6. BRUSH TYPE 2, CLASS 31
The Brush Type 2, though it underwent extreme tribulations –the very engines having to be replaced by a completely different design from a different manufacturer and more than 250 of them didn’t come cheap – was nevertheless at the heart of dieselisation on one BR Region, the Eastern. They were long-lived too (a prolonged survival owed much to the programme of replacement engines) in stark contrast to many other types deriving from the mis-firing Pilot Scheme of November 1955.
The prospective rewards from economy of working with the new traction and its higher availability for work, by comparison with steam, were glittering. The Great Eastern section of the Eastern Region, for instance, intended by 1962 to replace its near-700 steam engines for all its main line passenger and freight services with just 250 main line diesels. In this it succeeded, along with the remarkable accomplishment of reducing the motive power arrangements to just four depots – Stratford, Ipswich, March and Norwich. The diesels sallied forth on five day cyclic diagrams, punctuated by routine daily inspection/refuelling while away before a ‘return to base’ for maintenance. Central to all this, and on the Great Northern section of the Eastern Region too, was the Brush Type 2s, or Class 31s as they came to be better known – all 263 of them.
By 1950, before BR’s programme of Standard steam locomotives had even begun, the construction of steam locomotives had effectively ceased in the United States. That country’s vast system of railroads was all but wholly dieselised. By contrast the British had just two main line (Type 4) units and it was five years before the decision suddenly came to move ‘rapidly’ to diesel and electric traction. The Modernisation Plan announced in 1955 the complete replacement of steam and there was a lot to do; by this time the BR Type 4 fleet had grown to just five...
With no home market, the UK diesel locomotive construction industry was on the back foot; it had little in the way of a ‘shop window’ to display its wares to the world and only a few Empire markets were responding. Brush was somewhat to the fore or at least working to that end, enlarging its works to see through a 1950 order for 25 5ft 6in gauge diesel electric A1A-A1A locomotives at 1,250 ordered by Ceylon Government Railways. They were shipped out from 1953 and though various problems including engine overheating were reported, these appear to have been overcome, because the locomotives were in use for some twenty years. Brush thus had demonstrable overseas success with main line diesels and were more or less guaranteed a slice of the infamous Pilot Scheme, detailed before in earlier books in
this series. It (sensibly) foresaw some 170 locomotives, mainly ten or twenty of each, for evaluation. Various manufacturers were invited to tender to supply locomotives incorporating their design and equipment for evaluation. There were three distinct power ranges, freight Type A – Locomotives 800-1,000hp; mixed traffic Type B –locomotives, 1,000-1,250hp and heavy duty Type C – locomotives 2,000hp and above. The designations A, B and C were later amended to Type 1, 2 and 4, with an intermediate power range 1,500-2,000hp to cover Type 3. In the Pilot Scheme twenty Brush (Type 2, ‘Type B’ in the original classification) D5500 locomotives were slated, amid five other Type 2 efforts, from English Electric (D5900), BRC&W (D5300), North British (D6100, D6300) and Metropolitan Vickers (D5700).
The home locomotive building industry would at last have a showcase for exports to the world. As is well known, sadly, the Pilot Scheme, sensible as it was, soon crumbled as pressure grew to replace steam by diesel as soon as possible, whatever the consequences. The clamour went up for dieselisation ri h away; instead, opening the floodgates to deliveries, it was felt, would cure BR’s declining economic position. Diesels were so much cheaper to operate than steam and the position would only worsen as the price of good steam coal continued to rise amid ever worsening
5 6. BRUSH TYPE 2s
Discarded mock-up in the Lough orough works yard, 2 cto er 1959. hat a greenhouse garden shed it would have made
Above and left. D5500 new, ushered inside for everyone to have a good look. The antiquity of the far crane suggests it could be one of the shops in the original Stratford Works. Contemporary comment was positive; the Trains Illustrated correspondent writing: Liveried green with broad white bands, it is about the most pleasing in outline of any of the British Railways diesels to date, its only defect in this respect being the ‘snub nose’ necessary to provide doors for inter-locomotive communication when running multipleunit, which breaks up the lower window line of the cab fronts at each end. That reduction gear shaft is probably a spare for the overhead cranes – definitely not a part from the new Brush!
