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50 years of the 45s

October 1960 saw the first Class 45s delivered to BR and 127 of the 136-tonne Type 4s were delivered for express passenger and heavy freight work. Pip Dunn looks back at the lives of the first production series Peaks.

The Class 45 Peaks have had too much criticism over the years and not enough coverage. Yet these 136-tonne monsters, which achieved 28 years in BR service, have just reached their 50th birthday and have reached that Golden Jubilee with little, if any celebration.
Maybe that is because the 45s were just a development of the 44s, which passed 50 last year, and just one of three variations of Peak. In fact it is hard to research and write an article solely on 45s without numerous references to the ten pilot scheme 44s and the subsequent 56 Brush Class 46s.
Powered by a Sulzer engine, the 2,500hp Class 45s were a development of the ten pilot scheme Class 44s, D1-10, which were part of the 1955 modernisation plan. They were, like the 44s, overweight. Initially intended to be a Co-Co design, it proved impossible at the time for engineers to get their weight down low enough to allow a 20-tonne axle load.
Extra – unpowered – axles were needed giving rise to the cumbersome 1Co-Co1 arrangement pioneered by English Electric on its Southern Region prototypes 10201-203 (RI Nov 09) and persevered with on its Class 40s. Still, the 45s had 25% more power than a 40 (for three tonnes extra weight) and, at the time of the delivery of the first of the class, were the most powerful single-engined loco on the railways at 2,500hp.
But the Peaks were something of a ‘work in progress’, and an effectively a stop-gap in the development of the Type 4, and it wasn’t until the Class 47s appeared – more powerful still at 2,750hp and a Co-Co that BR got what it really wanted. By that time BR had ordered 393 1Co-Co1 Type 4s (the Class 40s, 44s, 45s and 46s) and it would have been another 20 had the electrical equipment for the last Class 46s not been diverted into the first 20 Class 47s.

The Class 45 orders

Initially, 137 Class 45s were ordered in January 1959, and based on the Class 44 they had the uprated Sulzer 12LDA28-B twin bank 12-cylinder intercooled engine delivering 2,500hp. They retained Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment; traction motors, and main and auxiliary generators. 76 locos, but with Brush electrical equipment, were ordered in December 1959 (and became the similar Class 46s) when it became clear Crompton Parkinson, which at the same time was providing equipment to the Class 33s, would not be able to meet delivery schedules. The Class 45 order was also cut by ten locos in May 1961.
Whereas the Class 44’s Sulzer engines had been built in Switzerland, those for the 45s were manufactured by Vickers in Barrow under licence.
The Peak family of 44s, 45s and 46s, shared the same body with its short nose ends, which itself was an extended body as used on the BR Sulzer Type 2s, the Class 24/25s. The 45s differed visually from the 44s as they had the nose end headcode discs replaced by roller blind headcode boxes. They also had slightly shorter bodyside grilles while internally, as well as the uprated engine, there were minor electrical differences. They tipped the scales at a whopping 136 tonnes on their eight axles, six of which were powered by CP C172A1 traction motors.
All the 45s – originally classed at 25/1 until TOPS came into force in 1968 - had Stone-Vapor OK4625 steam heat boilers (as had been the case on the 44s), although consideration had been given to fitting electric train heating equipment which would have reduced the weight, and so inevitably the number of wheels! Interestingly, the first 47s had dual heat within their 117-tonne frames. The 45s were RA8, although later reclassified as RA7 from 1969 which gave them a slightly more useful sphere of operation.

Into traffic

The first Class 45 was accepted by British Railways on October 1 1960, when D11 was delivered to 1B, Camden, North London with a view to working alongside the 44s on WCML expresses. This was not pursued with any great enthusiasm by British Railways and the lower-powered Class 40s took charge of this route leaving the 44s to be demoted to freight and the 45s to be concentrated on the Midland Main Line.
Over the next two years the rest of the fleet was built by BR at its Derby and Crewe Works, apart from the delayed D57 which was subjected to trials with its uprated engine, the 2,750hp 12LDA28-C.
The Peaks were based first at Crewe North and Derby, but were soon sent elsewhere for trails. D11/14 moved to Neville Hill and Holbeck which saw them visit Newcastle and Carlisle. D11-16 then went to Holbeck from March 1961.
D93 was sent to Bristol in early 1961 for evaluation and crew training prior to the class working north from Bristol to Birmingham and beyond.

