Diesel and Electric Locomotves

The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the Class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. The Class 37 became a familiar sight on many parts of the British Rail network, in particular forming the main motive power for Inter-City services in East Anglia and within Scotland. They also performed well on secondary and inter-regional services for many years. The Class 37s are known to some railway enthusiasts as "Tractors", a nickname due to the agricultural sound of the diesel engine of the locomotive.

The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel electric freight locomotive developed in part from the Class 59, for use on the railways of the UK. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway companies. In Continental Europe it is marketed as the EMD Series 66 (JT42CWR). On the privatisation of British Rail's freight operations in 1996, Wisconsin Central Transportation Systems under the control of Ed Burkhardt bought a number of the newly privatised rail freight companies: Transrail; Mainline; Loadhaul; and later Railfreight Distribution and Rail Express Systems. Controlling 93% of UK rail freight, after a public relations exercise involving the input of the general public, the company was named English Welsh & Scottish. EWS inherited a fleet of 1,600 mainly diesel locomotives, with an average age of over 30 years; 300 had been cannibalised for spares. Typical of the fleet, the 2580 hp Class 47s needed a major overhaul every seven years, costing £400,000; yet had an average daily availability of less than 65% with only 16 days between major failures. To enable it to offer its stated lower pricing to customers, EWS needed to reduce operating costs and raise availability. After reviewing the existing privately commissioned Class 59, which was more powerful, highly reliable and with lower operating costs, EWS approached its builder Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), then a division of General Motors. EMD offered their JT42CWR model, which had the same loading gauge-passing bodyshell as the Class 59. The engine and traction motors were different models to enable higher speeds, and the Class 66s incorporated General Motors' version of a "self-steering bogie" ("radial truck", in American usage), designed to reduce track wear and increase adhesion on curves. Placing what was termed as "the biggest British loco order since steam days", EWS placed an order for 250 units to be built at the EMD plant in London, Ontario, Canada.The EMD 710 12-cylinder diesel engine is a development of one used over 20 years, whilst the EM2000 control equipment is the same as that used on Irish Railways IE 201 Class. EWS reduced the locomotive's time into operation through specifying cab systems laid out like the Class 59, whilst increasing availability with a fuel tank of 8,180 litres (1,800 imp gal; 2,160 US gal) capacity, compared to 3,470 litres (760 imp gal; 920 US gal) on a standard Class 47. The first locomotive shipped to the UK arrived at Immingham in June 1998, taken to Derby for testing. The second was taken to AAR's Pueblo Test Centre for endurance testing, before shipping to the UK. The locomotives then shipped at a rate of 11 per month into the UK via Newport Docks, until the order was completed in December 2001. After unloading, EWS engineers then simply took off the tarpaulin, unblocked the suspension, and finally as each was shipped with water and fuel, hooked up the batteries, before starting the engine and handing the locomotive into service. Each locomotive is specified and guaranteed to 95% availability, aiming for a minimum of 180 days mean time between failures. It is designed to cover 1·6million km between major rebuilds, equivalent to 18 years' service, with each major rebuild costed at £200,000. The initial classification was as Class 61, then they were subsequently given the Class 66 designation in the British classification system (TOPS). In 1998 Freightliner placed an order for locomotives. They were followed by GB Railfreight, and then Direct Rail Services. Although sometimes unpopular with many rail enthusiasts, due to their ubiquity and having caused the displacement of several older types of (mostly) British built locomotives, their high reliability has helped rail freight to remain competitive. Rail enthusiasts call them "sheds".

