BR Class 52 D1015 Western Champion

BRBritish Rail or British Railways Class 52 D1015 Western Champion
D1015 Western Courier at Bridgnorth in August 2016
Built By	BRBritish Rail or British Railways Swindon Works
Configuration	C-C
Power type	Diesel Hydraulic
Status	Operational (not SVRSevern Valley Railway resident)
Loco Number	D1015
History
Built	1963
Designed By	British Railways
Type	Class 52
1980	Purchased by DTG
2002	Main line certified
Technical
Length	68ft
Weight	108t
Diesel Locomotives

D1015 Western Champion is a BRBritish Rail or British Railways Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic locomotive, owned by the Diesel Traction Group (DTG). The locomotive is not normally resident on the SVRSevern Valley Railway, but from time to time has visited the railway for diesel galas and for attention by the DTG’s engineering staff.

D1015 in service

D1015 Western Champion was built at BRBritish Rail or British Railways’s Swindon works and entered service at Cardiff Canton in January 1963. Other allocations included London Old Oak Common, Swansea Landore and Plymouth Laira, where the locomotive was withdrawn by BRBritish Rail or British Railways in December 1976 after accumulating 1,296,000 miles in service.

D1062 in preservation

In 1980 D1015 became the third locomotive to be acquired by the DTG, which already owned SVRSevern Valley Railway residents D821 Greyhound and Hymek D7029. D1015 achieved main line certification in 2002, since which it has hauled rail tours as far as Penzance in the south and Kyle of Lochalsh in the north.

In 2016 D1015 attended both the May diesel gala and the August ‘Western Weekend’. As of December 2016, the locomotive has returned to the SVRSevern Valley Railway for inspection following an issue experienced with the B engine during a rail tour.

See also

Diesel Locomotives visiting the SVR for galas

References

Links

DTG website westernchampion.co.uk