Introduction The first ten locomotives were delivered to the
London Midland Region's Devons Road depot in
Bow, East London, where they were evaluated against the contemporary
North British Type 1 (class 16) and
English Electric Type 1 (class 20) designs. Soon, however, the entire class was allocated to depots on the
Eastern Region, where they remained until withdrawal. The second block of ten was originally allocated to
March depot in
East Anglia, however due to the
Clean Air Act 1956 the locomotives were quickly re-allocated to East London, allowing the replacement of steam locomotives in that area. Thereafter, the type was allocated exclusively to
Stratford,
Finsbury Park and
Ipswich depots. Class 15s were generally used on freight and infrastructure operations, and haulage of passenger trains was limited to replacement as a result of failure. An example of such an occurrence was on the northbound
Fenman on 6 January 1961 where D8236 hauled the train, including the failed
Class 31 D5665, from near
Stanstead to where a more powerful replacement took over. A member of the class also worked as the train ferry shunter at Harwich Town during the 1960s and for a period a Class 15 operated as the
station pilot at
Liverpool Street station, the last locomotive used being 8234 which was replaced by a
Class 08 on 4 October 1971.
Problems and impact The Class 15 was troubled by its relatively high level of unreliability, which was largely centred around the type's Paxman engine; as delivered, the engine was found to require excessive maintenance. Despite these various issues, the Class 15 can be considered to be more successful than several contemporary Type 1 locomotives, such as the
Class 16 and the later
Class 17.
Accidents and incidents On 21 November 1963, locomotive No. D8221 crashed through buffers whilst shunting at
Ipswich engine shed and ended up across Croft Street. After attempts to tow it back onto the track using diesel locomotives failed, it was retrieved using the only
steam locomotive in service at Ipswich, which had been retained for carriage heating purposes.
Withdrawal Following a persistent decline in freight duties in the London area, in combination with the type being a relatively small and unsuccessful non-standard class, the type was considered to be surplus to requirements by the late 1960s. The ubiquitous
British Rail Class 20, which had been developed to meet the same Type 1 specification, was more numerous and had proved to be less troublesome to operate, thus it effectively replaced the type in all operational respects. D8225 was observed operating at Temple Mills as late as 28 March 1971. After withdrawal 23 of the class were stored at the former
Ipswich engine shed during 1971 before being hauled away, generally as part of booked freight trains, for scrapping. ==Conversion==