The British Rail Class 13 was a class of diesel–electric shunting locomotive designed in 1965 to provide more powerful shunters for the Tinsley Marshalling Yard. Due to Tinsley's status as a hump yard, it was not possible to use a single locomotive owing to the risk of grounding. To achieve the required power, a pair of shunters were permanently coupled in master and slave formation, with the slave unit having its cab removed and both units ballasted to improve traction. Initially coupled cab-to-cab, it was found more practical to couple master nose to slave cab.

Units Three pairs were formed as follows: Unit numberMaster unitSlave unitWithdrawnFateNotesOriginalTOPS D450113001D4190D4189January 1985Scrapped at BREL Swindon, May 1985D450213002D4187D3697June 1981Scrapped at BREL Swindon, October 1982D450013003D4188D3698January 1985Scrapped at BREL Doncaster, September 1986

Withdrawal With the end of hump shunting at Tinsley the class became obsolete. The class's unique features were not required elsewhere and as such were withdrawn; 13 002 was withdrawn in 1981, with the remaining two locomotives scrapped with the closure of Tinsley hump in 1985.

Model railways Bachmann currently offer a Class 13 in OO gauge.

References

Further reading

External links Image of 13001 at Tinsley MPD Photographs of 13003 at work at Tinsley hump Marshalling Yard