Department store
PIP DUNN tells the story and the fate of the locomotives used for Departmental (non-revenue-earning) work on the railways
For many years, the railway had a number of what were termed Departmental locomotives. These were vehicles not intended to ‘earn money’, so to speak, but to support the railway. In their day-to-day work, they would not haul what were deemed to be revenue-earning trains (freight and passenger).
In the mid-1980s, these operations became part of one of the business sectors - the Departmental sector. In May 1992, this was split across the other sectors - InterCity, Network SouthEast, Regional Railways and Trainload Freight.
The assumption was that each of these sectors would ‘contribute’ towards the running of trains to support and repair the network. The running of test trains was allocated to the Rail Express Systems business.
In March 1994, these were then split across the three shadow Trainload businesses, prior to selling off in February 1996.
At privatisation, EWS (as was) had all the infrastructure support operations. But over the following 25 years, these operations have been split among different freight operators.
Network Rail today has a few of its own locomotives, but for specific roles - such as the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) project on the Cambrian lines. All infrastructure monitoring (IM) trains, which would have been ‘departmental workings’ in the 1970s and 1980s, are operated for NR by the freight operators.
Over the year, many locomotives have been retired from the main fleet for what were deemed to be Departmental roles.
Shunters
Class 05: This fleet once totalled 69 locomotives, but by the early 1970s just one remained (D2554). Based on the Isle of Wight, it was the only ‘05’ to gain a TOPS number (05001, in August 1974). In January 1983 it was renumbered 97803 and transferred to the Departmental fleet, based at Ryde for working any infrastructure train on the eight-mile railway.
Its life as a ‘97’ was brief. It was withdrawn in September 1983 and replaced by a Class 03 (03079, which while put into the Departmental fleet and allocated the number 97805, never had the number applied). 97803 was sold for preservation at the Isle of Wight Railway in June 1984 and restored as D2554.
Class 06: The 35 Class 06s were synonymous with Scotland - indeed, none of them were ever reallocated from the Region. Ten gained TOPS numbers, but by September 1981 all had been withdrawn. One (06003) was moved to Reading in 1981 to act as the signal works shunter (replacing 97020, a locomotive purpose-built for this role). Renumbered 97804, the ‘06’ lasted until June 1985, when it was made redundant.
Class 07: D2991 was retained at Eastleigh Works as a mobile generator. Remarkably it is still there, renumbered 07007 and used as the works shunter by Arlington Fleet Services.
Class 08: Several ‘08s’ moved to the Departmental fleet. Eight were converted to independent snowploughs in the early 1970s and renumbered ADB966506-513 respectively. They were D3078, D3006, D3035, D3069, D3037, 08119, 08111, 08117, with plans to convert three more (08048/ 065/ 066) cancelled after it was quickly discovered that they were ineffective.
Other locomotives became internal depot shunters. 08247 was renumbered PO1 in August 1977, for use at Polmadie. It reverted to its previous identity in May 1978, when replaced by 08173 (also renumbered PO1, and which reverted to its number in January 1984). At Tyseley, 08067 became ‘Tyseley 1’ in October 1983.
08600 was renumbered 97800 in June 1979, for use as the Slade Green depot shunter, and was later named Ivor and repainted into the red and blue livery adopted by the Railway Technical Centre (RTC). It reverted to 08600 in December 1989 and was later sold. It is still in use with AV Dawson in Middlesbrough.
In March 1978, 08267 was renumbered RDB968020 and then 97801, as it was taken on by the RTC at Derby for testing remote control equipment. This equipment was not implemented by BR, but EWS fitted it to several ‘08s’ in the late 1990s to enable a similar system to be driven by staff on the ground with a control pad. 08070 was earmarked to become 97802, but never did.
Class 09: In September 1987, 09017 became a dedicated locomotive at Sudbrook
Pumping station to haul the Severn Tunnel emergency train. It was repainted into a grey and blue livery. 09009 had initially been earmarked for this role.