Right. Advert from The Railway Gazette of 11 January 1963. Brush had come up with this picture, using unpainted locomotives with gangway connections, in a way they never appeared during the operational life of the class.
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labour shortages. No one thought the cost of oil would ever be a problem. The new locomotives, in great part untried, duly flowed out, and the notion of patient, measured evaluation of prototypes went by the board. Many tears and much waste would flow from this failure to adequately evaluate prototypes before embarking on mass production. An ironic outcome was that the disappointing performance of many types meant Britain never did get that ‘showcase’ for world sales.
Brush Traction Ltd, as the company was then named, duly won a tender on 22 November 1955 to supply those twenty mixed traffic ‘Type B’ locomotives of 1,250hp for the Eastern Region – the first stage in the elimination of steam engines in the London Area of the Great Eastern Section.
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Construction commenced in the spring of 1956 with the heavy running frames, contracted out to Brush associate W.G Bagnall of Stafford. Castings and other ironmongery came from Beyer Peacock at Gorton, Manchester. Mirrlees supplied the power unit and these were shipped to Loughborough on BR Weltrol wagons from the firm’s Hazel Grove Stockport factory at the rate of two per week. The power unit itself was a 12 cylinder four stroke design of V formation incorporating
6. BRUSH TYPE 2s
Almost shimmering, an immaculate and obviously brand new D5500 heads through Nottingham Midland eastwards towards Colwick on 4 November 1957. In eight days the locomotive will make the inaugural diesel-hauled trip from London Liverpool Street to Clacton. Behind the second man’s seat is a gentleman in collar and tie who seems to be watching over operations –a Brush boffin perhaps. RailOnline
Brown Boveri turbochargers, designated type JVS12T. The power rating output was set at 1,250hp at 850rpm for these twenty Pilot Scheme locomotives although D5507 was up-rated to 1,450hp, by increasing the engine rpm to 900, soon after delivery. The power unit was coupled to a Brush TG16048 main generator and TG69-41 auxiliary generator which fed the four Brush TM7368 traction motors, geared at 60:19.
Building of the Brush Type 2s was conducted under eight contracts to a total of 263 locomotives over a five year period. The Brush Falcon Works at Loughborough saw to the completion of every locomotive and upon final release all went to Doncaster Works for commissioning and load testing. Any defects were then rectified on site by the resident Brush Traction engineers who were also responsible for artisan training and the production of the BR maintenance manuals. Usually the locomotives were delivered to Doncaster in pairs, to enable the ‘multiple unit’ (MU) equipment to be fully tested and utilised. Occasionally a single locomotive would be delivered out of sequence due to prolonged fault rectification or even three would be formed up together to keep the supply constant. It is known that Brush and BR formed an excellent working relationship during the manufacture and delivery of these locomotives and this was surely a factor in the longevity of the class.
The 104 ton Brush Type 2 had a separate mainframe, the body superstructure being
built up of individual panels mounted on a framework, thus making the repair to such items less time consuming as spare panels could be manufactured separately and kept in stock. This and the heavy A1A-A1A commonwealth one piece cast steel bogies contributed to the increased weight (all the early diesel electrics had a poor power/ weight ratio) but on the plus side this gave improved braking and adhesion – especially when compared to some other diesel types.
The twelve wheels gave the locomotives a good route availability with low axle loading and they were favoured by drivers on unfitted freight work, to which they were well suited. The middle wheels were smaller and were not powered.
The look of what we came to know as the Brush Type 2 came about in a curious way, or at least in way hitherto unknown. The ‘Ceylon’ locomotives, naturally enough formed the firm’s starting point and a flatfronted version was sketched out, first with prominent gangway doors, then without.
