!

[lmogden1]

great video love the sound of a deltic nothing like it

[TimRuffle]

Liked that. I moved to Durham in 1981 to a house that gave a clear view of the ECML from the station to the bottom of Red Hills Cutting. The Deltics were already on secondary duties and only a few months away from withdrawal but they put on a glorious show accelerating up the hill.

Wish I'd had a video camera then- I'd have had days of footage of these and other classic diesels working hard in their natural habitat.

...But no `O` levels.

[nferguso]

Sing my beauties, sing!

[TheCatapultTV]

i wish 55 017 'The Durham Light Infantry' was preserved... *sigh*

[treinfan1999]

Nice video

[1teaboy]

Clag-tastic.....!!

[matsui2001]

These did not have a very long life... They were introduced in the early 1960,s ..

When the HST came out in the mid 1970,s.. That was the beginning of the end for these loco,s

The HST was simply Years ahead.

[itfcsam]

Nice tones! 5*

[torino390]

Any of these mighty beasts still running? I guess the next question is where and when? I'd love to hear that sound again...

[Glitchfantastic]

@LeeWoodsPhotography not had much time to see em running sadly =[

[Bevoin1970]

Great sound and video :-)

[Doomsday2060]

how do the deltic's windows not shatter ?!

[cccecider]

what engines were in them

[waldenhouse]

Nice video, thanks for posting. The Coaches looked in very nice condition too. Best Diesels on the ECML!

[69nisab]

probably a stupid question but why are these called Deltics? Awesome locos by the way.

[545iAR]

They are called Deltics as their engine configuration is in the shape of an upside down "delta" symbol from greek text. They have 3 crankshafts, one at each corner of a triangle hence the letter delta

[heartbeat1965]

The engine layout looked like the greek letter 'delta'.

[pinza55007]

the deltics along with the westerns were the last examples of how a train should be. individual style, 2 engines mean that in the event of a failure, it can still get home. un likley to loose both engines. the deltics, along with the westerns, were (are) incredible. great vid, 5*

[y16amp]

Lordy...that takes me back!

I used to go to York regularly as a boy back in the '70's, to see these wonderful things...are they still running then?

[TrainBusJaguar]

BR had withdrawn them all by 1982. This one, 55022, is now preserved (along with 6 others, including prototype) and is now operating main line railtours. Thanks!

[thehoff1982]

@y16amp seriously - where have you been?!!!

[isomolle]

The windshields bring into mind the Danish My and Mx class Nohabs.

[autosport4]

there's nothing like an A4, A3 or A1

[magicmaybach]

Except a Deltic leaving em standing!!

[RianTrace84]

Is this after the leg out of bed incident!?

[eezy1972]

Why on only one engine though?

[V8Bluebottle]

That's how Deltics work. They start on one engine and the other kicks in around 15 to 20 mph. Usually with a fairly big plume of white smoke!

[campainr]

Proper Train! But I'd choose A4 over Deltic

any day!

[Glitchfantastic]

god the sound of this is immense currently the east lancs railway have a deltic to fix up and they have been running it on the one engine would be nice to see it running on 2

[TrainBusJaguar]

Well this is the same one - 55022 suffered an engine failure about a couple of weeks after I filmed this. Now the owners of 55022 have also aquired D9016, they'll have it's operational engine into 22, getting it back on the main line. 16 will then be completely restored, and receive an overhauled power unit. Thanks!

[ntrlmass]

I grew up in York and Deltics were a part of the scenery. They were (are) majestic beasts and the station boomed like thunder when two or more were in at the same time (platforms 8 and 9 mainly). The "Flying Scotsman" service once a day from Edinburgh to London used to hammer down the middle (not stopping) with a Deltic at the front just after midday. On a calm night I used to lie in bed in Haxby (just North of York) maybe 5 miles from the main line listening to Deltics gaining speed.

[J0nnyGT]

I'm a working member on Royal Scots Grey. Too young to remember them in BR service but can only imagine what it would sound like with 3 or 4 of them at Kings Cross.

If anyone has any Deltic parts out there that they would like to donate to RSG as the engine rebuild is missing a few parts. Donations will be rewarded by RSG!

Long live 55 022

[andythesoupdragon]

the hackleson my neck were definetely up! I am unlucky enough to drive a black cab around Edinburgh,one night I picked up a driver from Craigentinny TMD, he was telling me about some incident in '79 when on an ECML train to Edinburgh,he stopped at a signal & an irate woman went to the foot of her garden, & started hitting the 55's cabside with her mop! Seems she was fed up with her clean washing being oiled upon by Deltics covering the place with clag!

