The Strangest British Engine Ever
METTLE
131,468 views
Read the first chapter of How Britain Stopped Making Things free: https://mettlehistory.co.uk
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At its peak, this engine drove Royal Navy torpedo boats across the English Channel, hauled the Flying Scotsman from King’s Cross to Edinburgh, and swept mines from coastal waters for nearly forty years.
Three banks of cylinders arranged in a triangle. Eighteen cylinders, thirty-six pistons, three crankshafts, and no cylinder heads at all.
But by 1982, every single one of these engines had been withdrawn from service and most of the locomotives carrying them were cut up for scrap within months
So why did Britain abandon its most brilliant diesel engine?
This is the story of the Napier Deltic Engine. And it starts with the pinnacle of British engineering.
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Watch the full series: The Silent Factories: How Britain's Greate...
20 Comments
A turbocharged V16 medium-speed engine in the 2,700–3,300 hp range, similar in philosophy to the EMD 16-645 or the Sulzer V12LDA28, rather than the high-revving opposed-piston design of the Napier Deltic.
ChatGPT
We actually carried a complete spare engine aboard but I never experienced an engine change.
Noise level was very high and necessitated ear protection when outside the control room.
Jayem
Outside, that line was already electrified but diesel locomotives also passed through.
The Strangest British Engine Ever
METTLE
131,468 views
Read the first chapter of How Britain Stopped Making Things free: https://mettlehistory.co.uk
———
At its peak, this engine drove Royal Navy torpedo boats across the English Channel, hauled the Flying Scotsman from King’s Cross to Edinburgh, and swept mines from coastal waters for nearly forty years.
Three banks of cylinders arranged in a triangle. Eighteen cylinders, thirty-six pistons, three crankshafts, and no cylinder heads at all.
But by 1982, every single one of these engines had been withdrawn from service and most of the locomotives carrying them were cut up for scrap within months
So why did Britain abandon its most brilliant diesel engine?
This is the story of the Napier Deltic Engine. And it starts with the pinnacle of British engineering.
———
Watch the full series: The Silent Factories: How Britain's Greate...