Problems and modifications

These Type 4s were fitted with blue star multiple working, although this was soon found to be wholly superfluous and removed from 1964 as the class visited Brush at Loughborough for overhaul. This programme, alongside the 46s, was completed in 1969. Pictures of pairs of 45s working in multiple are rarer than hen’s teeth, and the thought of 272 tonnes on loco at the helm of a train was probably not welcomed by the civil engineers. That said, balancing moves – especially on the Midland Main Line - led to pairs of 45s in the 1980s!
The roof panels for the 45s were initially single pieces which led to problems when access was needed to engines to repair cylinder heads so these were later changed to two-part roof sections during the 1964-69 refurbishment programme.
Traction motor flashovers were an early problem, while cramped engine rooms hindered maintenance staff. Small fires were also experienced from sparks from brake blocks caused by excessive braking not helped by the high weight of the locos.
The bogies also experienced cracking, and these had to be monitored and if they reached three inches, then repairs were needed. Other changes tried were 45018 having flexicoil suspension fitted pony trucks while 45119 ran for a period without a silencer and had a straight through exhaust fitted in February 1974.
Safety concerns of staff working on the roofs of locos, combined with electrification, and allied to the removal of many water hoses at stations following the demise of steam led to the roof mounted boiler water filling ports being moved from the late 1960s and changed to a filler port at solebar level. This meant the three bodyside steps at No. 2 end were also plated over, preventing the temptation to climb on the side of the locos.
Another major modification was the removal of the bogie rotation stops and control side buffers from 1971 – D15 was the first. This allowed the Peaks to negotiate tighter curves of 3½ chains as opposed to the restrictive five chain radius that had previously been enforced on the class.

Electric train supply

By far the most important upgrade for the 45s came in 1973. In the 1960s electric train supply was still a novelty but the early 1970s saw BR moving with the times and introducing new air-conditioned coaches on many core routes. This meant steam heat locos were either upgraded or replaced. For the Midland Main Line, 50 Class 45s were converted to ETS using a Brush generator.
They were chosen at random, based on locos suitable for conversion and due works repair. The first loco converted was D96 in 1973 and renumbered 45101 – appearing in March 1973; the first diesel loco with the new five-digit numbers. At the same time TOPS renumbering was just being introduced so those locos not selected for ETS were renumbered in the 450xx series. That explains why, unlike many other classes the renumbering of the class was very random. Only two 45s carried their D number through to TOPS renumbering; D16 (45016) and D106 (45106).
Locos converted lost their steam heat boilers and the ETS jumpers were fitted to the bogie frames as opposed to the body as was the case on other locos. This meant bogies were only interchangeable between locos of the same sub class. The conversion programme was undertaken without the locos having full overhauls.
When it came to the conversion of D95, it was found to be unsuitable, so 45054, which had been renumbered from D78 replaced it. D95 then became the second 45054. But other than that, the renumbering of 45s was pretty much limited to their D to TOPS transition.
The MML could easily be covered by 50 ETS Peaks and the other locos were used on NE/SW trains – although steam-heat 45 turns were still booked on this route until May 1982.

Headcodes

The first five locos followed on from the 44s by having central communication doors fitted in their nose ends to allow crew members to move between the locos on the move when operating in multiple. Whether this was ever used is open to debate, and from D16 onwards the doors were dropped. To accommodate the doors, the four-character roller blind headcodes were split and placed in two unsightly boxes, one either side. Despite D16 onwards not having these doors, split headcodes were still fitted to D16-30 (built at Derby) and D68-107 (Crewe), presumably because the parts were already ordered and manufactured rather than the less likely possibility of doors being retro fitted.
From D31 a cleaner front end was devised, with the four-character central headcode, split in the middle. This was fitted to D31-67 and D108-137. As part of overhauls and collision repairs, some nose ends were later changed to centre boxes and these were 45008/009/011/015/016/018/019/022/024/041/067, 45104/105/108/109/112/114/121/147.
In 1975, the first 45s appeared with their headcode boxes removed and a flush front end with two white lamps replacing them. 45071 was the first, the last loco to be renumbered into TOPS and also the only Peak to run with its new number but no form of original headcode. It also has slightly smaller white lamps than those fitted later on to other 45s. This modification was adopted across the whole class, although some locos were withdrawn with their original headcode styles, with 45025/047/053 going to the grave with original side split boxes, 45032/035/036 condemned with centre split boxes while 45008/028/024/067 were withdrawn with centre headcode boxes with dominoes.
All others had their headcode boxes removed and replaced with white lenses, although 45031/042/056, 45120 did run for a period with a flush front at one end and headcode boxes at the other.
From 1983, BR decreed that all 90mph passenger locos should have a high intensity headlight fitted although it was not until October 1985 that the first 45/1s appeared, 45105/128/148 being the first, with the lamp positioned in between the two existing marker lights. All remaining ETS 45s were subsequently fitted (only withdrawn 45147 did not have them); but no 45/0s had headlights.

