3WSRN1: Reginald Walkins and his Numbered Diesels

[frankthetriviaman]

The Three Word Story Revolution Novels - No. 1

The Complete History of Reginald Walkins and his Numbered Diesels

By Walter Simmons

Forward:

      Technology is much like a tree.  As time goes on, it grows, becomes stronger and plants its roots deeper into our world.  Many years ago, to fly in the air we needed a hot air balloon.  But then we developed the airplane, and in just 40 years, we went from propeller to jet engine.  Likewise, the locomotive has seen it's share of growth.  Small iron horses have become giants of steam and powerful diesels, with talk that one day, electricity will power our trains.  But one man has taken that a step further.  When news broke in the United Kingdom of a man who successfully developed a series of locomotives capable of operating without a crew, most thought that Reginald Walkins was a liar and con man, controlling the engines remotely from a secret shed.  But no, his engines are genuine, and are a true marvel of the 20th century.  Mr. Walkins is a bit eccentric, and rarely has time for interviews, but my dear readers, I am pleased to inform you that I have managed to secure not one, but 15 conversations with Mr. Walkins.  He said that some have their doubts about the numbered diesels, and wants a book written to shed some light on his great accomplishment.  You heard right, he came to me to write this book.  These conversations were recorded both with notes and with audio tape; and while I cannot share the tapes with you directly, it is through this book that I shall recount the stories and trials Mr. Walkins went through to make his dream a reality.
    -Walter Simmons, writer and historian

Editor's note-
      Hello friends.  Recently, Diesel 11 has published a new book detailing the history of the numbered diesels.  He has taken more of a "story" approach to telling their history, and in more complete detail, while the late Mr. Simmons book reads more as a "factual textbook" than a series of stories.  Sadly, this book is no longer in print and hard to find, as only 3 editions were published and less than 36,000 of these books made.  Fortunately, my father's cousin happened to own a copy of this book, and because the copyright has expired, I am free to transcribe for you the history of Reginald Walkins and his numbered diesels.  I hope you enjoy.
    -Frankthetriviaman

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter one: Early beginnings

(NOTE: due to finals week, chapter will not be published until after Thursday. In the mean time, here is an excerpt)

In the early 1960s, Watkins visited West Germany, where he met a brilliant German engineer who developed exactly the kind of automated programming system Watkins had been looking for. This engineer, though highly respected and brilliant, never could get the system to work quite right, and his prototype never entered service. Watkins bought the schematics and plans of this gentleman for $400; and from here, Watkins' idea finally had to potential to come to fruition.

[Eyes]

Great job, Frank; I look forward to the rest.

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter one:
Early Beginnings

Behind every great idea, there is a great man, and in this case the idea of self-moving trains are the brainchild of Reginald Walkins. To understand the idea, I feel that it is always important to understand the man with the idea. In our first conversation I asked Mr Walkins to take us to the beginning of it all: his childhood.

"Well, there's nothing really remarkable about it," he said to me. "I had a hardworking father and a loving mother, and I was the 2nd of 7 kids. I grew up with 3 brothers and 3 sisters, so yes, the house did feel pretty crowded at times." He said of his family.

Born in 1932, Mr Walkins grew up in a quiet neighborhood in the Northwest of England. When I asked him about his time during the war, he asked that I left this part out of this novel. "A lot went on during that time that I have not quite recovered from yet. I was blessed that my parents and siblings survived the blitz... but I lost nine members of my extended family during those years." This was all he permitted me to mention.

In the immediate post-war years, not much really happened during this time in his life. But he did mention that he attributes one particular incident to his inspiration for becoming an engineer.

Walkins loved books, and frequently went to the library to read. In 1952 he stumbled upon a copy of "I,Robot" by Isaac Asimov, and became fascinated with machines. Recalling his childhood love of trains, he decided to become an engineer and design locomotives. But he had also become fascinated with robots, and the idea of machines that can think and move on their own. Robots were a long way away, but there were plenty of trains in England, and they were capable of thinking for themselves.

"And at that moment, I realized that engines already were like robots halfway, but they couldn't move on their own. That's when it hit me; a self-moving engine! Next best thing to a robot if you ask me" he quipped as he told this part of the story. I then asked him if there were any practical applications for self-moving engines; "I am sure there are; but my goal was just to see if it was possible." he explained. He went to discuss that he needed to create from the ground up a sort of automated programming system that an engine could use to control itself. But it had never been done before, so he did not even know where to go with it. "I knew one thing though; this self moving engine would have to be a diesel. Steam engines require humans to maintain an run properly, and do things the engine just can't, like shovel coal and keep an eye on the gauges. Steam engines just weren't going to cut it; it would have to be diesel." It was this reasoning that made him decide on certain details from the get-go.

