The Brush Type 2, listed under that name in a 1960 Ian Allan ABC and known under TOPS as the Class 31, was a diesel-electric locomotive of A1A-A1A wheel arrangement. Around 263 were built between 1957 and 1962 by Brush Traction at Loughborough, and they were numbered in the D5500 series.
Design and build
Brush Traction built the class at Loughborough as part of the modernisation programme, adopting the A1A-A1A wheel arrangement in which the outer axles of each bogie were powered and the centre axle carried weight without drive. As built, the locomotives used a Mirrlees engine, and the early examples earned the nickname “toffee apple” from the shape of an early power controller in the cab.
In service
The Mirrlees engine proved troublesome in service. From the mid-1960s the class was re-engined with English Electric power, and it was this change that secured its long working career. The type was long associated with the Eastern Region and East Anglia before working more widely across the network.
Numbering
The locomotives were numbered in the D5500 series. Under the TOPS scheme introduced in the early 1970s the type became Class 31, the number under which the survivors are generally known today.
Withdrawal and preservation
The English Electric re-engining gave the class an unusually long life, and many examples survived into the twenty-first century. Several are now preserved, and examples can be seen at heritage railways around the country.
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- Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, Combined Volume, diesel section.
- Marsden and other standard BR diesel class histories.
- The Class 31 preservation groups active at UK heritage railways.