HS4000, named Kestrel, was a prototype high-powered mainline diesel locomotive built in 1968 by Brush Traction, Loughborough to demonstrate its wares to British Railways. The number indicated Hawker Siddeley (the owner of Brush) 4000hp (the power rating of its Sulzer engine).
It was of Co-Co wheel arrangement and was fitted with a Sulzer 16LVA24 engine of 4000hp. It had a maximum speed of 125mph and weighed 133tons. It was painted yellow with a broad brown band around the lower bodyside.
BR encountered difficulties in testing the locomotive becuase of its high axle load, but were able to test it on freight workings on the Eastern Region, where it successfully demonstrated the potential of its high power rating. In 1969 new bogies were fitted to reduce the axle load, and it was then used on passenger services out of London Kings Cross.
In March 1971 it was withdrawn from service in the UK, and shipped from Cardiff to Russia, following its sale to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). No further information is knwon about HS4000 after this move. Meanwhile, BR had decided to proceed with more modest Type 5 locomotives in the form of their Class 56.
BritishRail assigned Class 53 to the single Brush Traction-built prototype locomotive Falcon.
Returning to British Railways in 1963, Falcon spent six months working out of Sheffield on both passenger and freight diagrams, after which its testing was completed.
In 1970, BritishRail approached Brush Traction with a proposal to buy the (by now practically worthless) locomotive for its scrap value, which was accepted by the builder; the loco underwent a rebuild at BREL Swindon, emerging in corporate Rail Blue with full yellow ends and bearing the new number D1200.
The BritishRail Class 10 railway locomotive was a variation on the Class 08 diesel-electric shunter in which the English Electric engine was replaced by a Blackstone engine and traction motors were either GEC or BTH.
BritishRail Class 11 was applied to a batch of locomotives built from April 1945 to December 1952, based on a similar earlier batch.
The BritishRail Class 97/6 diesel shunting locomotives were purpose-built for departmental duties by Ruston and Hornsby at Lincoln in 1953 (97650) or 1959 (97651-654).
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