But it was a slow start. For the next several years, he had the idea in his head for years, but he did not know where to even start. To make money in the meantime, Walkins focused on engines, railway infrastructure and rolling stock.

"Sometimes you just need that kick in the rear to get going; you need that thing that can set everything else in motion. Well, I found mine in the last place I expected it to be; Germany." He quipped as he told me where he finally got the tools he needed to start work on the numbered diesels.
In 1961, Watkins visited West Germany, where he met a brilliant German engineer who developed exactly the kind of automated programming system Watkins had been looking for. This engineer, though highly respected and accomplished, never could get the system to work quite right, and his prototype never entered service. Watkins bought the schematics and plans of this gentleman for $400; and from here, Watkins' idea finally had to potential to come to fruition.

For the next year, he spent much of his time and resources perfecting the device that he acquired in Germany. In November 1962, he was finally ready. The perfected device was installed in a diesel, and testing could begin.

Coming soon:

Chapter 2: Diesel 1, Diesel 2 and Diesel 3

[Eyes]

This is looking great, Frank! I really enjoy reading this. It's definitely the best 'factual' book I've ever read. 

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter 2:

Diesel 1, Diesel 2 and Diesel 3

"I started simple with my diesels" Walkins explained to me as we got to this part of the story. "You know, the most famous of the lot is Diesel 10, and that claw of his. But early on, I just did normal engines" he said.

The limitations of the German device were numerous, but the big three were that it was prone to overheating, required near-constant maintenance and while it had no problem maintaining set speeds, acceleration and deceleration were problematic.

"You never just throw down the brakes on an engine; you always come to a slow, steady stop. Otherwise, you will hurt the passengers from the force of the sudden stop" he explained to me, "so I knew that this had to be addressed; otherwise these diesels would never be allowed to pull passenger trains. The overheating of the system was a real dilemma. The notes I received relating to the prototype contained a detailed time table correlating length of run to length of cool down. For example, 1 hour of running required 1 hour of cool-down, 2 hours required 2, and so on, but at 5 hours, seven hours of cool-down were needed, and in big black letters in the notes, it was written "don't exceed 6 hours!"

"The diesel couldn't run for more than six hours?" I asked, confused.

"No, the automated programming couldn't run for more than 6 hours. After that, the prototype needed a driver to handle him regularly. Fortunately, even when running with a driver, the notes indicate that having a driver run the engines doesn't affect cool-down time." He said to me.

"So what was your goal?"

"I had to develop a system that did not overheat as easily, did not require as long an acceleration, fix the acceleration bug, and the system had to be easier to clean. A build up of dirt can and does cause problems, as I read in the notes."

So after months of brainstorming and designing, Walkins had created the first practical system that enabled an engine to move on its own.

"I had acquired a selection of diesels from British Rail; they were auxiliary and luckily were not likely to see any service for the foreseeable future. The first diesel I picked, I had the necessary modifications made and soon it was ready to go. To test it, there was an abandoned line near my hometown, which had everything I needed to test my engines. Once the tracks were cleaned up I set to work with my first test. It really was nerve-racking, and when the time came near, it is a day I don't forget."

The weather was fine that day, which was absolutely needed for these tests. Walkins prepared the diesel: the programming was activated and he took his hands off the controls. This was the moment of truth: as he stood in the diesel's cab, he gave the instruction. "Ok lad, let's see what you can do: move forward slowly." And he did. The diesel steadily picked up speed until it hit 30 mph. "Good show; now began to steadily brake" was the next instruction. That day was spent testing out this new marvel. At the end of the day Walkins and his family celebrated; history had been made.

"After that success, I started work on the second and third automated programming systms, APS for short. I soon had APS installed in two more diesels. I never was good with names, so I just gave my creations numbers. Diesel 1 was the history-making first diesel capable of self motion. He was a regular diesel, capable of pulling trains like any other. As was the second diesel of the line, Diesel 2. But I wanted to show that the system was multi-purpose, so Diesel 3 was a dedicated shunter." He said to me.

