Class 56 Withdrawal

stories from around the country...

Class trivia:

The first locomotive to enter traffic on 25th February 1977 was 56006.

Due to the high unreliability of the 30 Romanian locomotives, BR decided to build its own locomotives, they were built at BREL Doncaster, and the components were moved from other BREL sites. The locos built at Doncaster, were numbered from 56031 to 56105, the next build of locomotives was built at Crewe because the class 58 project was getting underway at Doncaster. The first British built locomotive to enter traffic, was (fittingly) 56031.

Once put to work, the Class 56s were used on MGR services, replacing the Class 20 and Class 47, these workings had earned the Class 56, the nickname 'Grids'. The locomotives were later used to replace the triple-headed Class 37s on iron-ore trains in South Wales. These locomotives were then replaced by the Class 60.

Many enthusiast will disagree with the NRM's decision and see the class as an important stop-gap addition to BR's heavy haul capabilities of the late 1970's which have served well with little maintenance well into 2004.

The National Rail museum has recently turned down EWS's offer of donating BR blue 56006 from its heritage pool for the national collection. It was deemed by the committee members not be an "important" enough design. Its a shame that it will be left to private lines to preserve one of these machines.		Above: 56033 & 56103 Opposite: 56062
BR/Brush Class 56 Service : 1976-2004 Engine : Ruston 16RK3CT Power : 3,250hp / 2420kW Wheel. : Co-Co Builder : Electroputere/BR Doncaster & Crewe Number : 135 The early 70s oil crisis saw the need for a new generation of dedicated heavy freight locomotive mainly for coal haulage. the class 56 was the first of these, based on the class 47 design and superstructure with a powerful development of the EE medium speed engine. the first 30 of the class were built in Romania, the rest in the UK.

56033 stands outside Margam depot

A Brush design intended for freight use, the first 30 were built under contract in Romania entering service during 1977 and the remainder were constructed by BREL at Doncaster and Crewe with the final machine entering service in 1984. The first class members were withdrawn when the earlier Romanian built batch started to give more trouble than they worth.