Operations

The steam heat 45s were used in the 1960s on expresses out of St Pancras to Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, Carlisle and Glasgow Central. They also worked the trans-Pennine line from Liverpool to Newcastle and Scarborough and North East-South West services from Newcastle initially to Bristol in the early 1960s. From the late 1960s, as the diesel hydraulic fleet was at first rationalised and then eliminated, 45s (and more so 46s) ventured west to Plymouth, Newquay and Penzance.
Visits to Wales were initially restricted to Cardiff and Swansea on trains from the North East but from 1983, Peaks made spare by their replacement on the MML by HSTs started to take over many North Wales Coast workings, especially those that originated from Manchester and across the Pennines. After the loss of the MML dominance (apart from a few peak time duties), the ETS locos began to dominate not only the Pennine route but also those trains which headed west onto the North Wales Coast. In 1983, the 45/1s also picked up an interesting Cardiff-Paddington-Birmingham-Cardiff turn (RI May 09).
The Southern Region welcomed Class 45s in the 1960s on cross-country trains to Ramsgate but these workings ceased in 1969 making 45s on third rail territory rare, other than perhaps on the odd cross-London freight working from Cricklewood. There was a fortnight in 1985 when several 45/1s reached Brighton (RI May 09) but other than that, trips to the SR south of Reading were very rare. 45143 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards made a one-off trip on the Exeter St David's-Waterloo line on June 11 1985, but that was specially diagrammed for a rededication ceremony.
Workings to Scotland were part and parcel of their early days, and 45s covered the majority of internal regional workings that went to Edinburgh via the Waverley Route. Glasgow also welcomed the class daily on the Thames-Clyde Express and other trains that came from the Midland Main Line. This carried on well into the 1970s, until a spate of derailments of Class 40s and 45s on the complicated trackwork on the approach to Glasgow Central saw 1Co-Co1 locos ‘barred’ leaving 47s as the norm, certainly north of Carlisle. If all else failed, a Peak would be diverted to Polmadie for a local diesel to attach to the rear to work the final few miles into Central.
In their early days, 45s worked to Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen and it is even reported they got through to Inverness occasionally, but a lack of crew knowledge in later years meant 45s rarely got to Scotland. Occasional forays to Edinburgh via the ECML were not unknown (although more usually a 46) and any spare 45 that did get to Edinburgh would usually be returned south as soon as possible. Occasionally a stray 45 in Edinburgh worked to Carstairs.
Freight work was equally widespread for the 45s, and they could appear on all manner of traffic, although their lack of slow speed control meant they were not ideal for MGR traffic. However, as all were dual-braked by the mid 1970s, they had the advantage over many Type 1-3 locos which remained vacuum-braked only.

The rundown of the 45s

Aside from the first withdrawal, accident damaged 45067 in July 1977 (written off after a collision at Bennerley Junction), the 45 fleet remained intact until the general nationwide recession in 1980/81 which saw 19 locos withdrawn – 45008/011/018/021/024/025/027-032/035/039/047/053/061/071/073. Most went to Swindon Works, and while 45029 was reinstated, the axe fell on the other locos which never ran again. The 45s actually got off lightly as the 46s were targeted more and works overhauls on them ceased in January 1981.
45029 was reinstated on January 21 1982 for use as a static generator at Thorpe Marsh Power Station from March to August 1982. This followed the previous use of a Peak as a generator, D54 The Royal Pioneer Corps was also used as an exciter at Willington Power Station from September 26 to October 10 1968. It is believed D54 set a world record of 341 hours non-stop running during this time.
There were no more 45 casualties until May 1983 when 45045 Coldstream Guardsman was condemned after an accident and likewise the demise of 45147 was the result of the loco being written off when it collided head first with an oil train at Eccles on December 4 1984.
However works overhauls on 45/0s had ceased in 1981 – as the downturn in traffic took a firm hold - although there was a reversal in fortunes in May 1983 when 45009 emerged from overhaul at Crewe and classmates 45026/033/040/049/052/062/066/076/077 followed. Withdrawal again started on 45s in September 1984 when 45002/023/043/050 were condemned and then 45054/057/064/075 followed in January 1985, a year which was then to see a steady contraction of the 45/0 fleet.
Aside from 45147, withdrawals of ETS 45s started in January 1986 when 45109 was laid up after a collision at Allerton with 45068 on December 16. 1986 saw more withdrawals of both 45 types, and in November the remaining locos were all concentrated at Tinsley. Spring 1987 saw many 45s condemned as they lost their Pennine passenger duties from May following the mass switch to DMUs and 47s, and withdrawals of both subclasses was swift. By the start of 1988, just 20 locos remained in traffic, used sparingly on parcels, freight and some passenger work. By August, they had all been withdrawn.
The last few days of operation can be summarised by 45141’s last few hours alive. On Saturday July 30 1988 it worked 1E26, the 0434 Birmingham NS-Leeds, 1V42 0741 Leeds-Tenby (to Cardiff) and 1E38, the 1720 Cardiff -Leeds. The next day it was again on a passenger duty, the 1V61 1535 Leeds-Cardiff. August 1 saw it on 4O43, which it worked to Bristol and then handled 1E94, the 2140 Bristol-York before its last day in action, August 2 when it handled a Leeds-Sheffield DMU turn out and back before running light to Tinsley and being switched off. Official withdrawal came at 1449 on August 4, the last 45 in traffic.