He called British Rail officials to his test area, and demonstrated his "numbered diesels" to great effect. Although impressed with his system, there was a problem that prevented them from entering service.

"I am sorry, but we cannot have the engines run without drivers; its against regulations and should their programming fail, it could mean disaster." The rail official said to Walkins. So save face, a compromise was reached: the engines could run, but they must have drivers on board, ready to take over in case of an emergency. Furthermore, until British Rail could be certain that the APS was safe, Diesel 1 and Diesel 2 could only handle local goods work; no passenger trains or long freight trains.

"I didn't like it, but I didn't have a choice in the matter; British Rail was directly run by the government, so there was nothing I could do." Walkins told me as he finished up this part of the story.

For the next few months, the diesels worked hard with their specified jobs. Though they proved that they worked just as hard as any other diesel, British rail would not let Diesel 1 or Diesel 2 run without Drivers on board. However, as long as they were on board, the APS could be active. Diesel 3, being a shunter, was deemed "low risk" so as long as he didn't make any major mistakes, he was permitted to operate without a driver. However, he had to check in with the yardmaster at the beginning and end of every day.

"So your first three diesels were a success; what happened next?" I asked him

"I decided it was time to get creative. Perhaps the engines could be more than just engines; maybe they could serve practical purposes too. And that is when I realized: these engines could be modified to serve specific purposes." He looked at me with a smile "I was quite eccentric back then, so as you can imagine, what happened next was the next big development for the numbered diesels."

Coming Soon:

Chapter three: Diesel 4, Diesel 5 and Diesel 6

[Eyes]

That was great, Frank! This book has actually helped me right the next part in my book. 

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter Three:
Diesel 4, Diesel 5 and Diesel 6

Following the success of Diesel 1, 2 and 3, Walkins set to work on what he dubbed "phase 2" of the numbered diesels line. After having built 3 normal engines, he decided to one-up himself.

"I knew that the capabilities of the APS could be expanded greatly, I just needed the right direction to go in. So I looked at various machines around the United Kingdom for inspiration. I hit a breakthrough one day, when I was observing trains working on a nearby line. I saw the strangest engine, Dübs crane tank No. 4101 was its name, "Dubsy" for short. It was a steam engine, but there was a crane mounted on top. That was when it hit me: a crane diesel! Immediately I set to work planning it."

"Did the added feature cause problems?" I asked him at that point, curious.

"You don't know the half of it. Now the APS had to be completely redesigned to incorporate not just controlling the actions of a typical diesel, but now there had to be crane controls integrated into it as well. Plus, per British Rail, there had to be controls a person could take over in the event the APS were to fail. Then on top of all of that, I could not exceed the loading gauge... if it was too heavy, British Rail would not let it run at all" he told me.

This added headache took seven months to resolve, But in late May, 1963 it was finally resolved. This new diesel had been designed and built from the ground up new; there was no other diesel like it in the world. It cut very close though; it was only 90 kilograms under the loading gauge. At full extension, the crane was 45 ft long and had a reach of 30 ft in all directions. When the crane was out, special stabilizers also came out to keep this diesel stable. The crane had a maximum lift potential of 8 tons.

A simple test was designed: Diesel 4 Had to lift up 4 tons of steel girders 20 feet off the ground, rotate the crane 180 degrees, then put the girders down safely.

"What happened next was really nerve-racking. I activated the APS, and told Diesel 4 to get ready. He lifted up the girders, and slowly they rose to 20 feet. My heart was in my throat the whole time the crane-arm was turning 180 degrees. I knew that if anything went wrong, my credibility would go out the window. 4 minutes after the girders went up, they touched down exactly where they needed to go. I was so relieved that day, and the officials were quite impressed."

"So Diesel 4 succeeded; what happened next?"

"Well, they were confident in him, but it was the usual restrictions: a driver had to be on board in case of an emergency, and he couldn't pull passenger trains. It didn't matter anyway, since Diesel 4 wasn't designed to pull passengers. So he was tasked with loading trucks of girders, wires and the like, but out of caution his loads were not permitted to exceed 7.5 tons." He said, recalling that success.

For his next project, he decided to tackle something very important to any railway: track maintenance.

