Talk:British Rail Class 22

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This was partly because of prejudices against hydraulic transmission high up in BR's engineering wings
which deemed all the Western Region's diesel-hydraulic locomotives non-standard. 
Ex-Eastern Region Class 31 diesel-electrics were drafted in as replacements.

I'm not sure this sentence is justifiable. While it's true that the anti-hydraulic sentiments at BR saw the Hymeks, Warships and Westerns withdrawn long before they should have been, the 22 was not a successful locomotive design and would have been withdrawn anyway. Note that NBL's Diesel-Electric Class 21/29 was withdrawn at the same time. FiggyBee 22:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I've just been re-reading Vol 2 of Cox's `Locomotive Panorama'. You need to treat his views with care, as an LMS man and a steam man, but he's fairly scathing of the flimsy justification of the Diesel Hydraulic programme, notably the statement that 40% of the problems with D-H locomotives were in fact electrical. This goes against the argument that WR didn't have electrical staff available because of the lack of electrified lines. He essentially argues it came down to the former GWR staff wanting to preserve difference (see also low superheat). --Ibatten 18:55, 28 June 2006 (UTC)