The British Rail Class 60 is a class of Co-Co heavy freight diesel-electric locomotives built by Brush Traction. They are nicknamed Tugs by Rail Enthusiasts. In the 1980s, British Rail decided it had a requirement for a high powered Type 5 diesel locomotive for use on its Trainload Freight sector. On 10 August 1987, the British Railways Board issued a competitive tender for response by 7 November, for a fleet of 100 locomotives. Of the six companies invited to tender,[citation needed] only three bid responses were received: Metro-Cammell - offered a MetroCammell body with an option of traction packages, many untried, and could not offer performance guarantees as stipulated by the tender GEC - a partnership with General Motors Electro Motive. They offered a state-of-the-art Class 59, built in the UK, probably at BREL Crewe Works, which had an existing partnership for construction of the Class 91 electric locos Brush Traction - offered a locomotive powered by either a Mirrlees or Ruston engine, and used separately excited (Sepex) traction control, as previously tested on the Class 58. Of the three bidders, Brush was selected, and an order was placed for 100 locomotives in a deal worth around £120 million. Brush sub-contracted parts construction, with final construction at Brush's erecting shops at Loughborough. The bodyshells, shared with the Class 92 electric locomotives, were fabricated by Procor (UK) of Wakefield. The engine was a higher-powered development of the Mirrlees engine previously fitted experimentally to British Rail Class 37 nos. 37901-37904. The first locomotive was delivered in June 1989 and sent to Derby for testing, which revealed a number of teething problems. Parts requiring modifications included the axle box suspension and the Mirlees engine cylinder head. Unlike the Classes 59 and 66 (solid girder underframe) the Class 60s have a monocoque stressed skin construction with diagonal trusses - with the external bodywork providing support for the internal components. Two different cab designs were considered and full size mock-ups were made in wood, plastic and metal by the Engineering Development Unit at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby. One of these had a French-style raked-forward cab end, similar to the SNCF Class CC 72000, but this was rejected in favour of a more conventional cab. The main alternator is a Brush BA1006A type, providing power for the traction motors via rectification circuits to DC, the auxiliary alternator is Brush BAA 702A Auxiliary Alternator, providing power for the radiator fans, lubrication and fuel oil pumps, traction motor cooling fans and air compressors amongst others. The main and auxiliary alternators are both driven by the main engine. Each of the six axles are driven via a reduction gear by one nose suspended axle hung traction motor (Brush designed and built TM2161A four pole motors). Each motor has a separate microprocessor-controlled power supply (SEPEX in Brush's designation - from "Separately Excited"), a system that was first tried on the Class 58. One feature of this system is that if one set of wheels/axle/motor starts to wheelslip their speed can be reduced without affecting the other motors. The engine is an 8-cylinder, 145 litre Mirrlees Blackstone 8MB275T diesel traction engine (275 mm cylinder diameter) the Mirrlees engine was one of the most fuel efficient available at the time (189g of fuel per kWhr), but relatively heavy. The engine was also successfully installed in marine applications such as small ships and passenger ferries. The low cylinder count for the rated power was expected to result in lower maintenance costs.

The Class 221 Super Voyager is a class of diesel-electric multiple-unit express trains built in Bruges, Belgium, by Bombardier Transportation in 2001/02. The Class 221 are similar to the Class 220 Voyager units, but were built with a tilting mechanism enabling up to six degrees of tilt to allow higher speeds on curved tracks, most have five coaches, and they have a different bogie design. They have a maximum speed of 125 mph (200 km/h). Currently these trains are divided between two operators, Virgin Trains (West Coast) (20 sets) and CrossCountry (23 sets). The sets operated by CrossCountry have now had their tilt function disabled to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs. The Class 221s were produced as 5- or 4-coach sets. Each coach is equipped with a Cummins QSK19 diesel engine producing 560 kW (750 hp) at 1,800 rpm, driving an electrical generator which powers two motors, each driving one (inner) axle per bogie via a cardan shaft and final drive. 1,200 miles (1,900 km) can be travelled between refuellings. The coach bodies, the engines and most of the equipment of the Class 221s are the same as the Class 220s, but the bogies are very different: the Class 220 Voyager B5000 bogies have inside-frames which expose the whole of the wheel faces, while the Class 221 SuperVoyager Y36 bogies have a more traditional outside-framed bogie. Unlike the Class 220s, the Class 221s were built with a hydraulic-actuated tilting system to run at high speed around bends, though this has now been removed from the 23 sets operated by CrossCountry.