"So I knew rails were very important to maintain, so for this diesel I once again had to design from the ground up. This diesel was not designed to pull trains; only two specifically built cars I also designed. The rail cleaning was in 4 steps. The first was sweeping and vacuuming; any debris on the rail would be removed, and depending on its weight was either gathered in a "bucket" of sorts, to be disposed of later, or was cast aside beside the railway tracks. Mostly small things like pebbles, twigs, dirt; things that wouldn't leave an impact. The second stage was rust removal; I designed a special sensor that would spray a chemical that would remove rust, but not the normal metal in the rails. The third stage was a wash; to clean away any chemical left behind so it would not affect the environment. The last stage was smoothing. I cannot go into too much detail because the process is patented and I would like to protect this, but I can tell you that I use a very unique process to ensure the rails are straight and properly aligned, and when there is a problem it was resolved.

As you can imagine, what happened next was very nerve-racking. The test British rail set up: 500 yards of dirty track, and it all had to be cleaned. This diesel was quite slow; only capable of moving at 10 yards a minute, which was important because a task this important cannot be rushed. So, the slow diesel set off, and got to work.

An hour later, the officials inspected the 500 yards and were very impressed; they found no noticeable problems with the rail; Diesel 5 had passed the test and was ready to enter service.

"I assume he needed to have a driver on board too?" I asked him, getting used to the pattern.

"Yes, but not for the reason you would think: there had to be a driver on board to act as an inspector after cleaning. You see, Diesel 5's flaw was that he could clean the rails, but he could not see behind him to look over his work; even if he had a second face, it would not work because of the 2 special cars he was pulling. So the human eyes would go over the work, and any problems, they would back up and try again."

He then went on to tell me about another idea he had: a firefighting engine.

"Sometimes there are areas where the roads do not meet the rails, so it is hard to fight fires like those. So I had decided to develop a diesel capable of fighting fires. Just one problem: water and oil don;t mix, so I couldn't make a diesel with a water cannon; it wasn't going to work."

After consulting with various firefighting departments, he got word of how some departments use a special foam to fight oil-based fires, particularly airports.

"And that was when it hit me: a foam cannon!"

The process was all to familiar to Walkins at that point: design, build, test.

"This test was the most dangerous one yet; because what we were doing was essentially a live fire exercise."

Three fires were lit at various distances: some oil barrels, a building, and a pair of railroad oil tankers.

"But there was something different about this one; unique among the numbered diesels, Diesel 6 actually needed a human to help him; he could drive and aim the cannon himself, but since he could only see what was in front of him, and some fires were to his side, human eyes were necessary to help him aim.

As soon as the official said go, the diesel and Walkins got to work. Controlling the cannon, the diesel payed close attention to the orders said by Walkins, while another man kept an eye on the canisters of foam; if they were to go empty, it was his job to replace them. All three fires were out in 11 minutes, 29 seconds... Diesel 6 was immediately welcomed to service.

"Diesel 6 could drive himself, but unique among the others, he needed human assistance, for both aiming his cannon and reloading his foam when the canisters went empty. Regardless, diesel 6 would prove to be a valuable asset in the coming years." Walkins explained, as he showed me a series of old newspaper headlines where Diesel 6 had responded to and put out fires.

"These diesels were fine, but the complexity of their APS was really getting to me. I decided at that point to go back to basics and design regular diesels... but this time, I would experiment with gauge."

Coming Soon:

Chapter 4: Diesel 7, Diesel 8 and Diesel 9

[Eyes]

Another great chapter, Frank!

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter 4:

Diesel 7, Diesel 8 and Diesel 9

With the success of phase II, Walkins was ready to begin work on his next lot of diesels. For phase III, he wanted to go back to basics, as the APS modifications for the additional parts proved very time-consuming and complicated.

"But I knew had to try something new" he said in our conversation. "I began visiting various railways around the United Kingdom, looking for inspiration." It took a couple months, but there were a few railways that really stuck out to him. A Visit to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway gave him perspective on minimum gauge engines, a visit to the Snowdon Mountain Railway exposed him to mountain engines and the Talyllyn railway in Wales brought insight into narrow gauge engines.

"Then it hit me: gauges! Different gauges would open up a lot more potential to the numbered diesels, so for phase III, Diesel 7 would be minimum gauge, Diesel 8 would be a mountain engine and Diesel 9 would be narrow gauge."

Walkins subsequently began working on brand new APS systems. He was glad these would be just regular diesels, because there was an important hurdle to overcome: size.

