British Rail Class 31: Encyclopedia II - British Rail Class 31 - Current Operations

British Rail Class 31 - Current Operations

British Rail Class 31 - English Welsh and Scottish Railway EWS

The final three EWS locomotives were withdrawn in 2001.

British Rail Class 31 - Fragonset Railways

In 1998, Fragonset Railways purchased four redundant Class 31 locomotives from EWS. The first of these, no. 31452, was quickly repaired and repainted in a new black livery with a red mid-body band. It was quickly followed by nos. 31459 and 31468. Several more locomotives were also purchased, and in 1999, the first of two modified Class 31/6 locomotives re-entered traffic. The Class 31/6 subclass is essentially a modified Class 31/1 locomotive with through electric-train heating wiring. This enables a Class 31/4 and Class 31/6 to work in multiple and still heat the train, even if the no-heat Class 31/6 is attached to the carriages.

In 1999, Fragonset won a short-term contract with Silverlink for two locomotives to work in top-and-tail mode with two Mk. 1 carriages on the Bletchley-Bedford line. This was to cover for the non-availability of Class 117 and Class 121 diesel multiple units. The trial was a success, and in 2000 it was repeated in the summer timetable. The locomotives were retained until displaced by more modern Class 150/1 units cascaded from Central Trains.

By this time, the Fragonset Class 31 fleet had expanded considerably to include three Class 31/1, three Class 31/4 and two Class 31/6 locomotives. Regular work at this time included use hauling Class 317 electric multiple units from WAGN's Hornsey depot to Bedford for use with Thameslink. As units were still maintained at Hornsey, this meant regular workings between the two depot to swap units when maintenance was due.

British Rail Class 31 - 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Current Operations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki