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Railfreight
Railfreight was a sector of British Rail responsible for all freight operations on the British network. The division was created in 1982 when BR sought to assign particular stock and management to the evolving requirements of freight traffic. History Railfreight existed as a single unit from 1982 until 1987 as the rail freight division of British Rail. In 1987 BRs freight operations were further divided according to the type of train operated and material carried; the Trainload Freight division and its sub-sectors handled unit trains of coal, metal, aggregates, oil or petroleum, LPG, petro-chemicals, and construction materials, Railfreight Distribution handled intermodal and non-unit train work, and channel tunnel freight. Activities which were not assigned to one of the new ''Trainload Freight'' or ''Railfreight Distribution'' sub-sectors were then continued under the Railfreight General banner, Railfreight General was dissolved in 1989, its limited responsibilities being ...
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Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution was a sub-sector of British Rail, created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services. In its early years, the division was occasionally referred to as Speedlink Distribution. It was later responsible for freight operations through the Channel Tunnel. History In the 1980s, freight traffic on the railway was in decline, due to a mixture of increased competition from road transport, a shrinking network that had reduced rail's reach and a decline in the domestic manufacturing industry, reducing internal demands for raw materials and transport of finished product for export. By the late 1980s, British Rail In October 1988, took three troublesome divisions of their freight operations; Speedlink ( wagonload), Freightliner (Container), Railfreight International (International traffic) and merged them into one entity, Railfreight ...
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British Rail Corporate Liveries
The history of British Rail's corporate liveries is quite complex. Although from the mid-1960s to the 1980s the organisation was associated with "Rail Blue", a number of other schemes were also used, especially when it was split into operating units or "sectors" in the mid-1980s. Pre-corporate liveries At the formation of British Railways on 1 January 1948, early diesel and electric locos and the gas turbine locomotives 18000 and 18100 were already painted black with aluminium trim, but by the late 1950s this had been superseded by the same shade of green that was used on express passenger steam locomotives, although some locomotives were painted in a two-tone Brunswick and Sherwood green livery, and Southern Region electric locomotives were painted a light shade of malachite green. Multiple units were also generally green, although this tended to be a lighter and bluer shade compared to the colour used on steam and diesel locomotives. Corridor coaching stock was originally ...
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British Rail Class 90
The British Rail Class 90 electric locomotives were built for mixed-traffic duties, operating from overhead lines and produce . They weigh 84.5tonnes and can typically achieve a top speed of . The Class 90 is a modernised derivative of the preceding Class 87 locomotive, having been originally designated as the ''Class 87/2''. During the 1980s, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) had submitted an offer to build 25 examples to replace various aging electric locomotives, including the Class 81, Class 82, Class 83, Class 84 and Class 85. It was selected over numerous rival proposals, including the InterCity 225 and the Class 89; the type was manufactured by BREL at Crewe Works between 1987 and 1990. The Class 90 was introduced to service during the closing years of British Rail, being used for both passenger services and freight trains alike. Following the privatisation of British Rail, the type has served with various operators, including Greater Anglia, Virgin ...
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British Rail Class 60
The British Rail Class 60 is a class of Co-Co heavy freight diesel-electric locomotives built by Brush Traction. They are nicknamed ''Tugs'' by rail enthusiasts. During the 1980s, it became increasingly apparent that British Rail required a more capable Type 5 locomotive for its heavy freight trains. Dissatisfaction with the British Rail Class 56's reliability led to the stipulation of a 95 percent availability, a stringent requirement at the time. A total of three bids were received to a competitive tender issued on 10 August 1987; of these, Brush Traction's submission was selected and an order for 100 locomotives was issued during the following year. Despite the first example being completed during June 1989, due to a number of technical issues discovered during testing, the first examples of the Class 60 would not enter revenue service until late 1990. Operated only during the final years of British Rail, the entire Class 60 fleet became the property of English Welsh & Sco ...
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British Rail Class 20
The British Rail Class 20, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, is a class of diesel-electric locomotive. In total, 228 locomotives in the class were built by English Electric between 1957 and 1968, the large number being in part because of the failure of other early designs in the same power range to provide reliable locomotives. The locomotives were originally numbered D8000–D8199 and D8300–D8327. They are known by railway enthusiasts as "Choppers". Overview Designed around relatively basic technology, the 73-tonne locomotives produce and can operate at up to . Designed to work light mixed freight traffic, they have no train heating facilities. Locomotives up to D8127 were fitted with disc indicators in the style of the steam era; when headcodes were introduced in 1960 the locomotive’s design was changed to incorporate headcode boxes. Although older locomotives were not retro-fitted with headcode boxes, a few of the earlier batch acquired headcode boxes ...
