British Rail Class 59
The British Rail Class 59 is a fleet of Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives built between 1985 and 1995 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for use in Great Britain. A total of 15 locomotives were built for three different operators.
They were both the first privately owned diesel locomotives, and the first US-made diesel locomotives, to operate regularly on British mainline railways. One member of the class operated in Germany between 1997 and 2014, before returning to the UK.
Overview
operated the Torr Works quarry near Merehead in Somerset, with much of the output going to rail-served depots at places such as and Acton. From May 1983 the trains had been diagrammed for locomotives but up to 40% of services were arriving late. Foster Yeoman had been impressed by the power and reliability of the EMD SW1001 shunter that they had been operating at the Torr quarry since December 1980, and so invited EMD to tender for the delivery of six mainline locomotives to use instead of those supplied by British Rail. Domestic manufacturers Brush Traction and British Rail Engineering Limited were also invited to tender, but could not meet the 95% availability that Foster Yeoman demanded.EMD based the design on their SD40-2 with 'Super Series' wheel creep control. This allowed a single locomotive to operate the heaviest Foster Yeoman trains which would enable double-heading to be dispensed with and so just four locomotives were ordered in November 1984. EMD created a new design with their EMD 645 engine inside the British loading gauge, along with British braking and safety systems and with a cab layout similar to the British Rail Class 58 to aid driver familiarity. They were custom built at La Grange, Illinois by a team of 21 people. The locomotives emerged from the workshops towards the end of 1985 and arrived at Southampton on 21 January 1986.
They were the first privately owned diesel locomotives to operate regularly on the British main line, also the first diesel locomotives built for it in the United States, although EMD powered locomotives have been the mainstay in both the Republic of Ireland since 1961 and Northern Ireland since 1980. Following Foster Yeoman's example, rival ARC Southern ordered four Class 59/1 and National Power six Class 59/2s. Foster Yeoman and Amey merged their rail concerns into Mendip Rail, and the rail interests of National Power were taken over by English, Welsh and Scottish Railway.
The Class 59 was superseded by the. These locomotives were first built for EWS in 1998 and are now operated by most British and some European freight operators. This design uses the same body shell but it has some differences including a larger EMD 710 engine.
Sub-classes
Class 59/0 for Foster Yeoman
The first order for four Class 59s was placed on 16 November 1984 and the locomotives arrived at Southampton on 21 January 1986. They were initially hauled to Merehead and then taken to the Railway Technical Centre at Derby for inspection. 59002 and 59004 returned to Merehead on 29 January to allow the training of drivers and maintenance staff and to prove the haulage capability on Foster Yeoman's tracks, also on the main line towards London when regular services were not running. The locomotives retained at Derby underwent further tests including on the Midland Main Line. The four locomotives started to haul regular trains on 17 February 1986. The locomotives were all named in a ceremony at Merehead on 28 June 1986. At the same time EMD presented a non-working American-style locomotive bell which was fixed to special brackets above the front windows of 59001.While the locomotives were owned by Foster Yeoman, the operation of trains on the main line was by British Rail drivers based at and Old Oak Common in London. Maintenance was at Foster Yeoman's Merehead depot but mostly carried out by British Rail staff from Bristol Bath Road depot.
The locomotives' livery was silver with a dark blue band along the lower panel of the roof and another blue band the base of the body side. British Rail required yellow on the ends below the window and on the buffer beam; above this was silver; the bottom blue line was carried around the end. A large 'Y' logo in blue was painted on a white background offset from the body centre. The number was carried on a cast plate below the drivers window and nameplates were fitted below the opposite cab window.
During the first year of operation, the first four locomotives travelled an average of each and hauled between them. Availability was 99.3% and they achieved 99.8% availability over their first ten years.
Increasing business resulted in a fifth locomotive being ordered in 1988. 59005 was built by EMD at La Grange and arrived in the UK at Felixstowe on 4 June 1989. It went to Derby for inspection and then entered service from Merehead on 19 June 1989. From October 1993, the five locomotives operated jointly with the ARC Southern Class 59/1s under the Mendip Rail agreement but remained the property of Foster Yeoman. In 1997, 59003 was withdrawn from Mendip Rail traffic and modified to work in Germany in a joint operation with DB Cargo.