The ‘Ceylons’ had two big ‘frowning’ front windows (rather like the NBL Type 2s and D600s) and these ‘frowned’ even more on the first drawings which, overall, imparted a gloomy, almost doleful look. Dated porthole windows along the flanks didn’t help. George Toms in r sh iesel ives (Turntable Publications, 1978) with some understatement called the appearance ‘fairly depressing’. The British Transport Commission, with some foresight, desired ‘the highest possible appearance design’ in
all its new diesel locomotives and a Design Panel was appointed which then employed the private consultancy Design Research Unit. The boys at the cutting edge of design got to work and the early ‘Ceylon’ bodywork disappeared, transformed into the Brush Type 2/Class 31 familiar to us all for so long. The broad blank front, most notably, had gone with three windows at the front and three either side. The gangway doors were topped by a smaller rectangular window. The distinctive ‘stepped’ front of the new Brush locomotives owed everything to the presence of the gangway doors, a fortuitous outcome. In the days before computers Brush had to rely on clay and plywood and a perfect mock-up (numbered D505) appeared early in November 1956, a year after the order was placed and a year before the first one went into service.
The initial batch of twenty was numbered D5500-D5519 and the first entered service in October 1957, concluding with D5519 in December 1958, works numbers 71-90. The batch began building as part of the Pilot Scheme but as with other types, further orders were placed even before delivery of the initial twenty was complete.
D5500 made its first running-in trips, in undercoat (though with the top white band) on the Loughborough-Manchester line in the first fortnight of October 1957. Many new diesels first went out like this in the coming years, though exactly why they were sent forth in undercoat is a minor
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The second locomotive, D5501, takes a fuel oil train (note barrier wagons) at Tilbury, en route from Thames Haven to Acton, on 8 May 1958. Petroleum products in owners tanks formed a burgeoning ‘new’ traffic on the LTS section and full train loads ran to Thame (WR), Tile Hill near Coventry and Royston on the GN among other places. There were return empties too, of course.
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D5500 on its inaugural arrival at Clacton, 13 November 1957, after running round. The old boys used to J15s, B17s and the rest must have been dumbfounded at the cleanliness, comfort and sheer ease of operation and not least this feature, noted by the Trains Illustrated correspondent – he too was somewhat incredulous: D5500 also has a refinement which looks like becoming standard on the larger BR diesels, an electric grill for the crew’s cooking tucked away in the alcove just behind one of the driving cabs. As ‘common user’ grills, they rapidly fell into a malodorous state; never properly clean, they were largely ignored by the men. The first twenty, D5500-D5519, had the running numbers placed (oddly) under the cab windows at No.1 (boiler) end only and the ‘D’ was initially without the serif, as here. The serif appeared soon after to be able to distinguish the ‘D’ from a ‘0’ and the running numbers were amended and added to No.2 end as well.
6. BRUSH TYPE 2s
D5501 inside the very first Stratford diesel building, ‘A’ shed erected for DMUs in 1958. Until the better-known depot (‘B’ and ‘C’, end to end) came into being partly on the site of the steam ‘Jubilee’ shed a year or two later this small building had also to deal with locomotives as well as DMUs. Note there are no concrete walkways at locomotive waist height; movable ladders
mystery – it would just mean a further clean when back at the works for the proper livery, elegant green with broad white bands, to be applied. Running in, D5500 was reported as coping ‘satisfactorily’ with thirteen coaches amounting to some 400 tons up and down the steep grades between Derby and Chinley.
D5500 was officially handed over at a ceremony at the Brush Loughborough works on 31 October 1957. Many later diesels were presented for inspection by the brass at Marylebone station, on a little-used track at the west side. It was convenient for the nearby BR Board HQ – known across the railway as the Kremlin – and also handy for the usual ‘trial trip’ with the press, fuelled by drink and sandwiches.
D5500 was completed five weeks ahead of schedule with delivery of the rest D5501D5519 expected to continue at a nominal rate of one every three weeks.
D5500 went next to Doncaster for trials, finally working up to its intended home, Stratford (via March and Cambridge) by 11 November 1957. It duly appeared that day at Thorpe-le-Soken and on 13 November worked the 10.36am Liverpool StreetClacton. The Editor of Trains Illustrated enjoyed the singular privilege of a cab ride on D5500’s initial GE run of 13 November 1957: It was purely a proving run and nothing startling was intended or achieved. With a 302 ton train D5500 accelerated smartly out of Liverpool Street and tipped Brentwood bank at 38mph reaching Shenfield four minutes early at 11.4 but from there to Colchester it suffered checks from the preceding 10.30am Liverpool Street-Norwich. The return to Liverpool Street
was made on the 3.52pm from Clacton. The only troubles we noticed were experienced with the train heating boiler which was doing its job too well and had to be allowed to ‘blow’ at intervals to keep the pressure down – in fact, we gathered that one of the major problems associated with BR diesel traction is still that of efficient passenger train heating equipment. [This really, and unknowingly, was predicting the future...]