The Class 70 is a six axle Co-Co mainline freight GE PowerHaul locomotive series manufactured by General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania. The orders in 2007 for 20 units, with an option for a further 10, for Freightliner for operations in the United Kingdom were the first orders for the PowerHaul type; General Electric's product code for the class of loco is PH37ACmi. In November 2007, Freightliner UK announced Project Genesis (unrelated to GE's Genesis series built for Amtrak), a procurement plan for 30 freight locomotives from General Electric. The locomotives ordered were intended to match older types in terms of haulage capacity whilst at the same time being more fuel-efficient. The project was a collaborative effort between Freightliner and GE, with input from drivers on the cab design. The locomotives utilize a GE PowerHaul P616 diesel engine rated at 2,750 kW (3,690 hp). the locomotive meets EU Tier IIIa emission regulations. Freightliner expects that the locomotive's efficiency is 7% better than contemporary models, with a further 3% increase in efficiency whilst braking; regenerative braking is used to supply the energy to power auxiliary motors. It was speculated that these locomotives would receive the TOPS classification Class 68, however the locomotives were given the Class 70 TOPS code, breaking the previous convention that class numbers in the 70s were used for DC electric locomotives. The new locomotives are similar in appearance to a Class 58; a hood unit design with a narrow body typical of locomotive types in use in North America, the cabs are accessed from the rear via exterior walkways on the narrow part of the hood. The distinctive front end shape is due to crashworthiness features It is also fitted with air conditioning and acoustic insulation to improve the crew's environment, making it an improvement over the Class 66. Construction of the first two locomotives at GE's Erie, Pennsylvania plant was completed in July 2009, with both locomotives being tested during the same month. The original plan was for two months of testing, with the locomotives then spending a further three weeks being modified where necessary and prepared for transport to the United Kingdom. The first two locomotives (nos. 70001 and 70002) arrived in Britain on 8 November 2009 at Newport Docks. The delivery gave GE its first locomotives in service on the British rail network. The first locomotive was given the name 'PowerHaul' at Leeds on 24 November 2009. Four more locomotives were delivered to the UK on 2 December 2009. On operation tests, 70001 hauled a 30-wagon train consisting of 60 iso containers during December 2009. 70002 also hauled a 19 hopper 1300 tonne coal train in the same month. On 19 and 20 December 2010, five Class 70 locomotives were loaded onto Beluga Endurance at Erie, Pennsylvania; on 5 January 2011, the ship docked at Newport Docks. Locomotives 70008 to 70011 were unloaded without any problems; locomotive 70012 was being unloaded when part of the lifting gear failed, causing the locomotive to fall back into the hold of the ship and being severely damaged. The BBC Colorado docked at Newport on 17 December 2011 and unloading of four more class 70s commenced in the late hours of the morning of 18 December 2011.

