LMS (BR) 10000: hopes?

The first mainline diesel locomotive in Britain was London, Midland and Scottish (later British Rail) 10000. Ordered by one of the pre-nationalization railway companies (LMS), it was delivered at the end of 1947, weeks before nationalization. It was a (to my taste) not unattractive "covered wagon" unit: double-ended, with cabs more reminiscent of Alco FA (or later Alco "World") cabs than of EMD's "bulldog", running on truce with more than a passing resemblance to those on EMD E-units, powered by an immense (16 cylinders, with cylinder dimensions approximating those of a GE "GEVO" engine) but conservatively rated (1600 hp) English Electric diesel engine, with EE electrical gear. It was successful in service, and in its interior workings if not its cosmetic appearance was an ancestor of many of British Rail's most successful diesel locomotive types. It was (despite efforts to preserve it) scrapped in 1968.

But… A group in Britain is hoping to re-create it:
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I'm not sure how accurate they plan it to be -- it will incorporate parts from a much later (1980s) Class 58 locomotive -- but it should look and sound enough like the original to satisfy all but the most compulsive rivet counters. Progress is slow (fund raising…), but progress is being made: they have found an appropriate engine (an EE diesel engine of the right type from roughly the right period) and acquired a retired Class 58 as a parts donor.

So, the message for American railroad enthusiasts is… If you wish you could see, say, an Alco Dl-109 or a Fairbanks-Morse "Erie-built," or maybe one of the earliest diesel "hood-type" units, the switchers GE built for the Bush Terminal, in operation… the cause is not entirely hopeless. If enough rail fans could agree and organize (o.k., I know, that's like asking for world peace, a cure for cancer, and a pony) it could happen!

That’s an ambitious project!

The group has done well to find an early EE 16SVT Mk I engine with Brown Boveri turbochargers. The Mk I version of this engine was in any event quite scarce, and later production (for example as used on the South Australian Railways 900 class) had Napier turbochargers. Finding an EE523 main generator and a set of EE519 traction motors may be mission impossible, but here it should be possible to substitute the EE822 generator and EE526 or (preferably) EE538 motors, all of which should have reasonable availability.

In its favour is that as LMS 10000 was one of a pair of prototypes, and built during the post-WWII austerity period, it would largely have been fabricated from standard plates and shapes, with not many special castings and forgings. Also, that was the way of the railway workshops in the UK; they were still using riveted plate frames for steam locomotives, apparently unable to use even bar frames. (The private builders were generally more advanced, although even there could be found some retrograde thinking.)

Cheers,