Home > British Rail Class 31
Class 31, no. 31018, at the National Railway Museum in York, on 3rd June 2004. This was the first locomotive of the Class to be built in 1957. It was withdrawn from service in 1976. It currently carries BR Blue livery.Class 31, no. 31128 ' Charybdis' at Bristol Temple Meads on 23rd July 2004. This locomotive is owned by Fragonset Railways, but hired to Wessex Trains to haul trains from Bristol to Brighton and Weymouth.
Class 31, no. 31271 'Stratford 1840-2001', at the York Railfest, on 3rd June 2004. This event was held to celebrate the 200th anniversary of railways. The locomotive is preserved at the Midland Railway Centre. It carries Trainload Construction livery, and was named to commemorate the former locomotive depot at Stratford, which closed to make way for the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
Class 31, no. 31454, stabled at Westbury on 17th April 2004. This locomotive is painted in InterCity livery, and is owned by Fragonset Railways. It is hired to Wessex Trains to haul trains from Bristol to Brighton and Weymouth.
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, previously known as Brush Type 2, were built by Brush TractionClass 47 diesel locomotive, no. 47815 'Abertawe Landore' at York Railfest on 3rd June 2004. This locomotive is operated by First Great Western, and is painted in its original two-tone green livery. Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railwa from 1957-62.
1 Description
2 Refurbishment
3 Current Operations
3.1 English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS)
The final three EWS locomotives were withdrawn in 2001.
3.2 Fragonset Railways
In 1998, Fragonset Railways purchased four redundant Class 31 locomotives from EWS.
3.3 Network Rail
Network Rail operates a small fleet of four Class 31/1 locomotive, nos. 31105/107/233/285, to haul test trains around the network. The locomotives were purchased from Fragonset, and overhauled at their Derby workshops. They have been repainted in Network Rail's new all-over yellow livery.
Prior to operating its own locomotives, Network Rail's predecessor, Railtrack, had hired two Class 31 locomotives from Fragonset. These two locomotives, nos. 31190 and 31601, were repainted in Raltrack's blue and lime green livery. With the overhaul and entry into service of Network Rail's own locomotives, these two engines were returned to Fragonset.
4 Preservation
Several locomotives have been preserved for use on heritage railways. These are listed below. Of note, are the first built, no. 31018, and the last built, no. 31327.