The British Rail Class 92 is a dual-voltage electric locomotive which can run on 25 kV AC from overhead wires or 750 V DC from a third rail. It was designed specifically to operate services through the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. Eurotunnel indicates the Class 92 locomotive as the reference for other locomotives which railway undertakings might want to get certified for usage in the Channel tunnel. Locomotives of this type are operated by GB Railfreight/Europorte 2 and DB Cargo UK. In France, a number were also owned and operated by SNCF; these were classified as CC 92000 on French railways. The class 92 was intended as a mixed traffic locomotive for hauling both international freight trains and the ill-fated and never introduced Nightstar passenger sleeper trains though the Channel Tunnel. Since introduction the fleet was exclusively allocated to freight, however, in March 2015 six locomotives owned by GB Railfreight have begun passenger operations hauling the Caledonian Sleeper on behalf of Serco between London and Scotland, marking the very first use of the class in commercial passenger service. The fleet of 46 locomotives was built by a consortium of Brush Traction and ABB Traction. Parts construction was sub-contracted, with final construction and commissioning being undertaken at Brush's erecting shops at Loughborough between 1993 and 1996 (First unit was produced from 1992, and was finished in April 1993). The bodyshells, shared with the Class 60 diesel locomotives but with a modified front end, were fabricated by Procor (UK) of Horbury and delivered pre-painted in the then-standard triple grey livery. Propulsion is provided by two ABB traction converters using GTO devices, with control via an ABB MICAS-S2. Maximum power is 5 MW (6,700 hp) on 25 kV or 4 MW (5,400 hp) on 750 V; with a tractive effort of 360 kN (81,000 lbf). The locomotive is fitted with both rheostatic and regenerative braking, in addition to standard westinghouse air brake equipment. An electrical train bus is fitted to enable two locomotives to work in multiple formation, either double-heading or push-pull train with a Driving Van Trailer or DBSO. To reduce the possibility of locomotive failure in the Channel Tunnel, most of the electrical systems are duplicated. Prior to introduction to service, two locomotives (92001 and 92002) were extensively tested at the Czech Railway's test track at Velim near Kolín. One locomotive was temporarily moved from here to Vienna Arsenal for climatic testing. The majority of the class are named after European composers and writers. Post-privatisation the ownership was split between EWS, European Passenger Services (Eurostar (UK) and SNCF. During 2000 Eurostar (UK) offered their seven members of the class (92020 / 021 / 032 / 040 / 044-046) for sale being surplus to requirements with the non-commencement of sleeper services through the Channel Tunnel. However no buyer could be found so they were decommissioned and stored at Crewe International electric depot. Five of these locomotives have now been purchased by Eurotunnel to be used by their Europorte 2 rail freight undertaking for short haul rail traffic in France. In July 2011 Europorte 2/Eurotunnel purchased the five remaining locomotives that had belonged to SNCF, bringing Eurotunnel's total up to sixteen Class 92s. In 2009 a project was undertaken with the aim of allowing the class to be modified for operations on High Speed 1: i.e. with TVM signalling. The project received funding from the European Commission and it was anticipated services will begin in early 2010. On 25 March 2011 for the first time a modified class 92 locomotive travelled from Dollands Moor to Singlewell using the TVM430 signalling system. A loaded container train ran for the first time on 27 May 2011, and further trials with loaded wagons are planned until the end of June 2011. In July 2011 a trial run of wagons carrying curtain walled swap bodies built to a larger European loading gauge was run from Dollands Moor, Folkestone to east London. From 11 November 2011 a weekly service using European sized swap bodies has run between Barking, London and Poland using High Speed 1. The class is also notable in that the last train ever to travel under British Rail, the 2315 service from Dollands Moor to Wembley on 21 November 1997, was hauled by 92003 Beethoven. In April 2015, GB Railfreight commenced a contract to haul the Caledonian Sleeper. Class 92s haul it from London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley/Glasgow Central. On 31 March 2015, the first Serco Caledonian Sleeper hauled by 92018 left London Euston for Scotland. All units were originally painted in a simplified version of Subsector railfreight livery of two-tone grey livery, but with a dark blue roof the same shade as used on Eurostar trains. To reflect their Channel Tunnel role, all were fitted with three 'O' shaped tunnel logos, each smaller than the next. Names were mainly blue stickers, but a limited number of locomotives gained cast nameplates. Only 92031 did not receive a name during construction, however it did gain one under EWS ownership. The locomotives were fitted with Crewe Electric depot plaques to reflect their maintenance facility, and to reflect ownership, the nine SNCF owned machines had SNCF branding, six Eurostar owned locos had EPS (European Passengers Services) branding, with the rest having standard cast BR arrows under the drivers window reflecting British Rail ownership. A number of Railfreight Distribution locomotives had "Railfreight Distribution" written along the locomotive side panels with a small RfD logo included. Following the privatisation of British Rail and the EWS purchase of Railfreight Distribution, the intention was to paint the RfD Class 92's into the EWS' gold and dark red colours. In the end, only two locomotives received EWS livery (92001 and 92031). Locomotive no. 92001 had an additional three flags (English, Welsh and Scottish.) below the EWS logo on the cabsides, the only one so treated. The rest of the locomotives had a large EWS Logo applied halfway along the side. Six Class 92s allocated to Eurostar retained their two-tone grey livery although there had been a plan to repaint these locomotives into Nightstar two-tone green livery. The combination of rail privatisation, technical problems, and the growth of point to point low cost airlines undermined the Nightstar venture, and the project was abandoned before a single revenue-earning service had even begun. The locomotives remained in two-tone grey until they were purchased by Europorte 2 in the 2000s. Europorte applied the designation "Europorte 2" inside a large Eurotunnel-style circle. Following the takeover of EWS by DB Schenker, most of the fleet of Class 92s will likely move to DB Schenker Red liveries, matching that on previously repainted Class 66s. 92009 was the first locomotive to be outshopped in the new DB Schenker Red livery. The name "Elgar" had been removed; and the locomotive was subsequently renamed "Marco Polo" later during August 2011. The new livery has been completed on five locomotives (92009, 92015, 92016, 92031 and 92042). In 2009, locomotive 92017 (formerly Shakespeare) was painted into Stobart Rail's blue and white livery and named Bart the Engine. On 10 March 2011, locomotive 92032 appeared in the new Europorte GB Railfreight livery. In May 2014, Serco won the franchise to operate Caledonian Sleeper services for fifteen years from 2015, with GBRf to provide traction as part of its franchise bid. In February 2015, 92033 was first to be released from Brush Traction after component refresh and subsequent repaint into a "Midnight Teal" livery. 92010, 92014, 92018, 92023 and 92038 have also gained the "Midnight Teal" livery, bringing the total number of locomotives now in "Midnight Teal" to six.

