Class 31

After entering traffic in 1961 this engine, like many of its class, was allocated to the British Railways Stratford Depot in London. Class 31s were given a number of ignominious nicknames by BR crews, including ‘Gargoyles’ due to the supposed ugliness of the design, ‘Pedal Cars’ for their comparative lack of torque, ‘Gurglers’ due to the noise of the engine and ‘Skinheads’ for those which lacked the top headcode display. A less mean nickname was ‘Toffee Apples’ for the earlier examples, after the distinctive shape of their main control levers, which had to be carried between cabs as an additional safety feature.

In spite of their apparent ill-favour by crews, a total of 263 Class 31s were produced for the network by Brush Traction, of which D5801 is a ‘Type 2’. The locomotives were developed from an older design intended for the Ceylon Government of modern-day Sri Lanka. Later given a beefier engine capable of developing 1,470hp and going on to produce up to 35,600lbs of pulling power, the engines also boasted an advanced EM control system, allowing two or three units to be controlled from one cab. The distinctive pug-nose shape is due to a door set into the front of each cab to allow a crewman to pass between locos. While useful in theory, this feature was rarely used and mostly served to make the cabs cold and draughty, so many of them were welded shut.

Now owned by A1A Locomotives Ltd, this engine is on long-term loan to the Llangollen Railway. It carries the name ‘Stratford 1840-2001’ in honour of its original Depot and sports a grey ‘Trainload Freight’ livery, from the period after 1988 in which British Rail was broken up into distinct sectors for later privatisation. The yellow and blue chequered device on the side denoted an engine belonging to the Construction sector, as opposed to Coal, Metals or Petrochemical.