Class 56 - Fleet History

The story begins in 1973, when British Rail decided that it needed a few fleet of dedicated freight locos for merry-go-round coal workings to and from Britains many coal fired power stations. Brush Traction of Loughborough succesfully tendered for the contract to build 135 new locos, but due to space constraints at the company's Loughborough works, the work was sub-contracted to Electroputere in Romania. Parts for the locos were shipped out to Electroputere and the first Class 56s were handed over to British Rail on 4th August 1976 at Zebrugge, Holland. The first to enter revenue earning service on the national network was 56006 on 27th February 1977, following work to rectify several manafacturing faults.

In total, just 30 of the class were built in Romania. The first examples shipped from Electroputere suffered from poor reliability and spent lengthy periods out of service. As a result, BR brought the whole project 'in house', taking over production of the class from 56031 onwards at British Rail Engineering Ltd's Doncaster Workshops (85 locos up to 56115) and Crewe Works (the final 20 locos up to 56135).

Photo: 56101 passing Margam in March 1995. © John Hooson - www.whitemasksnaps.fotopic.net

Class 56s replaced pairs of Class 20s and Class 47s on coal trains to become regulars on the MGR coal jobs aswell as working some of the heavy steel trains from South Wales and the North East of England. Delivery of Brush's new Class 60 loco displaced them from the steel work and made them available for other general freight work including Speedlink trains, allowing withdrawal of other, older classes on the network.

The Class 56 fleet was dealt a massive blow in 1998 with the introduction of new General Motors Class 66 locomotives, with a total of over half of the original fleet of 135 being stood down and stored at various locations around the country. This figure was later reduced by the reinstatement of locos to cover for older classes being withdrawn. Improving productivity of the new locos coupled with traffic losses to other freight companies saw the fleet scaled down again from its total of around 40 during 2002 to just 25 active examples in late 2003.

2003 also saw the appointment of a new Chief Executive at EWS which signalled a change in direction for Britains biggest railfreight company. A desire to cut costs even further along with the need to improve the efficiency of the Class 60, 66 and 67 fleets saw the costly Class 56 fleet reduced further until just two examples were left in traffic by the last week of March 2004. 56078 and 56115 worked the final Class 56 hauled charter from Bristol to York and back on March 31st, and were removed from the active fleet just days later.

Following a long period of inactivity at locations such as Immingham, Toton and Healey Mills, the fortunes for some members of the class turned after a contract to supply 30 locomotives for use in the construction of the TGV-EST high speed line in France was secured. The first locomotive departed through the Channel Tunnel in September 2004 with successive convoys taking place until the full fleet was in place, staying in France until the contract ended in late 2006. A return to the UK saw the locos once again returned to the storage lines, alongside their less fortunate classmates that didn't get the chance of a return to active service, to await further work.

Now, things are once again looking up for the 'Grids'. Freight operator Jarvis Fastline returned 56045, 56124 and 56125 to the mainline in the guise of 56301, 56302 and 56303 respectively following an overhaul, and spot hire firm Hanson Traction has 56057 and 56003 back on the mainline running as 56311 and 56312. It is understood that while Jarvis have no plans to take on more 56s, Hanson will return at least another three to the network. Four examples of the Class have been preserved of future use on heratige railways, being 56040 at the Mid Norfolk Railway, 56097 at the Great Central Railway (N), 56098 at the Battlefield Line and our very own 56101.