[plane15]

great story!

[atrumira]

The Ferrari of Diesel traction.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Well said mate! :-D cheers!

[atrumira]

Cheers right back TBJ.

I'm a British born (& very proud of my birthright) Canadian who, as a very young lad, lived in Longniddry Scotland back in the late 60's. My Dad, for years after our family had emigrated to Canada, used to reminisce about the Deltics. Late at night they used to race past our house - was my Dad bothered? Hardly, he used to refer to the sound the Deltics made as making the hair stand up on the back of your neck - he was also the one to call the Deltic a Ferrari.

[atrumira]

Then later on in 1991 British Rail were operating a clearing house of old bits & peaces. Listing on their inventory of "for sale" items were Deltic pistons. I purchased 1 for, if I remember correctly, approx 30 Pounds & had it shipped to my address in Canada (the shipping charge cost more than the piston). It was to be a present for my father. When it arrived I opened the box, what was inside was a very black cylinder - the uncleaned, very well used piston!

[atrumira]

It took approx 6 hours & a lot of elbow grease to clean up the black charcoaly mess that was this Deltic Piston. It consists of 2 parts; a light alloy lower cylinder section & a very dense/solid copper top with a concave hemispherical 2" cap with 2 compression rings.

As I've been told the Napier marine engine for which the Deltic has 2 (detuned for longevity) is a monster in every sense; power, refinement & at the time - very technically advanced.

[volvomantom]

This video makes me cry tears of joy. The Napier Deltic couldn't have been coupled to a more appropriate locomotive.

[TrainBusJaguar]

I know, it's just the perfect loco. That's why, along with the Valenta HST's, the Deltics are just my fav trains EVER!

[nicolasgordiano]

Congratulations!How many Deltics have in whole National Rail?

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks! Well British Rail had 22 of them, from 1960-1982, but after withdrawing they got scrapped. However, 6 got preserved, and the prototype. This one is still on the main line, doing specials! :-D

[TrainBusJaguar]

WTF??!

[volvomantom]

Have we got a bit of a Zontar on our hands here?!

[TrainBusJaguar]

Well, it might be his private account?? LOL!

[mattSTOCK1974]

Great Stuff I can remember being very young with my Dad standing on the disused Helpston station platfom near Peterbobough watching Deltics thunder past.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Cheers! Glad u like the Deltics.

[volvomantom]

Why can't all horns sound like that? :D

[TrainBusJaguar]

It would be good lol :D actually I like 91 horns too!

[traindriverglos1960]

awesome happy memoriesof my childhood in the 70s

[lewisner]

Fabulous clip - the only thing missing is the little ringing bell and "S" indicator on platform 9 ! 28 years melted away......

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks!

[Penfold1964]

Fantastic film of one of my favourite locos...beautiful and powerful (well, in my eyes anyway)

[TrainBusJaguar]

I agree, and I hope Deltic 22 does some moe mainline railtours this year! Thanks!

[ewsiscrap]

I rode on the footplate of the purple Deltic from Scarborough to York.

Deltics were noisy , draughty and a nightmare for drivers and fitters.

In todays world Deltics are a throw back to another age.

Noise levels at 90mph were terrible and after an 8 hrs driving stint you got off the engine deaf.

All in all a Health and safety nightmare.

The best Delic is one that is shut down in a museum and there is no place on a modern railway for these engines.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Well there seems to be! Nearly all the preserved Deltics are coming back to the main line, even the one that is "shut down in a museum"!

Thanks for commenting, but I (along with most other enthusiasts) love Deltics!

[philquine]

Have you tried seeing a psychiatrist as you are clearly mad!!!

[magicmaybach]

Actually some of us LIKE to drive noisy locos, screw health and safety the nanny state twats, give me a beast that screams and bellows like napiers at full throttle, i want to feel and hear the power, sod my eardrums....

[DKS225]

@magicmaybach Like the sound of a Valenta on a HST before the MTU engine eh magicmaybach?

[wattass7]

@magicmaybach well said a nanny state we live in now build 50 new deltics with 3 napier engines and have them growling up the ecml once again

[moonmanas]

@magicmaybach Haha couldnt agree more you would like tinkering with the old clayton boiler with both engines full pelt BR actually gave us earplugs lol

[volvomantom]

Another factor for their withdrawal might be their driver comfort levels (or lack thereof).

The cab does look pretty cramped, forward visibility looks pretty minimal (a small price to pay I think, because those teardrop windscreens look brill) and by all accounts they were noisy.

