Are Class 58s Popular?

[Bevan Price]

After some initial problems were sorted, they had the repetition for having the highest % availability of any (non-shunter) BR diesel before they started getting neglected. As for performance - they could be superb. Despite their normal speed limit (75 mph, I think), they would quite happily run at 90+ mph. (Before the days of radar traps and other speed checks). Indeed, if only they had been eth fitted, they could have been used to replace some of the ageing 47s on passenger work.

 

[Richard Scott]

After some initial problems were sorted, they had the repetition for having the highest % availability of any (non-shunter) BR diesel before they started getting neglected. As for performance - they could be superb. Despite their normal speed limit (75 mph, I think), they would quite happily run at 90+ mph. (Before the days of radar traps and other speed checks). Indeed, if only they had been eth fitted, they could have been used to replace some of the ageing 47s on passenger work.

Did record one at 99mph on a railtour. Afraid can't remember which loco and which tour.

 

[D1537]

After some initial problems were sorted, they had the repetition for having the highest % availability of any (non-shunter) BR diesel before they started getting neglected. As for performance - they could be superb. Despite their normal speed limit (75 mph, I think), they would quite happily run at 90+ mph. (Before the days of radar traps and other speed checks). Indeed, if only they had been eth fitted, they could have been used to replace some of the ageing 47s on passenger work.

By the time they started to lose their freight work, however, most loco-hauled passenger operations were in the hands of long-range 47s, so that would have been a problem for 58s with their quite small fuel capacity (990 gals vs 1380 for a 47/4ER).

 

[ABB125]

This is a relative thing as far as diesels go. If you're comparing them to 37s, 56s etc, they do indeed seem subdued by comparison. But they could produce a fair bit of noise when accelerating from a standing start (skip to 1:09; somewhat drowned out at the start by the Valenta HST!) as this clip of 58045 (016's donor loco) at Didcot proves (from the Meuw858 YT channel). Nothing compared to a 37 or 56 starting from rest, but loud enough.

First time I've heard a valenta HST. Just wow!
Also, that freight accelerated very rapidly! Must have been empty, surely?

 

[Ashley Hill]

They were a novelty down here in the West in the mid 90s when Mainline examples appeared on fuel trains.

 

[ChilternTurbo]

The Hornby model came out in 82 as red stripe 58007 but with no Railfrieght branding which identifies these early models as it soon changed to 58007 or 58001 with branding
In the 82 catalogue it was shown in rail blue !
One reason why they along with a 60 aren't so popular could be the lack of noise. BR's first quiet diesel !
When I first saw the model in a Beatties window I had to have one.

I received the Railfreight grey Hornby Class 58 for my 10th birthday in 1990. It was an impressively detailed and pretty expensive model for the time and being a Londoner, I found Class 58s a rather mythical locomotive. Sadly my Hornby 58 couldn't pull the skin of a rice pudding let alone my rather eclectic and not very accurate fleet of wagons and tankers. Perhaps I had a dud?

 

[Ash Bridge]

Did record one at 99mph on a railtour. Afraid can't remember which loco and which tour.

That wouldn’t surprise me; travelled behind a pair from Plymouth (Laira Depot) to Stockport back in 1991 on a return Pathfinder tour (Tamar Tart?) they went like the proverbial throughout! Still recall on departing Macclesfield once clear of the tunnel that I had to hold onto a seat headrest as I tried to walk back down the isle the acceleration was that strong!

 

[WesternLancer]

I always had a soft spot for them since seeing them under construction at a Doncaster Works open day c1984.

Not many locos these days you will be able to say that about looking to the future I suspect.

Preservation needs a class 58 and HAA hopper wagon train equiv of the GCR 'windcutter project' (suitable for other type of haulage too...)

 

[ac6000cw]

First time I've heard a valenta HST. Just wow!

I'm not a great fan of turbocharger scream (I don't particularly like jet engine noise for the same reason), but you haven't lived if you haven't experienced an HST Valenta on full chat 'in the metal'...
(I prefer my diesels to bark and chug - give me a cl. 25/33/37/40/50 any day, preferably in pairs climbing a hill with a decent load behind them )

Also, that freight accelerated very rapidly! Must have been empty, surely?

Maybe, but on dry rails I've seen a few 'spirited' departures even with decent length/weight loaded freights...

P.S. if you like your diesels LOUD, then I recently came across this YouTube channel of Chinese locos - https://www.youtube.com/c/qj7205/videos (search for HXN5, DF4 and DF8)

 

[CW2]

I quite liked them for the novelty value, but by any objective assessment they were a failure. They were one step up from the (also pretty hopeless) class 56 that preceded them, but by international standards they were prone to excessive wheelspin, and thus couldn't really be trusted with all loads in all weather conditions. The hope was that the 58s would be the spearhead of a great export boom for UK manufacturers. Export orders came there none. The class 59 showed what a proper freight loco could really do, and it has been all GM ever since.

