Main Line Diesel Pioneers
By the 1940s, the internal combustion engine was proving its worth in railway applications across the world. In North America, the flexibility and lower operating cost of diesel traction was eagerly adopted by railroads under attack from road haulage, the private car and air travel, but in Britain, diesel traction was limited to a few demonstrators and a fleet of shunters introduced by the LMS, as we’ve seen. Newcastle engineering giant Armstrong Whitworth in particular was promoting the use of diesel traction for railways.
A-W was famous around the world for its industrial and manufacturing prowess. Involved in many areas that were, for the time, cutting edge technology, the company forged its reputation manufacturing armaments, railway locomotives (including many of the LMS ‘Black Fives’), aircraft and motor cars, as well as machinery, mechanical and electrical equipment, cranes, bridges and shipbuilding.
Although it largely built steam locomotives for export, A-W obtained a licence to build diesel engines from the Swiss firm Sulzer in 1919 and by the early-1930s was experimenting with diesel traction for railway use.
In 1933 it completed a 1-Co-1 diesel-electric locomotive as a speculative venture
