Graham Farish 371-136 Class 31/1 31319 Railfreight Petroleum (Refurbished)

Graham Farish 371-136 Class 31/1 31319 Railfreight Petroleum (Refurbished).

The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and originally as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62, numbering 263 locos.

The Class 31 entered service in November 1957 and was one of the Pilot Scheme locomotives ordered by British Railways to replace steam traction. The class was originally allocated to the Eastern Region, but gradually became common in both the Western and London Midland regions too.

The first few locos externally had much in common with the original 31/0s as twenty lacked the roof mounted headcode box and fifteen were also limited to 80 mph but were otherwise the same as subsequent locos. The whole sub-class had steam heating boilers fitted, had the Blue Star Electro-Pneumatic multiple-working controls as found on many other BR classes.

The Class 31/1s could be found on a variety of secondary and relief passenger duties as well as parcels and freight traffic. While used in East Anglia, with locos allocated to Stratford and March depots, they were found throughout the Eastern Region of BR with Finsbury Park sporting a large allocation along with the depots at Tinsley, Immingham and Thornaby.

Locos were also allocated to Bristol Bath Road and Old Oak Common on the Western Region, where they could be found working passenger trains as far west as Barnstaple and Paignton. In the early 1980s Healey Mills and Bescot on the Midland Region also gained an allocation as replacements for Class 25s.