The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotives built by British Railways (BR). As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, the class became a familiar sight at major stations and freight yards. Since their introduction in 1952, however, the nature of rail traffic in Britain has changed considerably. Freight trains are now mostly fixed rakes of wagons, and passenger trains are mostly multiple units or have Driving Van Trailers, neither requiring the attention of a shunting locomotive. Consequently, a large proportion of the class has been withdrawn from mainline use and stored, scrapped, exported or sold to industrial or heritage railways.
08 801 at Penzance station in 1990
08 032 at Foster Yeoman's Torr Works, 2008
08 509 in Rail Blue livery at Chesterfield Goods Yard
08 266 (left) alongside cut-down 08 993 (right) at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in 2017, showing the lower height of the 08/9 subclass.
A switcher locomotive, shunter locomotive, or shifter locomotive is a locomotive used for maneuvering railway vehicles over short distances. Switchers do not usually move trains over long distances, instead they typically assemble trains in order for another locomotive to take over. Switchers often operate in a railyard or make short transfer runs. They may serve as the primary motive power on short branch lines or switching and terminal railroads.
CZ Loko Effishunter
Stadler Rail Ee 922
A diesel switcher in Sakaki, Japan
An electric switcher in Salzburg, Austria