- Type: 650hp diesel hydraulic
- Built: 1964
- Numbers Carried: BSC no. 50, D9551
- Withdrawn: 1981
- Returned To Service: 2017
- Present Location: The Severn Valley Railway
- Owned By: The SVR Class 14 Company Limited
)
This specific diesel type, a multi purpose 650hp diesel hydraulic locomotive, was produced at BR’s Swindon Works between the years 1964 and 1965, as part of the modernisation plan of diesel hydraulic motive power that the Western Region were investing in at that time. They also gained the nickname “Teddy Bears”. The comment came from the then Swindon Works foreman George Cole who quoted “We’ve built the Great Bear, now we’re going to build a Teddy Bear!”
The Class 14’s became the last diesel hydraulic to be built by British Railways and the last UK purpose built locomotive at Swindon Works. This particular locomotive, D9551, was one of the last ones made in the Class 14 series and it started its journey in 1965, based at Cardiff and Swansea. However, after serving for slightly less than 3 years, it was retired on 1 April 1968 after being transfered from the Western Region to Hull Dairycoates shed.
In the same year, a company called Stewarts & Lloyds Minerals Ltd, which was part of the British Steel Corporation, bought 23 Class 14s, and D9551 was among them. The locomotive was then sent to Corby and renumbered as BSC no. 50. It served diligently until withdrawal in 1981. Later that same year, D9551 was bought by ‘Railway Power Services’, a group made up of members from West Somerset Railway and Diesel and Electric Preservation Group. Being acquired by the group, D9551 would haul both works and passenger services on the WSR before later moving to the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society in 2003.
By 2013, The Severn Valley Railway had gathered examples of all remaining Western Region diesel hydraulic classes. The SVR Class 14 Company Limited, after searching for another example of the class, bought D9551 in September 2013. After a thorough repair at Bridgnorth, the locomotive re-entered service in 2017. After running in experimental BR ‘Golden Ochre’ colour scheme for many years, D9551 now carries a more authentic BR two tone green livery as we will see when the locomotive visits for our gala.
