British Rail Class 59

Class of diesel electric locomotives

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.

Foster Yeoman operated the Torr Works quarry near Merehead in Somerset, with much of the output going to rail served depots at places such as Theale 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 brakes and safety systems and with a cab layout similar 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 (EWS). 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.

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. While the locomotives were owned by Foster Yeoman, the operation of trains on the main line was by British Rail drivers based at Westbury 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 (with 'Yeoman' in white at one end) 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 (left side of the cab) and nameplates were fitted below the opposite cab window. During the first year of operation, the first four locomotives travelled an average of 273331 mile (439883 km) each and hauled between them. Availability was 99.3%

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.

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 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. Merehead also took on regular maintenance of DB Schenker's Class 59/2s from 2005. 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. Mendip Rail continued to contract the operation of their trains to British Rail. After this was privatised the contract was given to English, Welsh and Scottish Railway then DB Schenker Rail which was later rebranded DB Cargo UK. This contract expired in 2019 and was awarded instead to Freightliner UK. The contract included the sale of the eight class 59s to Freightliner.

The only Class 59 to be significantly damaged in an accident is 59103 which was working a Whatley to Acton stone train on 12 September 2000 when the first ten hopper wagons derailed at 23:20 between Great Elm Tunnel and Bedlam Tunnel on the single track branch line to the Hanson Quarry at Whatley. The locomotive and the first two hoppers rolled over with the locomotive coming to rest on the parapet of a small bridge. The locomotive was recovered on 19 September 2000 and moved to Whatley where an initial assessment of the damage was made and repairs made to make the locomotive safe for removal by road. The locomotive was then moved by road to the Railway Technical Centre at Derby on 2 November 2000 for further assessment. It was then taken to Eastleigh Works for repairs. 59103 returned to service in the summer of 2001.

Modern Traction Kits quickly released a white metal body kit which fitted on a 00 gauge Hornby Railways chassis. When the Class 59/1s entered service an alternative kit was made available with the revised light arrangements. Lima later produced a ready to run model until 2004 when the company ceased trading. Hornby Railways acquired the moulds and launched its first version of the Class 59 in 2006. It was upgraded with a better mechanism and featured the later arrangement of cab front lights. Since 2017 they have produced a basic representation of the prototype as part of their Railroad range in a variety of liveries. An N gauge body kit has been produced by BH Enterprises. A hand built ready to run model has been offered by CJM Models. Prototype Replica Model Railway Products produce an 0 scale Class 59 in both kit form and ready to run.