Search 'Deltic' on YouTube and look for the ITN news report on them, a driver attests to all of the above, lol.

[bwhugul]

Could the same have been said about the HSTs when they still had Valenta engines?

There are cab videos, yes, but they certainly do not convey how noisy it actually must have been on board. The engine sound is sort of deliberately dampened down in all the cab videos I've seen.

[lewisner]

I did my route learning as a guard from KX to York in the back cab of an HST in 1986 and the noise was incredible.I remember thinking that if the engine blew up they wouldn't even find my teeth.

[lonelywolf1966]

i fell in love with the deltics on york station 30 yrs ago ,, it was 55003 Meld standing in the bay waiting to take a south bound... a freezin day and im leaning against her name plate....... an then the driver started her up on the other side engine!!!!! took me about a half hour to hear properly,,, but i got a cab ride to doncaster for it ..... RIP 55003 gone but not forgotten

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks for sharing your story. Ooooh how I wish the Deltics were still in service - they should replace the MTU HSTs haha lol!

[volvomantom]

Yeah, same here. I really don't know why they were withdrawn in the first place. The HST is only capable of 25mph more than the 55s...OK, so people get to their destinations that little bit earlier, but is it really reason enough to withdraw an entire fleet of proven workhorses and spend a lot of money introducing the HSTs?

I genuinely believe the Deltics would have no problem in coping with the demands of today's railways. Probly just the running costs that'd be a problem. :(

[TrainBusJaguar]

I agree, especially as so many of them on that Doncaster scrap line would be fully serviceable. But yeah, 2 engines a loco would posess a slight cost problem I guess, eh?!

[volvomantom]

Yeah, especially in these troubled times.

Network Rail's probably struggling to cope with running their DMUs so what a fleet of Deltics would do to their bank balance one can only guess.

[mrspivvy]

Part of the reason for withdrawl was their non-standard layout, ie twin 2-stroke engines. the engines were almost totally sealed and had to be removed from the loco for any major work.

also, the work they were designed for really didn't exist any more by the early '80s. The faster, cheaper to run HST took over passenger work whilst the freight that was still in existance could be coped with by 37s and similar, they didnt need the big power anymore

[catzlad]

The HST also had better acceleration due to the twin power cars. The main issue limiting performance was the high axle weighting of the Class 55 - even on the line up to Inverness, the lighter HSTs can go considerably faster.

[mrspivvy]

With some re-gearing of the traction motors the deltics could have easily matched the HST performance. when brand new one deltic saw a genuine 120 mph in standard form (unofficially!)

[TrainBusJaguar]

Wow! Which one was that?

[callumayre23]

I will try and find out for you, it's on a video I have where they were interviewing one of the chief engineers involved with the deltic project. He said the traction motors were singing a bit at that speed but on a brand new loco with the maximum rolling radius of new "tyres" it was achievable.

(the traction motors can recover from a flashover undamaged) They only realised because they were passing two mile markers a minute!

[bwhugul]

The MTU HSTs sound just like the Deltics at idle when they're on full throttle!

[Maryonpark]

The Deltic had a distinct whine, went past our house in Hertfordshire all the time, could here it coming a mile off!

[TrainBusJaguar]

As the saying goes, "you can hear 'em before you see 'em". Thanks for commenting!

[merseyrail508124]

Nice video! I really like the deltics, its just a shame I have never seen one! (Well apart from a green one at york NRM a while back but its on display and not running! :( !) Anyway nice vid 5* + fav!

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks mate! Yeh 55002 hasn't run for about 10 years now, but when I was at the NRM last week some men were inside examining the engines... you never know.

[merseyrail508124]

hopefully it will run again one day!

[TrainBusJaguar]

Haha lol!

[GarethHedley]

The only Deltic I ever saw was on York station in 1979. I will never forget how wonderful she looked

[TrainBusJaguar]

Must have been amazing to see it in service with BR. Which one was it?

[volvomantom]

It's stuff like this which makes me sad that there's only six of these magnificent locos in preservation! Why couldn't they have killed some 37s instead?

[TrainBusJaguar]

Yeh, there are soo many 37s hither & thither, I have nothing against them but by far prefer the 55s! Thanks for commenting.

[mecrazy5]

never seen a working deltic up close, i saw a static deltic at the nrm but not working

[TrainBusJaguar]

Ah, that would be number 55002 (at York), or the Prototype (at Shildon). Ta for commenting mate!

[mekydro]

D9000 was my first Deltic for haulage, KX-Edinburgh back in 1974. Just like steam, such a slow start...

Nice vid, thanks for posting, but give me two MD655s at full-throttle off the blocks anytime!

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks for commenting. I've been on D9009 & 55019, seen those along with 55002 and 55022.

What's an MD655, please?

[mekydro]

MD655's are the engines fitted to the Class 52 'Westerns'; if you've never heard one - well, you should!

[TrainBusJaguar]

Oh the Westerns! Never knew their engine types. Thanks for the info.

[bwhugul]

I think it could accelerate a lot faster if the throttle was put up to full immediately. But the Napier engines are very delicate I believe, and forcing them to run very fast very quickly would shorten their life drastically.

I had a go on the simulator at Railfest in 2004. The guys running it said that it would be very damaging to apply full power at once because of severe wheelslip due to the immense power. They're definitely more powerful than individual HST powercars!

[mekydro]

In my experience Deltics were always eased away very gently from a standing start. Only got going once you got through Gasworks tunnel - then it was clag and sparks all-round.

[lewisner]

The inertia on such a long train with a Syphon on the end of it would be huge.

[ruberyb45]

It amazes me how people can go about there normal lives. And not notice this amazing machine.

[TrainBusJaguar]

I agree, that day I saw the railtour I spoke to a gentleman who described Deltics as "over rated" and said he was only interested in the 37 on the rear, and I was amazed!

[noyna9]

there is a deltic that passes through shotton station(north wales) on the hollyhead line most days.

[TrainBusJaguar]

A Deltic? Which one??? or was it a 37?

[BradBrassman]

My favourite however was "Tulyar" and "Pinza" and I had a mate called "Casey Jones", also a postman from Grantham who used to ride these just for the mileage. They were known as "Deltic Bashers"

[TrainBusJaguar]

Ahahaha sounds a bit like me, a right 'Deltic basher' I am lol! I hear Tulyar's overhaul is nearly done?

[BradBrassman]

Nice!! I used to wait for these at Grantham to, "service the brake" as a postman

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks!

[dylans8]

i used to travel from york alot in late 70s brings back memorys thankyou

[TrainBusJaguar]

No problems! I wish I'd been born then, I could have seen the Deltics in regular service.. Never mind lol!

[mecrazy5]

brilliant!

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thank you for your brilliant comment!

[TheXtremeEnthusiast]

great stuff

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks m8!

[Lukeashley2323]

55022 Royal Scotts Grey at the end of her service life in 1982 pretty much looked the same as it was in this shot except i think she had grey painted roof fins and fuel tanks as she was a Gateshead machine but she was not pulled out of Doncaster works until the end of 1983 after BR had put her out to auction 3 times lovely manchine long live napier power.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks for the data. Amen to that!

[dieselmanmike]

Sounds great under the canopy, what a beast!! 5*

[TrainBusJaguar]

I agree! Thanks!

[bobatporty]

I was a driver at Crewe and back in 85 a deltic came in and I took it onto the fueling depo....via basford hall (naughty, naughty) just so I could have a blast on one before they got scrapped, and I have a funny feeling it was this one, the number seems familiar

[TrainBusJaguar]

Well BR had finished with the Deltics by 1982, so it must have been either 55002, 55009, 55015, 55016, 55019 or 55022, the six surviving production Deltics. All are today preserved, but 55016 (D9016) is threatend with scrap by HNRC! Wish I could drive a Deltic. Would be ace!

[bobatporty]

Could have been 55002 as I'm sure it had a two in the number. A great loco I started up the second engine just to see what it was like.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Ah, right. Well 55002 was in green at that time. Not sure about 55022 at that time.

[DelticMattV2000]

woooow wat a site.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Yeh I quite agree, this was the whole reason why I went to spend a day of filming at York station. Thanks for the comment!

[theamateurbasher]

"Sing my beauty! Sing to daddy!"

Five stars.

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks!

[HST43068]

Much better than the Vomit and 185 videos!!! :)

are you filming the Deltic Retro Scot at York next week? (beware it might use the avoider as it is non-stop but platform 3 would be better!)

[TrainBusJaguar]

Thanks for the comment! I might be able to see it, but what is the 'avoider', please?

[HST43068]

The slow lines leave the main lines at Holgate Junction and then go directly to Skelton Junction, avoiding York station. Take a look at Virtual Earth / Google Earth (or a Quail map!).

[TrainBusJaguar]

Ah, right. I hope the railtour crew consider all us rail enthusiasts at York & bring her through, anyway!