Class 31 Diesel Electric Locomotives

In 1955, British Railways produced a moderisation plan which proposed replacing all steam locomotives with diesels over a ten year period. As part of this plan a series of pilot designs was ordered from a number of manufacturers with the aim of gaining experience of diesels and ordered fleets of the best. Initially 20 Class 30s were ordered from Brush Traction at Loughborough fitted with Mirrlees engines developing 1250 hp and Brush electrical equipment. The class were used trialled on the Great Eastern section of the Eastern Region and performed well so a further 226 locomotives were ordered with slightly different control arrangements (the newly developed BR Blue Star standard) and uprated engines (1365 hp). However, after five years in traffic it was discovered that there was major fatigue problems with the Mirrlees engines and it would be cheaper to re-engine the locomotives than repair the Mirrlees engines (which were sold back to the manufacturer for rebuilting and resale for marine use). The new engines were English Electric (now GEC) 12SVT developing 1470 hp. The class has been associated with the railways of East Anglia since their introduction in 1957. Equally at home on passenger or freight trains, very few examples now remain in BR service.

D5683 was delivered to Darnall shed, Sheffield, on 19^th January 1961 and has worked from a large number of depots during its career including Finsbury Park, March, Stratford, Bescot, Crewe and Immingham. Its longest spell was at March from 1976 until 1987 during which time it worked passenger services between Liverpool Street & Kings Lynn and cross country routes from Great Yarmouth, Norwich, Ipswich and Harwich to the Midlands. It has also worked further afield including to Paignton, Cardiff & Portsmouth. We have a pretty complete history of the locomotive's last 18 months in traffic which includes visits to Carlisle, Newport, Grimsby and some time at the southern end of the West Coast main line. It also spent about six months working from Peterborough including to Kings Cross, Bury St Edmunds & Brandon. It was withdrawn on 11^th January 1999 and stored at Toton depot, Nottingham. It was then used to test the new paint shop built at Toton and so carries the latest English, Welsh & Scottish Railway's Red and Yellow livery. It was delivered to the Colne Valley Railway on 19^th February 2000 and has been restored to working order.

D5800