"As it turns out, the smaller engines meant the APS systems I had developed until that point I couldn't use. They were too big to fit within the designs I had in mind, so essentially I had to start from scratch, and take something that was meant to work at one size, and make it smaller. It sort of like taking a basketball, and rebuilding it to be the size of a grapefruit."

With this task in mind, he decided to tackle the minimum gauge diesel first. The logic was quite simple: he knew that if he could build a functioning APS for the smallest possible gauge, then the narrow gauges would be easy.

"It was not easy, I'll tell you" he said to me about this topic. However, this story is about history, not engineering, so, in his own words "I'll spare you the complicated engineering terms and we'll cut to the chase." As luck would have it, the government had been pleased with the results of the first six diesels, so they had given Mr. Walkins a substantial grant to develop more. The additional money allowed Walkins to invest in research towards improving the overall APS design to make it more efficient, and thus smaller. In early November, 1963 Diesel 7 was at last ready for testing.

They went to Ravenglass and Eskdale to test Diesel 7. The gauge was modeled after theirs so it was the perfect testing grounds.

"And we did some basic testing there. We had our concerns, but ultimately everything worked out."

As it turns out, R and E was not really interested in this diesel, so Walkins had to look elsewhere for interest. Where Diesel 7 ultimately ended up was quite surprising.

"As it turns out, there was this amusement park opening up, and one of the flagship attractions was going to be a minimum gauge rail line that would run throughout the park, not to different from the railroad at Disneyland, actually." Diesel 7 wound up joining a small fleet of engines working at the amusement park; taking visitors around the park's 8 mile loop of track.

"Diesel 7 was one of four engines working the loop, along with another diesel named Alden, and these two minimum gauge steam engines named Charles and Lester. The theme park primarily took care of Diesel 7; I was just called in on occasion to help out with more complicated things here and there."

"Was he allowed to operate without a driver?" I asked him, curious.

"Not at first, and then only on certain days. Eventually, they did let him go on his own, as long as he didn't cause any trouble and he didn't exceed 35 Kilometers per hour. The driver-less engine became quite a popular attraction there, actually."

With that success, he moved on to Diesel 8, a mountain engine, and Diesel 9, a narrow gauge engine.

"And what we ended up doing with these two, I was able to have them both built at the same time, because they were roughly equal gauges and they could use APS systems that were about the same size, so I was able to build two that were about the same size and equal in complexity."

Mountain railways were few and far between, but Walkins was able to convince the Snowdon Mountain railway to give his diesel a chance.

"And he was able to handle the entire route, without a problem." Walkins said, reminiscing about the test. Snowdon was actually very impressed with the diesel, but due to strict rules a driver had to be on board, no exceptions.

"So he would handle the freight duties, transporting supplies and the like between stations. He did he jobs very efficiently and proved popular with the engines there." Walkins said of Diesel 8.

"And what of Diesel 9?"

"His tests at Talyllyn went splendidly, but they couldn't take on another engine at the time. So instead I leased Diesel 9 to a private owner. He was this businessman who owned a private narrow gauge railway and needed an engine. He was immediately fascinated by Diesel 9's ability to move on his own, and used him for the private railway."

"Did he need a driver?"

"Surprisingly, no. The businessman trusted Diesel 9 to run on his own, as long as he didn't cause trouble."

"Was Diesel 9 alone?"

"Not really, there was one other engine on the railway, an old diesel named Richard, but to my understanding, that was it."

"Just one other engine? And Diesel 9 didn't resent you for sending him there?"

"Interestingly, no. I explained to him that as a narrow gauge engine, there weren't many places he could go, and this was one of the only lines that was his gauge. He understood and grew to enjoy his home."

But Walkin's experiments with gauges would have to come to an end here, because when British rail asked him to make more engines, but this batch would include the most famous numbered diesel of the lot... or rather, the most infamous.

Coming soon:

Chapter 5: Diesel 10, Diesel 11, Diesel 12 and Diesel 13

[Eyes]

Wow! This was a great chapter, Frank! It's actually given me a few more ideas for my book...

[frankthetriviaman]

Glad you liked it; I wanted to try something different with these diesels, so I went with the amusement park and private railway angles.

So to clarify for your book, at the amusement park, Diesel 7 worked with another diesel named Alden, and two steam engines named Charles and Lester; there should be enough engines for you to work with.

As for diesel 9, Walkins only knew of "an old diesel named Richard" but there is some negotiation there if you feel two diesels is not adequate

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter Five:

Diesel 10, Diesel 11, Diesel 12 and Diesel 13.

