The D600 ‘Warships’ were a class of just five locomotives, but of which the pioneer, No. D600, was the first British mainline diesel-hydraulic locomotive and the first Type 4 diesel completed for BR when it was delivered in late-1957. Ordered for British Railways’ Western Region by the British Transport Commission (BTC), all five of these Type 4 A1A-A1A diesel-hydraulic locomotives were built by North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow. As part of the BTC’s Modernisation Plan, various diesel locomotives were trialled and whilst the majority were diesel-electric, the Western Region (WR) was adamant about its preference for diesel-hydraulics. Whilst the WR was concentrating its efforts on designing a smaller Type 4 machine based on the German V200s – which would become the D800s (Class 42 and 43) – the BTC pressed on with its plans for the D600s with which it sought to provide a comparison with the Type 4 diesel-electric D200s (later Class 40). The D800s – which too were known as ‘Warships’ – would go on to be the more numerous and more successful of the ‘Warship’ types. Employing a B-B wheel formation, the D800s were much lighter than the D600s, whilst offering a comparable or higher power output and tractive effort.

D600 / D601 were initially allocated to Swindon. By June 1958, both were based at Plymouth Laira and D602-D604 were then allocated there from new. On 16 June 1958 D601 hauled the Cornish Riviera Express non-stop from Paddington to Plymouth, the first diesel locomotive to do so. The D600s continued hauling the fast Bristol/West of England trains until the D800 Warships entered service. Later they were largely restricted to the line west of Plymouth.

As built the locomotives carried disc headcodes but these were later changed to a pair of two-character headcode boxes mounted either side of the nose. As the 1960s progressed and the BTC sought to standardise the locomotive fleet, the D600s were an obvious candidate for early withdrawal, being a class of just five that had been well and truly outshone by their smaller, lighter D800 counterparts. All five were removed from traffic by the end of 1967 and although allocated Class 41 under TOPS, all had been sold for scrap long before the system was implemented.

EFE RAIL D600 ‘WARSHIP’ SPECIFICATION

MECHANISM:

• Coreless, twin shaft motor with two flywheels providing drive to both bogies
• Prototypical A1A-A1A drive mechanism with gearing to the outer wheelsets on both bogies
• Electrical pickup from all driven wheels
• Diecast metal chassis block
• Gearing arranged for prototypical running speeds and haulage capabilities
• 9mm (N gauge) wheels to NEM310 standards with authentic spoked profile and detailing
• Removable coupling pockets to NEM355 standards fitted to each bogie
• Designed to operate on curves of second radius (263.5mm) or greater

DETAILING:

• High-fidelity, injecton-moulded bodyshells covering locomotives fitted with either Disc Headcodes or Headcode Boxes
• Bogies constructed from multiple components featuring full relief detail, including primary and secondary suspension, brakes and cab steps
• Separately applied underframe components including battery boxes and pipework
• Separately fitted metal handrails aside each cab door and on each nose
• Detailed cab interior
• Each model supplied with a full set of model-specific bufferbeam pipework and accessory parts, including a set of open and closed headcode discs where appropriate

LIGHTING:

• Directional lighting, with tail lights switchable on/off via a circuit board switch on Analogue control. On DCC, directional lights or tail lights only can be switched on/off independently via dedicated functions
• Cab lighting, switchable on/off via a circuit board switch on Analogue control, or via dedicated functions on DCC
• Authentic light colours and temperatures selected for each model based on era and application

DCC:

• Next18 DCC decoder interface

SOUND:

• Speaker cavity provided in the battery box moulding, with solder pads on the main PCB

E84523 EFE Rail Class 41 Warship D601 Ark Royal BR Green

E84524 EFE Rail Class 41 Warship D602 Bulldog BR Blue

E84525 EFE Rail Class 41 Warship D602 Bulldog BR Green

E84526 EFE Rail Class 41 Warship D601 Ark Royal BR Green

E84527 EFE Rail Class 41 Warship D604 Cossack BR Green