 

[Journeyman]

What was hopeless about the 56? I know the Romanian ones had terrible build quality, but I thought the rest were good.

 

[43096]

What was hopeless about the 56? I know the Romanian ones had terrible build quality, but I thought the rest were good.

Reliability. The reason Class 59 exists is because of Class 56.

 

[Journeyman]

Reliability. The reason Class 59 exists is because of Class 56.

Oh, OK. Again, I thought the UK built ones were good in that regard.

 

[gg1]

So perhaps even the list of preserved examples has shrunk. 56s were freight locos and yet hold an appeal amongst enthusiasts which 58s (and perhaps 60s) don't seem to have.

Always preferred 58s personally, 56s just look like an uglier version of a 47.

 

[Ashley Hill]

They don't do very well on unfitted freights. I was at Kingswear when a pair of 58s caused such a bad snatch pulling away they derailed part of the train.

 

[xotGD]

Just a reminder of how beautiful they are...

 

[ABB125]

Just a reminder of how beautiful they are...

View attachment 96451

Where is that? The platform canopy reminds me of South Kensington, but obviously it isn't!

 

[xotGD]

Where is that? The platform canopy reminds me of South Kensington, but obviously it isn't!

Newport

 

[ABB125]

Newport

No wonder I didn't recognise it! Totally different nowadays, including an extra platform

 

[WesternLancer]

Just a reminder of how beautiful they are...

View attachment 96451

Like a class 20 should have been designed (cab wise at least....)

 

[Journeyman]

Like a class 20 should have been designed (cab wise at least....)

I'm guessing with those big windows that they must have been decent for drivers. There certainly seems to be quite a lot of space in the cabs too.

 

[ABB125]

Like a class 20 should have been designed (cab wise at least....)

Spot the difference:



(My picture of class 20s; the class 58 is from Flickr)

 

[WesternLancer]

Spot the difference:
View attachment 96466
View attachment 96467

(My picture of class 20s; the class 58 is from Flickr)

wheelslip issues solved by extra axles on the 20s paired....

 

[Romsey]

Hardly a worldbeater on oil trains from Fawley or engineering services.. They could manage a better load than a 33 and the drivers liked them because they didn't rattle as much.
Reliability in their final years with Mainline was poor and quite a few exhaust fires. It led to a few "worried of Romsey" phone calls to control seeing them pass with flames to the rear cab and black smoke back to the 3rd 100t tank car of the train.
No great loss to the wider railway and BR very nearly got the design right with the class 60.

 

[Journeyman]

Did the size of the class have anything to do with their fairly short life? There were only 50 of them, as opposed to 100 class 60s and 135 class 56s. Once the 66s had seen off older classes and the BR Type 5s were in the firing line, it makes sense to eliminate the smallest fleet, and presumably there was money to be made shipping them overseas for the infrastructure work.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Hardly a worldbeater on oil trains from Fawley or engineering services.. They could manage a better load than a 33 and the drivers liked them because they didn't rattle as much.
Reliability in their final years with Mainline was poor and quite a few exhaust fires. It led to a few "worried of Romsey" phone calls to control seeing them pass with flames to the rear cab and black smoke back to the 3rd 100t tank car of the train.
No great loss to the wider railway and BR very nearly got the design right with the class 60.

Interesting post; thanks! Id guess the main problem for the class 60 is that it arrived on the scene just a little bit too late?

 

[Romsey]

The class 60 was the BR response to the class 69. For dragging heavy (not mega stone trains) they were more or less equal, just the reliability wasn't as good.

At the risk of severe thread drift, what would have happened if Foster Yeoman had purchased GE diesels? Would we have an American powered freight network?

 

[alistairlees]

The class 60 was the BR response to the class 69. For dragging heavy (not mega stone trains) they were more or less equal, just the reliability wasn't as good.

At the risk of severe thread drift, what would have happened if Foster Yeoman had purchased GE diesels? Would we have an American powered freight network?

We do have an American-powered freight network. The 60s were the response to 59s, not 69s.

 

[ABB125]

We do have an American-powered freight network. The 60s were the response to 59s, not 69s.

I think that might have been a type for class 59s?

 

[Welly]

Like a class 20 should have been designed (cab wise at least....)

As a kid, I saw a photo of a Class 20 cab (but not the whole loco) so I made a Lego model of that loco with 2 cabs!! That was at least 7 years before 58001 was built.