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English Electric Type 5 - Class 55 'Deltic'

English Electric Type 5 - Class 55 'Deltic'

Few locomotives have captured the imaginations of enthusiasts quite like British Rail’s English Electric Type 5/class 55 ‘Deltics’. First introduced in 1961, their twin Napier Deltic engines generated 3,300 horsepower, making them the most powerful single unit diesel locomotives yet produced at that time. With a top speed of 100 miles per hour, the Deltics were worthy successors to the famous express steam locomotives of Gresley, Peppercorn and Thompson on BR’s East Coast Main Line, working top link services such as the Flying Scotsman, the Talisman and the Aberdonian. The arrival of the HST in the 1970s displaced the Deltics from their old stamping ground, but the locomotives found further use on cross-country routes. A special return working from King’s Cross to Edinburgh on January 2nd, 1982 heralded the end for the Deltics in service, but with six locomotives preserved and operating on mainline railtours and heritage railways, the legend lives on...

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