British Rail D 0280 “Falcon”

In their efforts to develop a powerful Type 4 diesel locomotive with only six axles, Brush Traction built the D 0280 prototype in 1961. Since they were in possession of the license to build the fast running, lightweight Maybach MD655 engines, they chose to use two of these engines to create more power for the same weight. In this case, these engines produced 2,880 hp in total. In contrast to the Western Region diesel-hydraulics which also used this type of engine, the D 0280 had electric power transmission designed by Brush. The locomotive was set up for mixed service with a top speed of 100 mph and a steam heating boiler.

Tests showed that D 0280 basically filled all requirements put onto it, but had higher maintenance costs than single-engine locomotives. As with the Deltics, it became clear immediately that diesel engine technology was advancing fast and more powerful variants of the existing English Electric and Sulzer engines became available. So no orders followed and Brush started to build the class 47 with a single Sulzer engine in 1962. D 0280 was named “Falcon” and put into regular service. Later it became TOPS class 53, but in 1975 it was withdrawn, as it was a single non-standard locomotive.