LMS Route: Evesham to Birmingham

Kings Norton Station: mrkn805

An unidentified 'Peak' in early British Railways livery runs through Kings Norton station early one morning. On the left is a class 25 allocated to Saltley shed which has arrived with a local Worcester - Birmingham train. It is believed that the time the photograph was taken was around 08:30 in the morning. Officially described by British Railways as a Sulzer Type 4 diesel locomotive, the class were built by British Railways' Derby Works between 1959 to 1960. They were all named after British mountains which is how the nickname Peaks was derived. They were in part inspired by the LMS' prototype mainline diesels 10000 and 10001, and also by the Southern Railway's 10201-10203. They were later categorised by British Railways as Class 44 diesel locomotives. This class of large powerful diesels was one of the first commissioned for the British Railways' modernisation project and were the precursors to the Class 45 and Class 46 locomotives of similar design.

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