Asked the general feeling of Stratford crews at their pending conversion to diesels, the engineman of D5500 considered that 80 per cent were delighted, not only because the new locomotives would make for a cleaner job, but because at last they would have machines capable of maintaining the timetable without difficulty, and they would be rid of the frequent and unpredictable troubles experienced with steam. D5500 came up light from Doncaster via Spalding and Ely on 12 November and returned to Doncaster on the day following its Clacton trip, heading the 12.48pm parcels from Stratford as far as Whitemoor. D5500 began trials with passenger and fitted goods stock between Stratford and Southend Victoria on 25 November.
D5500 went back to Doncaster and a variety of work followed. It returned to Stratford on 22 November 1957 and began crewtraining runs on the Southend Victoria line or to Palace Gates (deserted during the day) a few days later. Crews needed experience of both goods and passenger working with the new diesel and for a while the training was based on two runs SouthendShenfield with 25 empty wagons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and three runs with eight corridor coaches in 37 minutes on Wednesdays and Fridays. D5500 was
joined by D5501 on 9 December, just in time to be observed running coupled to D5500, due to it failing at Wickford on one of the crew training workings. D5502 was already at work, being noted on the morning freight to Niddrie. Over several days from 21 January 1958 the new locomotives were working Liverpool StreetNorwich. D5500 worked through one day to Sheffield with the Harwich-Liverpool boat train and return; by mid-March Stratford had six going-on seven of the new locomotives and they were involved in several freight workings – the Brush age on the GE Section was under way. Brief contemporary reports give a mixed picture. The Railway Observer for May 1958 for instance tells us of D5505 in two contrasting lights: The Easter Monday excursion from Enfield Town to Southend Victoria was hauled by D5506 and arrived at Southend seven minutes early, despite two signal stops at Shenfield and a number of checks along the branch. On the return working, D5505 was unable to start after a five minute stop at South Tottenham home signal and a further delay of some fourteen minutes ensued while some setting back took place and a further train from the Woodgrange Park line was allowed to cross. On getting the road for a second time, D5505 managed to lift the train (nine corridors) and completed the trip without further trouble.
D5507 was delivered in April 1958 with its engine up-rated to 1,450hp to serve, it was said, as a ‘standby’ to the EE D200 Type 4s then in the course of delivery, in the all-too likely circumstance of failure or unavailability for some reason. This would only work,
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D5501 shortly after arrival at Stratford depot. The Railway bserver in March 1959 noted that the new Brush Type 2s were eing overhauled at Stratford orks y the makers . This refers presuma ly to staff out ased from Lough orough, lodging in London and going home for the weekend. D5500 it is interesting to find, had completed 0,000 miles y the end of anuary 1959 that s 5,000 a year...
you’d think, if D5507 was diagrammed with the Type 4s; it seems unlikely. It turned out, unsurprisingly, to be impractical. The Brush after all could not sit somewhere ‘spare’ but would instead be out on the road on one of the many Type 2 diagrams then being taken up. It would rarely if ever be in the right place when a D200 suddenly required replacement. A correspondent in The Railway Observer opined that D5507 could not recover time on Type 4 diagrams; Brush Type 2 performance generally was ‘comparable to a B1 but far inferior to a Britannia’.
The first batch D5500-D5519 was complete by December 1958 – all were based at Stratford, looked after in a modern three road shed opened itself that year. It had been designed for DMUs but it was found convenient to deal with these in the open and use the building for diesel locomotives. In this way it was to be designated ‘A’ shed, the back-to-back four road ‘B’ and ‘C’ shed opening a year or so later for the burgeoning locomotive fleet.
D5500-D5519
The Pilot Scheme Batch
The frames for the first six locomotives (D5500-D5505) were thought to have been fabricated at the Beyer-Peacock works at Gorton. These were shipped to Brush Falcon works Loughborough at the end of 1956 being laid down and assembly started for the initial contract. Further frames were built by W.G.Bagnall at Stafford.