Class 59/1 for ARC Southern
ARC Southern ordered four locomotives in 1987. Construction started in 1990 at EMD's Canadian plant in London, Ontario as La Grange was not building locomotives at the time. They arrived in the UK at Newport Docks and were unloaded on 20 October 1990. They were hauled to Whatley and then taken to Derby for inspection. The first locomotives entered service from Whatley on 5 November 1990.The main differences from the 59/0s is a revised arrangement of lights on the front to a newer British standard. 59104 was experimentally fitted with additional yaw dampers inboard of the cab steps. It was successfully tested on the Midland Main Line at.
Livery was mustard yellow sides with grey roofs and cabs, and a large grey ARC logo was positioned on the body side. The number was carried on a cast plate below the drivers window and nameplates were fitted below the opposite cab window. The names chosen were of four villages near Whatley.
From October 1993, the locomotives operated jointly with the Foster Yeoman Class 59/0s under the Mendip Rail agreement but remained the property of ARC Southern.
Class 59/2 for National Power
National Power ordered a single locomotive in 1991 to operate trains of limestone to Drax Power Station in Yorkshire. It was built by EMD at London, Ontario, and arrived in the UK at Hull on 17 February 1994. It was taken to Derby for inspection and entered service on 14 March 1994. Five more locomotives were ordered in 1994 for coal traffic. These arrived in Hull on 4 August 1995 and were based at a new National Power depot at Ferrybridge.The six Class 59/2s have the same lighting arrangement as the 59/1s and are all equipped with the additional yaw dampers that were tested on 59104 which allows operation at up to. Other changes to earlier builds are a carbon dioxide fire control system, Ni-Cad batteries, drop-head knuckle couplers, and a more advanced slow speed control for merry-go-round power station coal train operation.
Livery was a bright blue body with pale grey bogies, underframe and lower bodyside. Narrow white and red stripes ran along the side between the blue and grey. The fronts had signal yellow below the front windows with blue above. A white and red National Power logo was positioned in the centre of the sides. The number was painted below the drivers window and nameplates were fitted below the opposite cab window. 12 names of vales were selected to allow for fleet expansion but only five were used.
National Power ceased operating their own trains in April 1998 and the fleet was sold to English, Welsh and Scottish Railway who redeployed them on stone trains alongside Mendip Rail's 59/0s and 59/1s.
Subsequent operators
Mendip Rail
To better manage the utilisation of their locomotives and wagons, ARC Southern and Foster Yeoman founded Mendip Rail in October 1993. The assets were still owned by each parent company and the staff were seconded. Class 59 maintenance was concentrated at Merehead, leaving the depot at Whatley to focus on wagons. Merehead also took on regular maintenance of DB Schenker's Class 59/2s from 2005.Both the parent companies have seen changes, firstly ARC became Hanson Quarry Products Europe in 1998. Family-owned Foster Yeoman sold its business to Aggregate Industries on 21 June 2006.
59002 was repainted into Mendip Rail livery. This was mostly dark green but with an orange section below, angled downwards in the cab area. It had a grey band around the lower body, also a grey roof. The colours were carried across the front of the cab; only the buffer beam was painted signal yellow. An MRL logo was centred on the green body side with the company name below on the orange section. All other locomotives have continued to operate in their owning company's colours and 59002 reverted to Foster Yeoman's livery, but the style of painting changed and was generally similar irrespective of the owning company except for the Aggregates Industries scheme introduced in 2006.
- All Foster Yeoman locomotives had a mid-blue upper section with silver below. The end matched the body colours but with a signal yellow buffer beam. A blue 'Y' logo with a white background was positioned on the blue section of the sides, with 'Yeoman' in white on blue below it.
- ARC Southern locomotive 59101 was given a mustard yellow upper section with grey roof and lower body. The end matched the body colours but with a signal yellow buffer beam. A blue ARC logo was positioned in the centre of the yellow sides.
- After ARC became Hanson all locomotives were painted in a similar scheme to Foster Yeoman's except the main roof section was red. The Hanson logo and name was applied to the blue section of the sides.
- After Foster Yeoman was sold to Aggregate Industries all locomotives were given a different livery style. A thin silver band ran right around the locomotive just below window level. Above was mid blue and below was turquoise. The end matched the body colours but with a signal yellow buffer beam. A large silver triangle was painted on the side with a blue triangular logo at the top and the company's name in turquoise below.