With the greatest respect, the VP185 quickly earned the reputation as one of the best Diesel Engines of its type in the world. Paxman's owners "MAN B&W" transferred VP185 production from Colchester to Stockport in February 2003. This move was done too quickly and Stockport made a loss on every engine they built, so all the production equipment was sold off.

However the world demand for VP185s was so strong that production of them was restarted at Colchester in July 2005. They are used successfully all over the world in ships, (many naval ships) trains and power plants. They are amongst the very best in their class for power , fuel usage, emissions and reliability. All the new British Royal Navy future vessels are planned with VP185 power plants.

As I understand, First Great Western ruled the VP185 out on cost ground, which allowed them to "Go German" and purchase the MTU^▸ (Motor Traction Unit) Diesel Engine, (and the necessary Voith cooling system required for the MTUs), which I believe was always their intention. In my opinion, some folk seem to believe that if something is German, then it is the best. Well the German HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) railway disaster where a steel tyre came of a wheel and caused that horrific accident disproved that. Also if anyone thinks BMWs are good cars, then look at all their vehicle recalls in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and USA.

No, I believe what we are seeing is pure unpatriotic behaviour, when our BREL^▸ (British Rail Engineering Ltd) Railway production plant was sold off, half ended up in Alstom's hands, and they closed the manufacturing business last year. Perhaps Bombardier, who own the remaining half will do the same in the future, and that will be the very end of over 150 years of UK Railway Train production.

We built most of the world's railways in the past, and now we don't even build our own any more. It's not just Railways, our Police drive BMWs while our Jaguar factory is on short time working, they use Mitsubishi 4x4s instead of the best in the world, Land Rover. I think this country is gripped by some kind of unpatriotic fever, where it is the done thing to buy anything, so long as it's not British made. And that affects us all in the UK, all that money going abroad damaged the UK balance of payments, and so we all end up paying more income tax to balance the books.

I was personally very disappointed when First Great Western chose to Re-Engine their HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) power car fleet (loaned from Angel Trains) with the MTU^▸ (Motor Traction Unit) Diesel Engine.

For nearly 30 years the Paxman Valenta V12 Diesel Engines have given stirling service, and the updated modern version, the VP185 is one of the most popular Diesel Engine families of its type in the world. Over 70% of production at Paxman (MAN B&W) Colchester is exported. These VP185 engines are used the world over in Ferries, Power Generators, and Ships, including our own Royal Navy.

Yes, the MTU is cleaner and more fuel efficient than the original Paxman Valenta Engines, but so is the up-to-date Paxman Valenta VP185 series. The maintenance schedule for the MTU Engines is heavy, requiring Oil Changes and Tappet Adjustments at 2000 hours running. Internal Engine inspections using endoscopes are regularly required, adding to the maintenance schedule.

Strangely enough, when the first London Bendy-Buses (Mercedes-Benz) were introduced, there was a series of worrying engine fires with them. It seems history is repeating itself.