The North British Type 1 (later known as Class 16) was a type of diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

 ordered under British Railways'

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 1955 Modernisation Plan. Like other Type 1 designs, they were relatively small locomotives intended primarily for local freight traffic.

Overview

The design evolved from an earlier prototype locomotive built by North British, No. 10800

British Rail 10800

British Railways 10800 was a diesel locomotive built by the North British Locomotive Company for British Railways in 1950. It had been ordered by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1946 but did not appear until after the 1948 nationalisation of the railways.Design was by George Ivatt and...

. Under British Railways' 'pilot scheme', ten locomotives were ordered for evaluation against rival designs from British Thompson-Houston (Class 15)

British Rail Class 15

The British Rail Class 15 diesel locomotives, also known as the BTH Type 1, were designed by British Thomson-Houston, and built by the Yorkshire Engine Company and the Clayton Equipment Company, between 1957 and 1961.- Design history :...

 and English Electric (Class 20)

British Rail Class 20

The British Rail Class 20, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, is a class of diesel-electric locomotive. In total, 228 locomotives in the class were built by English Electric between 1957 and 1968, the large number being in part because of the failure of other early designs in the same...

. The design shared some similarities with Class 15, both being of the road-switcher

Road switcher

A road switcher is a type of railroad locomotive used for delivering or picking up cars outside of a railroad yard. Since the road switcher must work some distance away from a yard, it needs to be able to operate at road speeds, it must also have high-visibility while it is switching, and it must...

 layout which was uncommon in the U.K., and both being powered by an 800 hp Paxman 16YHXL prime mover.

Delivery

The ten locomotives (numbered D8400–D8409) were completed at the North British Locomotive Company

North British Locomotive Company

The North British Locomotive Company was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp Stewart and Company , Neilson, Reid and Company and Dübs and Company , creating the largest locomotive manufacturing company in Europe.Its main factories were...

's Queen's Park Works in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, between May and September 1958. They were delivered to Devons Road depot, Bow

Bow

Bow may refer to:* Bow , an archery weapon that uses elasticity to propel arrows* Bowing , to lower the head or the upper body* Bow , the foremost point of the hull of a ship or boat...

, North-east London on the London Midland Region of British Railways

London Midland Region of British Railways

The London Midland Region was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England and Wales. The region was managed first from buildings adjacent to Euston Station and later from Stanier...

 for evaluation against the rival designs, but soon moved to nearby Stratford depot

Stratford Works

Stratford Works was the locomotive-building works of the Great Eastern Railway situated at Stratford, London, England. It was opened in 1847-1848 by the GER's predecessor, the Eastern Counties Railway...

 on the Eastern Region

Eastern Region of British Railways

The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...

, where they stayed for the rest of their lives.

Operation

The design was not a success, and no further examples were built. While the Class 15s also suffered problems with the Paxman engines, these were worse on Class 16 because inadequate ventilation resulted in frequent engine seizures. Another problem was coolant contamination of the oil, due to cylinder head failure. They were fitted with a non-standard type of electro-magnetic control equipment

Multiple working

Multiple working is a term used on the UK rail network to describe the practice of having more than one diesel or electric locomotive hauling a train under the control of one driver.-Terminology:...

(coded "red circle" by BR) which was prone to failure, and they could not operate in multiple with locomotives fitted with the more common electro-pneumatic ("blue star") controls.

Withdrawal

Being non-standard and unreliable, the locomotives were an obvious candidate for early withdrawal. They were withdrawn between February and September 1968, and all ten had been cut up for scrap by the end of 1969.