Visible between the trees and buildings at the back of Toton depot is stored 08798, 16th October 2010. The class 08 is the standard British Railways shunting engine and from 1953 to 1962, nine hundred and ninety six locomotives were built, making it the most numerous of all British locomotive classes. Also built in the same period were twenty six near identical (but fitted with a higher ratio gearing) class 09 locomotives and one hundred and seventy one mechanically identical locomotives but fitted with different combinations of engines and electrical equipment. This made total number of outwardly-similar machines to one thousand one hundred and ninety three. The class 08 design was based on the London Midland and Scottish Railway 12033 series (later class 11) design introduced in 1945.
Locomotive History
08798 was originally D3966 and was built at Derby works, entering traffic in May 1960, allocated initially to Tyseley, transferring to Old Oak Common around 1963. It would remain at Old Oak Common for the next twenty five years, being fitted with dual train brakes during a classified repair at Swindon works in January 1986 before transfer to Landore. The next seventeen years were to be spent either in South Wales or the West Country (Exeter, Plymouth and St Blazey) and spent almost eighteen months out of service at St Blazey from July 2000 awaiting generator repairs and a B exam which were completed at the end of 2001. During February 2004 it received an E exam at Toton, was fitted with the TPWS equipment and repainted in EWS livery. The next few years would find 08798 working at Wembley, Carlisle and Millerhill until it arrived at Doncaster Carr Depot in June 2008 and was stored awaiting repair. It was reinstated in July 2009 and moved to Eastleigh but stored again in December 2009 with fuel contamination problems. It was moved to Toton in January 2010. It is currently (November 2013) awaiting its fate at EMR Attercliffe.
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