British Rail Class 55
The British Rail Class 55 is a class of diesel locomotive built in 1961 and 1962 by English Electric for British Railways. They were designed for the high-speed express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between Edinburgh and . They gained the name "Deltic" from the prototype locomotive, DP1 "Deltic" (the running number DP1 was never carried), which in turn was named after its Napier Deltic power units.

Twenty-two locomotives were built, which were used for express passenger services on the ECML, particularly from London to and Edinburgh, until 1978 when Class 43 High Speed Trains (HSTs) were introduced. They were subsequently relegated to semi-fast services on the Kings Cross to York, Edinburgh and Hull routes and continued on sleeper services along the ECML. Other occasional destinations, although with no officially diagrammed work, included Cleethorpes, Stockport, Liverpool Lime Street and Aberdeen. They rarely worked to Skegness and Scarborough. Other very unusual destinations included Bridlington, Leicester and a BR "Merrymaker" trip to Fort William. They could be found on diversionary routes such as Newcastle to Edinburgh via Carlisle and Doncaster to Peterborough via Lincoln and Spalding, rarely Cambridge although arriving at Kings Cross via Hertford was not unusual. During the latter years, organised Railtours took them further afield to Worcester, Cardiff, Bognor Regis, Dover, Norwich and Exeter. All were withdrawn from service between January 1980 and December 1981.

Three were retained for a few days, until 2 January 1982, to work the farewell special, all being withdrawn immediately on arrival back at York. Six locomotives entered preservation during 1982 and 1983: one by the National Railway Museum, three by the Deltic Preservation Society and two by the Deltic 9000 Fund. Two cabs were also privately purchased.
Q34336
diesel locomotive
Concept
Q1342845
English Electric
ORG
Q605169
British Railways
ORG
Q672271
East Coast Main Line
LOC
Q800716
Edinburgh
LOC
Q4970957
DP1 "Deltic"
MISC
Q1431070
Napier Deltic
MISC
Q1080162
Class 43
MISC
Q948845
High Speed Trains
MISC
Q579958
National Railway Museum
LOC
Q5254848
Deltic Preservation Society
ORG
Q5254849
Deltic 9000 Fund
UNK
Q796898
British Rail Class 55
MISC
1961-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1961
DATE
1962-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1962
DATE
1978-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1978
DATE
1980-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 1980
DATE
1981-12-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 1981
DATE
1982-01-02T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2 January 1982
DATE
1982-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1982
DATE
1983-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1983
DATE
9000-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
9000
DATE
+55^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
55
NUMBER
+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
NUMBER
+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
NUMBER
+43^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
43
NUMBER
manufacturer
service entry
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