Staxton & Willerby

The Class 68 is a type of mainline mixed traffic diesel-electric locomotive manufactured by Stadler Rail (and previously by Vossloh España) for Direct Rail Services in the United Kingdom. The design is derived from the Stadler Eurolight, and Stadler's product name for this variant is the UKLight. The second batch of Class 68s - also for Direct Rail Services, and the first to be built by Stadler - completed delivery in April 2016. The third batch of Class 68s - completed delivery in July 2017.

TransPennine Express (TPE) will sub-lease fourteen Class 68 locomotives from Direct Rail Services from 2018 for initial use on the Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle route, before transferring them to the Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough service in 2019. These will haul five-car rakes of Mark 5A coaches, with a driving trailer at the opposite end.68019 Brutus and 68021 Tireless were the first locomotives to be vinyled into the TransPennine Express livery at Gresty Bridge; by September 2018, the remaining 12 dedicated TPE locomotives (68020, 68022-032) were also revinyled. 68033 & 68034, to be used as "standby" locomotives , retain DRS "Compass" livery. The TPE vinyled locomotives do not feature yellow front ends, following a change to the regulations. In November 2017, 68021 Tireless was moved from Gresty Bridge to Southampton Docks and ultimately transported to the Velim Test Track in the Czech Republic for testing with the new Mark 5A coaches. Testing included brake-force tests and door-interlock testing before the locomotive was returned to Great Britain in July 2018.

The SR Merchant Navy class (originally known as the 21C1 class, and later informally known as Bulleid Pacifics, Spam Cans or Packets) is a class of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid. The Pacific design was chosen in preference to several others proposed by Bulleid. The first members of the class were constructed during the Second World War, and the last of the 30 locomotives in 1949. incorporating a number of new developments in British steam locomotive technology, the design of the Merchant Navy class was among the first to use welding in the construction process; this enabled easier fabrication of components during the austerity of the war and post-war economies. In addition the locomotives featured thermic syphons in their boilers and the controversial Bulleid chain-driven valve gear.The class members were named after the Merchant Navy shipping lines involved in the Battle of the Atlantic, and latterly those which used Southampton Docks, a publicity masterstroke by the Southern Railway, which operated Southampton Docks during the period. Due to problems with some of the more novel features of Bulleid's design, all members of the class were modified by British Railways during the late 1950s, losing their air-smoothed casings in the process. The Merchant Navy class operated until the end of Southern steam in July 1967. A third of the class has survived and can be seen on heritage railways throughout Great Britain.