A reprieve

There were two reprieves for the 45s. The first came in 1987 when five locos were taken into the departmental pool to work infrastructure trains in connection with the ECML electrification. 45022/029/034/040/066 became 97409-413 and were based at Tyne Yard. All were withdrawn by August 1988, so they fared no better than the remaining 45s in the capital stock fleet.
A longer reprieve befell 45106. Buoyed by the success of retaining 40122 in traffic from 1985 to 1988 as a railtour loco, BR tried to repeat the feat with a Peak. Reinstated on August 4, the same day as 45141 was condemned, 45106 had a repaint into green (albeit a poor effort ruined by large black numbers on the front, a Tinsley cast crest on the side and a yellow headcode) and it was dedicated to the InterCity sector for charters and also, appropriately, working a weekday Derby-St Pancras commuter turn.
Its new role was sadly cut short on February 3 1989 when it had a traction motor flashover at Wellingborough while hauling 1C15, the 0712 Derby-St Pancras. This itself would not have necessarily brought its demise, but while being hauled dead on the ECS to London by a Class 47, on the approach to West Hampstead, it caught fire - it is suspected that sparks from the brake blocks ignited fuel on the bogies (the loco had had a fuel leak over the previous couple of days).
After inspection at Tinsley, it was deemed too costly to repair and the loco was written off and while initially it was intended to replace it with 45128, after it failed a load bank test at Tinsley in April, assessment of the loco found the cost to reinstate it to be too high. So Class 45 operation on BR came to an abrupt and uncelebrated end.

Disposals and preservation

The early 45 withdrawals were scrapped at BR works at Derby or Swindon, while those laid up in the mid 1980s were scrapped by private breakers, mainly MC Metals in Glasgow and Vic Berry at Leicester. After the mass withdrawals of 1987/88, most of the redundant 45s congregated at Toton, Tinsley Yard and March, with as many as 30 locos at some locations.
Eleven 45s have been preserved, two 45/0s and nine 45/1s, one of which, 45112 even had a brief flurry of main line activity and was able to revisit old Peak haunts such as Holyhead and Penzance, but perhaps its most notable working was on April 8 2004 when it worked a St Pancras-Leicester return trip just a day before the famous station was closed for conversion to the new Eurostar terminal. After 28 years of working into this majestic terminus, it had been 15 years since a 45 had worked into the station and come to a stand under Barlow’s trainshed roof, and it’s unlikely to ever happen again, so its appearance was very timely.
And other ‘bits of Peaks’ survive; the bogies from 45009 and 45129 were converted for use as independent snowploughs while cabs from 45104/128/140 were all purchased by enthusiasts when the locos were cut up.

An appraisal

The 45s were overtaken by events; as they were being built, lighter, faster and more powerful locos were appearing. Their existence was always questionable, especially as the WR had been proud owners of 2,200hp Type 4s on four axles and weighing just 78 tonnes. That said, the 45s put the EE 40s to shame in terms of power to weight ratio.
Like every diesel class, the 45s had their share of problems, but most were overcome. And although heavy, they still put in sterling work on both passenger and freight duties.
Their withdrawal came about more because of changing traffic patterns and, above all, the wholesale introduction of multiple units that also sent Class 31s, 33s, 47s and 50s to the scrapyard. The 45s were a competent, popular and reliable piece of kit, but that said, they never captured the imagination of the enthusiasts as much as the Westerns, Deltics and 50s.
N Thanks to Neil Burden of the Peak Locomotive Company for his assistance in preparing this article. Visit www.greatgable.co.uk for more details about the PLC and how to get involved in preserving Peaks