The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and originally as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62. Construction of the first locomotive was completed in the final week of September 1957, and the handing-over took place on 31 October. The Class 31 entered service in November 1957, after the launch of the Class 20 locomotive and was one of the Pilot Scheme locomotives ordered by British Railways to replace steam traction.

The Class 57 diesel locomotives were re-manufactured by Brush Traction, Loughborough between 1998 and 2004 from Class 47s with re-conditioned EMD engines and Class 56 traction motors. The Class 57 is a re-engineered locomotive, rebuilt by Brush Traction, Loughborough from redundant Class 47 locomotives. The locomotives are fitted with a refurbished EMD engine and a re-conditioned alternator, improving reliability and performance. Three variants exist, one for freight and two for passenger operations. Each cost £300,000, about one-third that of a new build locomotive. The class has its origins in 1997 when Freightliner ordered an initial six locomotives.In 2001, a prototype locomotive was converted with electric train heating, with a view to obtaining orders from passenger companies.

The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel electric freight locomotive developed in part from the Class 59, for use on the railways of the UK. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway companies. In Continental Europe it is marketed as the EMD Series 66 (JT42CWR).

Belmond Royal Scotsman is a Scottish luxury charter train run by Belmond Ltd The train is composed of ten cars; two dining cars, one SPA car, five state cars, one crew car, and one observation car. The two dining cars are named Swift" and Raven with seating for twenty people in each coach. The observation car was converted from Pullman Kitchen Car - Snipe - built in 1960 by Metropolitan Cammell. Along with the other Pullman cars, Amber, Pearl, Topaz and Finch they were acquired by GS&WR (Great Scottish and Western Railway Co.) in 1989 and converted into the observation saloon and passenger sleeping cars. Pullman car Raven, acquired at the same time as the other Pullman cars, was converted in 1992 as a replacement for the Gresley car that formed the kitchen. The Gresley car was damaged in a shunting incident on depot and as a wooden (Teak) bodied vehicle was deemed unsafe to continue passenger operations and was withdrawn from mainline service. Pullman car Swift, was acquired in 2011 as a direct replacement for Dining Car 2 99131 Ex LNER SC1999 “Victory”. Converted by Assenta Ltd in Scotland, it entered service in 2012. Belmond acquired another Pullman coach in 2015 from CRRES (West Coast Railway Co Ltd) and again employed Assenta Ltd to undertake outfitting and project management in order to create "State car - SPA". After provisional mechanical and body works at CRRES the coach was shipped to Mivan Marine in Antrim where the coach was outfitted with two Bamford SPA rooms and 2 additional bedrooms, 1 PRM room and 1 Double room. Upon completion the carriage was taken back to CRRES for final mechanical works and entery onto rolling stock library as 99337. The carriage entered service on 26/9/16. The locos are operated fror Belmond Ltd by GBRf and locos are repainted in Royal Scotsman Livery

The Class 68 is a type of mainline mixed traffic diesel-electric locomotive manufactured by Vossloh for Direct Rail Services in the United Kingdom. The design is derived from the Vossloh Eurolight, and Vossloh's product name is UK Light. The second batch of Class 68s - also for Direct Rail Services - completed delivery in April 2016.

The British Rail Class 222 is a diesel multiple unit high-speed train capable of 125 mph (200 km/h). Twenty-seven units have been built in Belgium by Bombardier Transportation. The Class 222 is similar to the Class 220 Voyager and Class 221 Super Voyager trains used by CrossCountry and Virgin Trains, but it has a different interior. The Class 222 trains have more components fitted under the floors to free up space within the body. Since 2009 East Midlands Trains has been the only train operating company using Class 222s.