The Tale of the Diesel Hydraulics

Greetings! :D

Once a much beloved part of the British Railways locomotive scene, the diesel hydraulics of the Western Region, ranging from the original and seldom remembered pilot scheme classes to the venerable Warships, Westerns and Hymeks, took what was originally a German design and tailored it to the unique characteristics of the former Great Western mainline out of London Paddington, proving in many ways that diesel-hydraulic traction was a superior form of locomotive design thanks to their marriage of lightness and sheer horsepower.

Sadly, the diesel-hydraulics would prove to be only a fleeting part of Britain's railway history, as from the moment they entered service in the early 1960s, it became apparent that their very existence illustrated the disjointed and disorganised execution of the Modernisation Plan for which they had been developed, and within a decade standardisation had taken over as order of the day for British Rail's long-term future, meaning all of these formidable locomotives were swept out of service after working lives of, at most, 15 years.

Chapters:
0:00 - Preamble
1:15 - The Reasons Why
6:00 - D600 and D6300
13:20 - D800 Warship Introduction
21:55 - D1000 Western Introduction
27:34 - D7000 Hymek Introduction
33:57 - D800 Warship Service and Withdrawal
38:37 - D7000 Hymek Service and Withdrawal
41:43 - D1000 Western Service and Withdrawal
45:55 - Conclusion

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References:
- Key Model World (and their respective sources)
- Western Locomotive Society (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)