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British Rail Class 56
The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp (2,423 kW), and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement. Enthusiasts nicknamed them "Gridirons" (or "Grids" for short), due to the grid-like horn cover on the locomotive's cab ends fitted to nos. 56056 onwards. Under its Romanian railway factory nomenclature, the locomotive was named Electroputere LDE 3500, with LDE coming from ''Locomotivă Diesel-Electrică'' (Diesel-Electric Locomotive) and the 3500 being the planned horsepower output. The Class 56 fleet was introduced between 1976 and 1984, a total of 135 examples were manufactured. The first 30 locomotives (56001 - 56030, factory classification LDE3500) were built by Electroputere in Romania, but these typically suffered from poor construction standards and many were withdrawn from service early for extensive rebuilding before re-entering revenue service. The re ...
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Trainload Freight
Trainload Freight was the sector of British Rail responsible for trainload freight services. The division was subdivided into four sub-sectors; coal, petroleum, metals and construction. It was formed in 1988 from the trainload operations of British Rail's Railfreight division. The company existed until 1994, when, as part of the privatisation process of British Rail, it was split into three separate companies by region: Load-Haul, Mainline Freight and Trans-Rail. History Trainload Freight (TLF) was created in 1988 as the sector of British Rail responsible for operating unit trains. The division was subdivided into four sub-sectors according to cargo carried: Coal, Construction, Metals, and Petroleum. Other wagonload freight activities and containerised freight were organised in the Railfreight Distribution (RfD) division at the same time. The trainload business represented approximately 80% of British Rail's total revenue from freight, and 90% of freight traffic by mass. T ...
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British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47 or Brush Type 4 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Brush's Falcon Works in Loughborough and at British Railways' Crewe Works between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British mainline diesel locomotive. They were fitted with the Sulzer 12LDA28C twin-bank twelve-cylinder unit producing though this was later derated to to improve reliabilityand have been used on both passenger and freight trains on Britain's railways for over 55 years. Despite the introduction of more modern types of traction, a significant number are still in use, both on the mainline and on heritage railways. As of December 2021, 78 locomotives still exist as Class 47s, including 31 which have been preserved. 33 further locomotives were converted to Class 57s between 1998 and 2004. Origins The Class 47 history begins in the early 1960s with the stated aim of t ...
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Freightliner Group
Freightliner Group is a rail freight and logistics company headquartered in the United Kingdom. It is presently a wholly owned subsidiary of the American holding company Genesee & Wyoming. It was originally created after the Transport Act 1968 as ''Freightliner Ltd'', a British government-owned company . From its onset, Freightliner was focused on the haulage of international traffic, thus came to centre its activities around Britain's sea ports, often building new multimodal freight depots adjacent to such locations to better capture this business. During the late 1970s, it was reorganised under British Rail, and became a part of its Railfreight Distribution subsidiary during the late 1980s. Work to expand the loading gauge on routes such as the East Coast Main Line were undertaken, allowing trains hauling larger containers to be routes, were conducted around this time. Numerous domestic depots previously operated by Freightliner were closed during the 1990s in preparation for ...
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British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four British railway companies, and was privatisation of British Rail, privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the railway. A process of dieselisation and Railway electrification in Great Britain, electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway (a narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge tourist line). Passenger train, Passengers replaced freight train, ...
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British Rail Class 37
The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. They were numbered in two series, D6600–D6608 and D6700–D6999. The Class 37 became a familiar sight on many parts of the British Rail network, in particular forming the main motive power for InterCity services in East Anglia and within Scotland. They also performed well on secondary and inter-regional services for many years. Many are still in use today on freight, maintenance, and empty stock movement duties. The Class 37s are known to some railway enthusiasts as " tractors", a nickname given due to the similarities between the sound of the Class 37's engine and that of a tractor. Description Background As part of the large scale dieselisation brought about by the British Rail modernisation plan a need was identified for a number of type 3 locomotives of power output to . English Electric had ...
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British Rail Class 58
The British Rail Class 58 is a class of Co-Co diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight. The narrow body with cabs at either end led to them being given the nickname "Bone" by rail enthusiasts. Their design represented a major departure from British conventions of construction; amongst the innovations was the adoption of the American practice of modularisation. The first locomotive of the class was delivered to British Rail during early 1983 and entered service that same year. Despite expectations of a lengthy service life, during 2002, EWS decided to withdraw all examples of the type after only 19 years in service. Subsequently, 32 were hired abroad – four to the Netherlands, eight to Spain and twenty to France. A few examples have also been scrapped or have entered preservation. History During the mid-1970s, British Rail operated several different diesel locomotives that had been categorised as Type 5, these being a relatively high-powered locomotive suited to heavy ...
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