RECOMMENDED RAILWAY REFERENCES. Where Worlds Collide introduces each edition of Carnival of the Vanities with a diesel-themed pun. For North American readers, here is a little background. British Rail adopted a numbering system wherein each type of locomotive has a two-digit class number, roughly suggestive of its power (thus a Class 66 is more powerful than a Class 57 and a Class 57 is more powerful than a Class 20) and a three-digit unit identifying number, which sometimes communicates via the third digit additional information about the type of service intended for that unit. Such a numbering scheme, while sensible, would not be practical in the United States, where a computer program for keeping track of locomotives allows a maximum of four digits in the locomotive number. (As Dave Barry would put it, I am not making this up. I forget whose computer program this is and what its purpose is, but recall that it is very useful to the railroads. Union Pacific registered a new reporting mark, UPY, so as to keep track of more than 10,000 locomotives without requiring a rewrite of this program.)

The latest Carnival invokes the Class 57, an upgrade using the bodies and trucks of the Class 47, an alternator from retired class 56 units (the link points to what looks like a train simulator,) and a new diesel engine from Electro-Motive Division. That makes the Class 57 something with no direct analogue to North America. The 2500 hp SD-35 of some 40 years ago had the 567-series (cubic inches per cylinder) diesel whilst the Class 57 gets a 2500 hp 645-series diesel not applied to anything currently running on rails.

The link to Carnival 55 underplays the significance of the Deltic Class passenger diesels, so-named for the triangular shape of the three banks of opposed pistons that made up the engine. The result is a compact and powerful prime mover. At the time of construction, these were the most powerful twin-engined diesel locomotives in the world, but the statement that they were also the "fastest at the time of construction" is accurate only because Electro-Motive Divisions E7 passenger diesels (2X1000 hp engines) with a design speed of 117 mph were already out of production for 10 years.

The opposed-piston design concept made for powerful prime movers. The most notable was the 1954 Fairbanks-Morse Train Master, with one 2400 hp engine. The idea was probably 10 years ahead of its time, and if you could fit two such engines onto one frame, you'd exceed the power of the Deltics. The problem with the Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston design was with the lower crankshaft, which was not easy to maintain. Moreover, the engine was very tall.

Where Worlds Collide also kindly provided a link to this picture. North American readers, what you are looking at is a European double-ended Electro Motive F7. (Wouldn't the Belgian paint scheme have looked good on a New Haven EP-5?) British Railways might have spared themselves a lot of trouble had they figured out a way to further shrink the European double-ender to fit the loading gauge, rather than fool with all sorts of experimental units, and German hydraulic transmissions, and other such follies.

Where Worlds Collide also finds a description of an advanced-technology steam locomotive good for 125 mph, proposed to be built new. A shame that the UK loading gauge does not permit any of these (particularly the Milwaukee 4-6-4.)