With the advancements made during phase III, Walkins was now able to make additions to the diesels possible on a more practical level with the APS systems. So in Phase IV, he was able to go back to standard gauge engines, but the APS advancements gave him the confidence to give the engines extra parts to be more useful.

"So with phase 4 of my diesels, British Rail came to me with a very specific request: scrapyards were filling up and they needed an engine that could work more efficiently in them. So I asked if it was possible for the engine to both load cars and take them away. They said it hadn't been done yet. That was when it hit me: the engine needs to be able to load scrap from the source to the freight cars, then be able to take the cars away. I worked on various designs, until I finally settled on what I call "the claw." It was simple, effective and strong. Once I had a good design in place, I commissioned the first clawed diesel of the lot: Diesel 10."

British Rail was concerned with Diesel 10; unlike previous engines, this one did have loading gauge issues. Walkins was careful to keep the weight just under the limit, but the claw was only a few centimeters below the height limit. A straightforward test was set up: Diesel 10 had to load 6 cars of scrap and then take them out of the yard in less than 90 minutes. Once the signal sounded, he got right to work loading the scrap cars.

"I had to keep my eye on Diesel 10; since the claw hydraulics were new, I had to be on board to make sure the pressure stayed normal and correct anything that was beyond Diesel 10's control. All it would take was one kink in the system, and I knew it would all be over." He said, thinking back to that day.

"They gave you 90 minutes; how long did Diesel 10 take?" I asked him, curious

"83. Quite frankly I was just relieved by the success of the claw." He said, his face now calmer than a moment ago.

"With the success of Diesel 10's design, I immediately went to work on Diesel 11 and Diesel 12. The general claw design worked, but I knew that there was more that could be done with them, so I proceeded to experiment. With Diesel 11, I took the same claw design from Diesel 10, but I put two of them, one in front of the other. As I first, I actually had to give him specially designed mirrors."

"Mirrors?" I asked incredulously"

"Absolutely. See, the front claw he could see and operate just fine, but the rear claw he was having issues with; no matter which way he looked he couldn't see what he was doing with it, so I had to build him special mirrors so he could see what his rear claw was doing."

"Did he look... awkward?"

"At first... In 1974 I gave him redesigned mirrors that weren't as... crude. They worked just as good thankfully. But for now, back to 1964" he said, wanting to get back on track.

Diesel 12 took the same claw, but made it bigger. Due to loading gauge issues though, Walkins was forced back to using only one claw.

"They went through the same tests; as expected they loaded cars both efficiently and properly. The three of them actually found another important use as well."

In areas where construction was going on, there was rubble and junk that had to be taken away, and often times dump trucks were just not enough. So in areas where the construction was going on near railroads, the companies would leave the rubble near the side of the track, and any one of the three would come by with trucks to take the rubble away.

"turns out these clean up trains would actually hold many times more than any dump truck would, so they proved to be very popular when they were available." Walkins recalled.

But he sighed when he came to Diesel 13.

"He was supposed to be a single claw like Diesel 10 and 12, but everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong with this one. He was always breaking down, had issues and the like. The claw proved so problematic, we eventually had to remove it. Then, when he tried to just pull regular trains, something always went wrong."

"What ultimately happened"

"A catastrophic failure one day made it that it would cost more to repair him than he was worth... so with a heavy heart I was forced to lock him in a shed, out of service and out of the way." Walkins sighed.

This incident proved to be a major setback for Walkins; British Rail began to question if Walkins was still a good engineer, and if the numbered diesels had run their course. Walkins knew he had to save face, so he decided that for phase V... it would be back to basics. What he had to show was it wasn't the numbered diesels that were problematic... it was just the one that was.

coming soon:

chapter 6:

diesel 14, diesel 15, diesel 16 and diesel 17

[Eyes]

Awesome job here yet again, Frank!

[frankthetriviaman]

Chapter 6:

Diesel 14, Diesel 15, Diesel 16 and Diesel 17

Following the failure of Diesel 13, Walkins' reputation had taken a major hit. British Rail was starting to lose confidence in Walkins' work, and the amusement park was even considering withdrawing Diesel 7 from their rail line.

"But I was determined to redeem myself" he said in the interview. "I knew I had to show them that the APS was not flawed, it was just that one engine that was problematic."