To re-cap a bit, the first locomotive, D5500, was completed one week early and was trialed on the Derby-Buxton-ChinleyChesterfield circuit ready for official handover, as mentioned, on 31 October 1957. On this very day D5501 was also complete and was available for test runs and thus the beginning of what was a transformation for BR Eastern Region had begun.
D5500 was sent to Stratford; a return to Doncaster works followed and then back to Stratford for what was going to be its twenty year home. D5501 was available for crew training at Stratford during December 1957 and D5502 and D5503 were at Doncaster for commissioning mid-January 1958. As previously noted D5507 began trials in April 1958 temporarily up-rated to 1,450hp. This had merely involved up-rating the engine rpm by increasing the fuel delivery so that the locomotive could attain 90 mph, as against the maximum speed of 80mph set for the remainder of the batch. D5507 was reset back to 1,250hp before too long but the results were obviously held on record for the next contract.
D5511 was released by Doncaster works on 14 June 1958 and went on loan to the Scottish Region, to be tried out in several areas. At the end of June it was on trial with an eight-coach train ‘including a 12 wheel sleeper’ between Aviemore and Inverness. On 10 July it was reported on the West Highland working through to Fort William, returning with the 9.31am to
Glasgow Queen Street next day; on 17 and 18 July it was on freights ‘over the steeply graded Edinburgh Suburban line.’ On 25 July it visited Aberdeen, working out on the 8.15pm Aberdeen Guild Street to Edinburgh freight. On 31 July it travelled from Inverness to Wick with a nine coach Army officers special. All this involved spells at both Eastfield and St Margarets – from the latter it was put on coal trains locally and then came some runs to Carlisle over the Waverley route on passenger workings. Return to Stratford, without any reported failures, via Doncaster, was accomplished in early September 1958.
D5516, on completion in September 1958, was subjected to British Transport Commission controlled testing, which involved some London-Norwich high speed runs as well as heavy un-braked coal trains between Temple Mills and Whitemoor with various loadings of 9001100 tons. Results indicated that 1,250hp made the locomotives only ‘adequate’ for the work they were subjected to and that more power was required. This was in essence true of all BR’s new main line diesels of the period.
D5517 was noted on Royal Train duties on 6 November 1958 when it was used to convey HRH Princess Margaret to Wolferton for Sandringham with a royal saloon attached to a service train. Presumably this was the first ‘Royal Diesel’. On 3 July 1958 a contract was issued to Brush Traction for a further forty
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6. BRUSH TYPE 2s
D5502 with a freight at Southend ictoria ready to leave the goods yard at the south side of the station, 11 Fe ruary 195 . The line had een electrified at the end of 1956 ut the steam shed remained opened for engines off freight, coal, parcels and so on.
Some Notable Withdrawals
A lot of the locomotives fell prey to collision, fire, explosion leading to withdrawal. Such ill-luck almost never happened with steam and until the last few years at least an engine had to be virtually destroyed in order to be withdrawn – even then a new one likely enough would be built to replace it. The difference steam/diesel is entirely explicable of course; a complex diesel was much more likely to suffer extensive/costly damage in even a modest collision and of course, few steam engines caught fire and none exploded.
31150 (D5568) The first withdrawal of a Brush Type 2 occurred on 4 October 1975. The locomotive had been involved in a head-on collision with runaway wagons in Manton Tunnel on 11 September that year resulting in extensive frame damage. It was cut up by BR at Doncaster Works in February 1976.
31254 (D5682) Never a popular locomotive on the Western, withdrawn and cut up at Old Oak Common on 1 December 1979. Parts were used to bring 31257 back to life.
31136 (D5554) Another ‘black sheep’ withdrawn on 24 August 1980. Old Oak kept trying to palm it off to Bath Road and vice-versa.
31103 (D5521) Withdrawn on 5 October 1980 and moved to Swindon works. Its power unit was re-used in another locomotive because of the severe winter’s toll of frost damaged crankcases. Locomotive was reduced to a shell and then scrapped at Swindon in February 1983.
31241 (D5668) After suffering collision damage at Exeter it was stripped for spares at Bristol Bath Road and finally scrapped at Swindon Works in April 1982.
