Description
Book SynopsisThe Southern Region of British Railways had long sought to design a locomotive capable of working on electrified lines and non-electrified station yards and sidings. In 1959 British Railways approved a design, designated Class HA, later British Railways Class 73, which combined the electrical equipment of the latest EMU design with the standard English Electric diesel engine in one bodyshell. An initial order was placed for six locomotives but allocated to Eastleigh Carriage and Wagon Works because the design used stock components normally found on the multiple unit fleet.The locomotives were released to traffic during February 1962 and were allocated to Stewarts Lane depot from where they powered the mundane duties of freight, parcels and empty stock services. They also tested the principle of high-speed propulsion of passenger trains prior to the adoption of the principle for the electrification of the Waterloo Weymouth line as far as Poole. Included in this scheme was the ordering