Deciding that the best thing to do was go back to basics and show them that he wasn't done yet, the next diesel would be a regular diesel engine, like Diesel 1 and Diesel 2. Diesel 14 was built and ready in only a month, a record for Walkins and his design and build team. British Rail gave Diesel 14 the same tests as 1 and 2, and Diesel 14 passed with flying colors. By now, they were starting to feel more confident in the numbered diesels, so Diesel 14 was permitted to pull long distance freight trains... but under one condition.

"I presume there had to be driver on board?" I said, anticipating where this was going.

"Correct; and they still could not pull passenger trains. Naturally, by now I was convinced that they should relax that rule; after all Diesel 7 was doing fine, and to my understanding Diesel 9 was also allowed to take passengers too. Granted, Snowdon would only let Diesel 8 handle freight also, but still, the point is they needed to give them a chance."

Walkins did not have time to argue with British Rail though, because a special request came in for him as soon as Diesel 14 entered service.

"There was this gentleman who ran a rail line that was operated by Garatt locomotives. They are these special steam locomotives that are designed in such a way to articulate when they encounter a turn. The idea is they could handle tighter turns better than rigid frame locomotives. But all Garratts were steam locomotives, a diesel Garratt had never been designed or built before. This gentleman ran a railway that was run exclusively by Garratts and after seeing my work, he was convinced that I was the right man for the job."

So one day, the gentleman came to Walkins' workshop and put up a 800,000 pound commission to design and build a diesel Garratt. Convinced he could pull it off, Walkins accepted the commission and got to work.

"We started in April 1964 on Diesel 15." He said to me

"And When was Diesel 15 ready?"

"November. The funny thing is, most of that time was spent on research and development... it only took 5 weeks to actually build the Diesel." He recalled. Eventually Diesel 15 was brought to the railway for a test run; he would be given one week to see if he could operate just as well as a steam Garratt. He had a driver on board for this week, in case of an emergency. Diesel 15 handled the trial run beautifully and won over the rail line's owner. So they came to an agreement: as long as Diesel 15 didn't cause any trouble he could run without a driver.

"What can you tell me about the rail line itself?"

"It was decently sized; 80 total miles of track, 10 stations, with regular passenger and freight duties. Diesel 15 joined 4 regular Steam Garratts operating the railway: Iron Mike, Gentleman Phillip, Lancaster Lawrence and Lady Eliza. Gentleman Phillip was sort of the leader of the bunch and was quite polite, he took to Diesel 15 immediately... but the others took time to warm up to him.

Diesel 15 was left in good hands with that railway's owner, but now Walkins had something to prove to British Rail.

"Then I had another request come in... there was a Broad gauge line, one of a few still in operation, and with engines becoming increasingly harder to find and them running out of money to repair the engines they had, they came to me, begging for help. They needed a diesel engine capable of operating on broad gauge lines, otherwise they would be shut down and lose everything. With no time to lose, I essentially designed a scaled-up Diesel 14 and and it ready in only 2 weeks... just in time for early December. Diesel 16 proved to be a hard worker, and he proved to be the thing they needed to save the line from closure."

Diesel 16 joined a broad gauge railway that was quite literally on its last leg. Though there were only 6 stations, they had 3 broken down engines sitting in the shed and 2 engines running the line... a line meant to be operated by 5 engines. Diesel 16 allowed more money to come in for the railway and was hailed as a hero by the local towns for saving the rail line that was so integral to the local economies.

"And he ran without a driver; not because they trusted him, it was because they couldn't afford to pay a driver. It was a good thing Diesel 16 ran without problems; after all, he was quite literally build in a rush. But I didn't let my quality waver, he was built to the same exacting standards as the others."

On New Years Day, 1965, Walkins made a resolution to show British Rail that they had nothing to worry about with the numbered diesels operating passenger trains. Though most of the diesels that had been operating on British rail had a good year or two working for them by now, they were still not allowed to pull passenger trains. Though Diesel 7 and Diesel 9 had no problems with where they worked, British Rail was not convinced.

"So I set to work on a dedicated passenger diesel. I designed a railcar, you know, a diesel engine that also had seats for passengers, sort of like subway cars. Then I designed two coaches that were directly attached to him. A new passenger route was being constructed and British Rail was looking for a train to be a dedicated passenger service. I jumped on my opportunity and begged them for a chance."

So a one week trial run was established and... well, you get the idea by now.

"He passed, they let him run, but a driver had to be on board" Walkins summarized.

Diesel 17's success lead to an overall relaxing of the rules for the numbered diesels... though no longer required to have drivers on board all the time, with the following exceptions:

Diesel 5 and Diesel 6, for the reasons described in their chapter, still needed crew on board at all times

Diesel 1, 2, and 14 would only need drivers for passenger work

If they caused no trouble, they would be allowed without drivers more and more.

But Diesel 17, due to being a dedicated passenger engine, still needed a driver on board at all times.

Walkins had come quite far, but for the final phase of his numbered diesels, a most interesting client approached him for the second to last phase: the British Army.

Coming soon:

Chapter 7: Diesel 18, Diesel 19 and Diesel 20

[Eyes]

Awesome job there, Frank!

[Admin]

I never expected there to be 20 diesels, I thought it would end on 16. This is amazing, now we just need to find out how 5000 XL fits in all of this...

[Eyes]

Don't worry, Admin, Frank and I have it all planned out. If you do want to know how Diesel 5000 XL fits in, I suggest you keep an eye on my novel.

[frankthetriviaman]

All in due time TGC; this is an "older" book after all, so even with Walter Simmons' work, it is quite incomplete.

[frankthetriviaman]

Merry Christmas everyone; 2 chapters for one today.

Chapter 7:

Diesel 18, Diesel 19 and Diesel 20

Phase VI and Phase VII were the two smallest phases, consisting of two engines and one engine respectively.

Diesel 18 and Diesel 19 were part of a secret government project which is not due to be declassified until July 2011, (recap: this book was published in October 1992), so as such details on these diesels are limited.

"So as you know, the world was caught in the Cold War during this time, so after the government got word of my work with self-moving diesels, they wanted to see if there were any practical military applications for the APS."

Meeting at a military base, we discussed various applications for how the numbered diesels could help in case war broke out in UK soil. But unfortunately, this was all he could say.

"And why can't we discuss them more?"

"Because the project is still classified."

"Until when?"

"October 2011."

(Editor's note: they will be discussed in more detail in the upcoming novel about the numbered diesels, but now that the project has been declassified, the following can be brought up: Diesel 18 was designed to be a mobile missile platform, and Diesel 19 was designed to be a mobile radar station. The project and diesels were abandoned at the end of the Cold War, but due to the Official Secrets Act Walkins was not allowed to reclaim them)

Phase VI was subsequently taken over by the government, with Walkins occasionally called in as consultant. Rising costs for certain components, plus Walkins shift In interests to designing other railway infrastructure lead to Phase VII and Diesel 20 being the last of the numbered diesels.

"So for my last engine, I wanted to do something big, memorable and important. There was one cause that alway got me in right in the heart: Children's hospitals." He said to me, before thinking back. "So for this engine, I decided that every Christmas, I would run a dedicated charity train. Diesel 20 would be decorated for the holiday, as would his boxcars of presents for the children undergoing treatment at these hospitals."

A special route was planned out; every Christmas Diesel 20 would stop at eight station around England. All were within close proximity to children's hospitals, and in many cases crowds would appear to wait for the Christmas special, but that is getting ahead here.

"This train would be a huge PR boost for British Rail, so they immediately said yes to my proposal, and gave full support."

That Christmas Eve, 1965, the first run of the Christmas special took place. The stations were quiet, save for some representatives from the hospital at the station.

There were eight box cars, one corresponding to each hospital, that had had to be unloaded. As you can imagine, this had to be done quickly, so in the train's brakeman 8 porters rode to help with unloading; the goal was to get each boxcar unloaded in 15 minutes and the train out in 20.

The next few days, British Rail received enormous praise for their charity run, and became increasingly popular.

As for Walkins, he designed a shed for Diesel 20 to be kept away in, until next christmas. He would continue to work on and maintain his numbered diesels, but for Walkins, 20 was the magic number; no more would be built.

The years went by, and soon the numbered diesels revived all sorts of accolades and recognition for their engineering accomplishments and advancements. In early 1972, British rail finally relaxed their rules to the point that, with the exception of Diesel 5 and Diesel 6, they were allowed to run without drivers most of the time.

"The numbered diesels golden age was 1972 to 1988." Walkins said in our last conversation.

"What happened in 1988?" I asked. When I found out, I was shocked with how in just one month, everything changed for Reginald Walkins' engineering marvels.

Coming soon:

Chapter 8: fall of the numbered diesels