31313 (D5847) After a collision near Leeds on 24 July 1982 it wa s condemned at Doncaster Works on 5 August and finally cut up in May 1983.
31244 (D5672) After a collision with a tractor near Stamford on 29 August 1982 it was moved to its home depot, March; condemned at Doncaster on 12 September 1982 and cut up there in October 1983.
31314 (D5848) was the lead locomotive in a pair, the other being 31192, when in collision with 56004 at Lindsey Oil Refinery on 30 July 1982. Allocated to Immingham it was removed to Doncaster Works in September 1982 and cut up during October. It was replaced in the fleet by veteran celebrity 31101 which was then overhauled and air-braked before entering service.
31192 (D5615) was as noted above coupled to 31314 when involved with the collision with 56004. Also allocated to Immingham it was towed to Doncaster on 15 August 1982. Because of the cost of repairs it was deemed better to reinstate one of the recently switched off examples with high power unit hours then stored at Swindon Works and therefore 31192 was officially withdrawn on 10 October and finally cut up in January 1983, its place in the fleet being taken up by re-instated 31264 which was overhauled and air-braked before re-entering service.
31214 (D5638) One of the former re-allocated Western Region examples it was involved in an accident with some derailed cement wagons at Earles Sidings, Hope Valley. Then allocated to March, it returned to Tinsley depot in June 1983 and to Doncaster Works in July finally being cut up in October 1983.
31262 (D5690) After collision with a track machine near Dullingham, Cambridge, in multiple with 31292 (undamaged) both locomotives removed to Fulbourn and then to Cambridge on 27 May 1983. 31262 moved by road to Doncaster Works on 26 June 1983, having been withdrawn on 29 May; cut up there in September 1983.
31111 (D5529) After suffering a power unit explosion it was withdrawn on 12 June 1983 for storage at Swindon Works as part of the cull in 1983. It moved to Swindon in January 1984 where it donated its cab and other parts to 31137. It was finally cut up in July 1986 as by then it was not fit for a heavy general life extension overhaul for future reinstatement.
31436 (D5569, 31151) On 9 March 1986 while hauling 1M42, the 18.88 Sheffield-Manchester train, the locomotive was involved in a head on collision at Chinley with 45014 and 47334. 31436 was condemned during October 1986 and cut up during February 1988.
31440 (D5628, 31204) After a collision with 47089 at Chinley on 20 February 1987. Towed to Doncaster Works on 5 March 1987. Withdrawn on 3 October 1987 and cut up by Vic Berry, Leicester March 1988.
31245 (D5673) After a head on shunting collision with 31261 at Maryland on 24 December 1986 it was removed to Stratford and withdrawn on 5 January 1987; cut up there in March 1988.
31261(D5689) As above, after a head on shunting collision with 31245 at Maryland on 24 December 1986 it was removed to Stratford and withdrawn 5 January 1987; cut up there in November 1990.
Most famously of course, 31202 and 31226 (both refurbished) met their premature end on 28 October 1988 by the side of the North Circular Road in London. As the text relates: 31226 landed on top of 31202, breaking its back. In the recovery process 31202 was cut into three by men from the Vic Berr y scrap yard at Leicester and removed to there in pieces. 31226 was re-railed and towed back to Stratford where severe frame damage was revealed, prompting its withdrawal a few days later. It was gradually stripped for spares over the next three years before being cut up by M.C.Metals of Glasgow in March 1992
locomotives similar in specification to the Pilot Scheme batch except that the power units would be up-rated to produce 1,365hp at 900rpm with an increased speed to 90mph and engine control through electro-pneumatic ‘blue star’ rather than the unique electro-magnetic ‘red circle’ system of D5500-D5519. The only other
locomotives fitted with the red circle electromagnetic control system were also Pilot Scheme locomotives, Type B D5700-D5719 manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers with Crossley pulse fed 1,200hp 8 cylinder V formation and Type A D8400-D8409 from North British with Davey Paxman V16 cylinder 800hp engines.
During their twenty or so years on BR D5500-D5519 were externally largely unmodified, apart from D5518 which was extensively damaged and rebuilt in 1967, with only D5500, D5504, D5507, D5517 and D5519 singled out as ‘different’ to the rest of the batch prior to re-engining and repainting into BR Corporate Rail Blue livery
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