Pardon my ignorance (I know next to nothing about UK railroading), but what got these engines scrapped en masse nearly thirty years ago, and not, say, the Class 37, which seems to be the iconic (think ALCOs over here) locomotive of the UK, seemingly even to this day? They look pretty similar, from what I can tell. Great shot.
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It was a great idea but the engine was a complex design and there were reliability problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic
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The unreliability of a high speed 2 stoke engine that kept throwing a leg out of bed, And the introduction of the HST fleet. The class 37 and the Deltics shared a commmon truck with different traction motors. There was about 50 power units for a fleet of 22 locos.
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