Locomotives diesel - British Railways Class 31-37 : livres

Class 31 Locomotives

A pictorial tribute to the British Rail workhorse, the Class 31. Over 260 of these locos were built by Brush at Loughborough from 1958 onwards, and they would work on most regions for the next forty years, with a few examples still working today.

Working both passenger and freight trains, they were a success, although their original Mirrlees engines would be replaced with English Electric power units in the late 1960s.

They have worn many different liveries, with most being portrayed in this book. Unfortunately most have now gone for scrap, however quite a number have been preserved and can still be seen running on their preserved lines up and down the country.

This book acts as a personal recollection of a favourite class of loco. For those fortunate enough to have experienced the Class 31 locos in their prime, this book will offer a pleasing trip down memory lane. For those new to the class, it will highlight what you may have missed.

British Type 3 Diesel Locomotives : Classes 33, 35, 37 and upgraded 31 (Modern Traction Profiles )

The Type 3 Diesel Locomotive album comprises over 200, mainly unpublished, full sized colour photographs of four classes of British engines, developed in the earlier years of the Modernisation Plan.

The Type 3 included four classes of locomotive of medium power output, which undertook a wide range of duties from Main line and local passenger services, various freight duties and departmental work.
Several are still in use on the national network, and can be seen in various parts of the country.

The Book has been compiled by David Cable. The photos illustrate the many duties and colour schemes of the classes in a variety of locations and colour schemes of the classes in a variety of locations, using largely unpublished photographs from his extensive collection.

Class 33s

NOUVEAU

In 1960, the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company built a class of 98 locomotives, later to be designated Class 33s. They were capable of operating at up to 85mph and were equipped with a reliable 1,550hp Sulzer engine.
Three sub-classes were subsequently created, classified as the standard Class 33/0, the push-pull Class 33/1 and the narrow-bodied Class 33/2.

These locos were eventually used over a large area of operation, and throughout their careers worked both passenger and freight duties. The south of England saw the main bulk of their workings, with allocations split between Hither Green, Stewarts Lane and Eastleigh. During the 1980s, however, they were also diagrammed on passenger services much further afield, with workings including Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol/Cardiff/Swansea, Cardiff to Crewe/Manchester, and local services from Exeter to Barnstaple/Paignton/Plymouth. Following privatisation, freight company English Welsh & Scottish Railway even transferred Class 33s to Aberdeen, albeit not for very long.

Many of these useful locos have survived into the 21st century, both as attractions on heritage lines and in service with rail tour companies. With over 220 images, this book is a nostalgic pictorial record of the Class 33 locomotives around the UK.

The Class 33s - A Sixty Year History

1960 saw the first BRCW Ltd Type 3s, later TOPS Class 33, enter service on the Southern Region. The 98 locomotives were ordered as part of the Kent coast modernisation scheme. The final 12 locos had bodies 7 inches less wide than the rest of the class to allow them to work through the narrow tunnels between Tunbridge Wells and Hastings.
For many years they were the mainstay of the Southern Region's locomotive fleet and were widely used across the south and west of England and beyond.

This book, the first detailed history of the class for 30 years, tells the story of these popular and successful locomotives from inception, through their design and operations to withdrawal from service. It draws on original source material from a number of archives and sheds new light on many aspects of these locomotives over their 60 years of service.
The story is illustrated throughout with many photographs, almost all of which are published for the first time. Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed caption drawing the reader to particular points of interest such as technical equipment or detail differences.

This is a welcome reappraisal of a long lived and respected class which will be of interest to modern traction enthusiasts and those modelling the post steam era on BR.

Class 37 Locomotives

Well-proportioned, versatile, aesthetic, durable - the English Electric Class 37, the great survivor of the modernisation-plan diesel fleet, deserves all of these accolades and more.
Never as celebrated as the Deltics, never as idolised as the Westerns, always intended to be a workhorse; this is the locomotive that has, in many ways, surpassed its more illustrious peers as an example of all that is best in motive power design and engineering.

This pictorial collection contains nearly 200 photographs of one of the best loved of diesel types, compiled by Andrew Walker with contributions from other photographers who, like him, have always been drawn to these great British locomotives.
The Class 37s always roamed far and wide over the national network, and this book covers locations ranging from the Scottish Highlands to South Wales, showing the 37s on freight and passenger duties, at depots and in works.

Showcasing images from the 1970s through to the present day, the book provides detailed captions with in-depth technical specifications and information on the individual locos, their history and operation in traffic, and features many of the class variants and their liveries over the decades.

The English Electric Class 37/4 Diesel Locomotives

In the prelude to the privatisation of BR the Provincial Sector (later Regional Railways) became responsible for local / secondary train services and initiated the refurbishment of 31 Class 37 locomotives, fitted with train heating equipment - hence designated Class 37/4 - to support the shortfall of DMU trainsets.
Their initial task was to work services on Scottish lines radiating from Inverness to points north and Glasgow to service the West Highland Line with a small batch based in South Wales to service Cambrian Line services and services from Cardiff traversing the Marches Line to serve Liverpool.
These services were soon replaced by Sprinter trainsets thus releasing the fleet to other duties including freight operators hence, at privatisation in April 1994, the fleet became owned by freight companies who subsequently hired locomotives to both other freight companies and passenger operators.
Throughout their working life the fleet members have proved invaluable and capable of powering a variety of services whose history confirms both the locomotives' adaptability and prowess in handling the duties allocated to them.

Fred Kerr's book seeks to show this adaptability by detailing the reason for their initial creation and the tasks successfully undertaken once released from their initial roles as support for the shortage of DMU trainsets.
The advent of privatisation saw an increased demand for their 'go-anywhere do anything' ability which is also displayed by the range of photographs that illustrate the wide range of duties performed by class members.
Once withdrawn from service some class members were purchased for preservation and - such was their adaptability - that preserved examples were hired by train operators to cover duties that no other class of diesel locomotive was capable of achieving.

Class 37s

The English Electric Type 3 (later Class 37) was introduced from the late 1950s to the early 1960s at a time when the writing was on the wall for steam traction in the UK. It was designed to be a general-purpose loco that was equally at home on freight or passenger trains.
Class 37s have become a firm favourite over the years, partially due to the sheer variety of places they could be seen. They served with BR in the Eastern Region, on freight lines in South Wales and across multiple lines in Scotland.

There have been very few routes that this class has not operated at some point. Over the years, they have proved reliable workhorses for UK railways. They have had a great variety of names and liveries and are known by enthusiasts for the impressive sound they emit at full power.
Today, they are still run by a number of operators and there are no plans for dispensing with the class any time soon. With over 200 images, this book is an illustrated celebration of Class 37s throughout the years.