97806 reverted to its ‘09’ identity in
June 1998, by which time it was an EWS locomotive. It is now part of the National Railway Museum fleet, where it is used for shunting, and is not part of the national collection.
Type 1s
Class 15: The last BTH (British ThomsonHouston) Type 1s were condemned in 1971.
In the late 1960s, as BR introduced more electrically heated air-conditioned coaches, there was a need for a number of carriage heaters to pre-heat them. Four redundant locomotives (D8203/33/37/43) were converted in 1969 for this role, taking the numbers DB968003/ 001/ 002/ 000 respectively.
They were based on the East Coast Main Line, with 968000 at Heaton, 968001 at Neville Hill and then Haymarket, 968002 at Finsbury Park, and 968003 at Hornsey. But they were moved about as required, and eventually migrated to the Great Eastern Main Line at the likes of Colchester, Norwich and Stratford - as well as the occasional move to Swansea, Derby Litchurch Lane and Marylebone.
968003 was the first to be retired in 1981. It was followed by 968002, which became a parts donor. 968001 was withdrawn in December 1982, moved to Healey Mills, and lasted long enough to be preserved. 968000 was the last to be laid up - it lasted until March 1990, but still ended up being scrapped. D8234 was also earmarked for possible conversion, but this did not materialise.
Class 17: Three Clayton Type 1s were taken into the Departmental fleet (D8512/21/98). D8512 was transferred to the Derby RTC in July 1969 for hauling test trains. It then moved to Manchester’s Longsight depot in June 1971 for similar work, but it failed four months later and was laid up. It was then resurrected as a mobile generator at GEC’s Stafford Works (along with D8545/67) in February 1972, but only for a month before being returned to BR and taken back to Longsight in July. It was then shipped back to Scotland for scrapping.
D8521 was used as a mobile generator at the RTC from July 1969 and was renumbered S18521 (a coach number). It lasted in this role until October 1978, when it was withdrawn and returned to Glasgow. It was scrapped in April 1979.
D8598, which lasted in the capital stock fleet until the end of the class on December 31 1971, was also acquired by the RTC and moved to Derby as a replacement for D8512, for hauling test trains. It failed in 1978 and was not repaired. It was scrapped in March 1979.
Class 20: 20001 and 20188 had brief spells as training locomotives at Toton and Ilford respectively. The former was allocated the number ADB968029, which it never carried. It was at Toton from April 1988 until 1991. The latter was moved to Ilford in March 1990 and stayed there until January 1993.
Both are now preserved. 20011 was also earmarked for a Departmental role at Derby Works, but this never came to fruition.
Type 2s
Class 23: D5901 was going to be a trial locomotive with its Napier engine changed to an EE unit, but the work was stopped before it was completed. However, in August 1969 it was transferred to the Derby RTC to haul test trains, mainly working with the Tribometer test coach. It never had a Departmental number allocated.
It lasted in service until December 1975, when it was replaced by a Class 24. It lingered intact until January 1977 when, despite a fledgling diesel preservation movement gaining momentum, it was scrapped at Doncaster Works several years after the other nine Class 23s had been broken up.
Class 24: The demise of D5901 as a test train locomotive was partly because it was non-standard and unreliable, so when mass withdrawal of Class 24s started in 1975, 24061 was acquired by the RTC to replace the ‘23’. Unlike its predecessor, it was allocated a Departmental number RDB968007 (applied in July 1976).
In August 1979 it was renumbered 97201, and in 1980 was repainted into RTC livery and named Experiment. It remained in use until December 1987, when replaced by a Class 31.
Two 24s were acquired for conversion to mobile electric train heating (ETH) pre-heat locomotives. These were 24054 and 24152, renumbered TDB968008/ 009 respectively and used by the Western Region.
TDB968008 had spells at Exeter, Penzance, Laira and Newton Abbot, while its classmate was used at Worcester, Oxford, Reading, Cardiff Canton, Ebbw Junction and Swansea Maliphant Sidings.
Both were withdrawn in 1982. The former was moved for possible use at Cambridge in December, but this was shelved as it was too noisy. 24054 was acquired for preservation, while 24142 went for scrap in September 1984.
Class 25: In 1983, 25305/310/314 were converted to mobile ETH locomotives and renumbered 97251/252/250 respectively. Unlike the ‘15s’ and ‘24s’, these were not stationary and used in trains.
The reason was the switch to air-conditioned Mk 3 Sleeper coaches on the West Highland Line from 1983, which presented a problem. Class 37s were steam heat-only, yet no suitable ETH locomotives were cleared for the line.
The solution was to convert these ‘25s’ to be marshalled between a ‘37’ and the coaches. They were all ‘named’ ETHEL 1, 2 and 3 (ETHEL standing for ETH - ex-locomotive).
In summer 1985, the first ETH Class 37/4s appeared, rendering the ETHELs redundant. They did find some work as carriage heaters - both static and hauled in trains - and were taken on by the InterCity sector (97251/252 were painted into IC colours), although their use behind steam locomotives on charters caused many complaints among photographers! All were out of use by the early 1990s.
Another Class 25 to move to the Departmental fleet was 25131, which became 97202 at Toton. Its role was unclear, but it was probably used as a training locomotive. 25209 was also earmarked for this role.
In April 1987, 25908 (ex-25307) was allocated number ADB968026 for use as a training locomotive at Toton, although it was never renumbered. 25912 (ex-25322) followed as ADB968027 as a training locomotive at Holbeck, and again its number was never applied.
This locomotive was then repainted into BR green in March 1989 as D7672 and reinstated in November 1990. It worked a handful of charter trains before it was withdrawn for a second time in March 1991. The ‘25’ is now preserved at the Churnet Valley Railway.
Class 27: Two Class 27s found use as training locomotives. 27207 became ADB968025 at Eastfield in December 1986, although it was incorrectly numbered as ADB68025. It was replaced in August 1987 by 27024, which became ADB968028 and which lasted in this role until May 1988.
Class 28: The decision to take D5705 into Departmental use was the catalyst to its survival as the only example of the Metrovick Co-Bo locomotives. The 20 pilot-scheme Class 28s were all withdrawn by summer 1968, but D5705 (which had a revised crankcase to improve its reliability - and there was even talk of fitting English Electric engines) was taken to the RTC in 1968 and renumbered S15705 - a coach series number.
It was for use on test trains, but it was replaced by D5901, and in 1974 it was moved to Swansea as a stationary train heating boiler and renumbered ADB968006. It was then moved to Bristol Bath Road in February 1976 for similar duties, but this worked ended in September 1977.
It was damaged by a minor fire underneath and moved to Swindon Works in June 1980 for scrap, only to be sold for preservation. It stayed at Swindon until 1986, when moved to Peak Rail, and then to the East Lancashire Railway in January 1997.
Class 31: In the late 1970s, several withdrawn non-standard Class 31/ 0s were used as carriage heaters in East Anglia.
Some were modified for this role 31002 (ADB968014), 31008 (ADB968016) and 31014 (ADB968015), while 31013 (ADB968013) was also designated for the Departmental fleet but was not used.
All four remained on the Eastern Region, with two based at Stratford, one at Bounds Green and one at Great Yarmouth.
The next Class 31 into the Departmental fleet was vacuum-braked 31298, which was taken to support 97201 in July 1986. It was
renumbered 97203 and repainted into RTC livery in March 1987, only to catch fire the following month and be condemned.
Its replacement was dual-braked 31326, which became 97204. In August 1989 it was renumbered 31970. This was because some drivers were refusing to take trains hauled by 97xxx locomotives (this included several Class 47s with 97 numbers) because ‘they didn’t sign Class 97s’, so reverting these locomotives to their class numbers alleviated this issue. The locomotive was retired in December
1990, although not formally withdrawn until September 1991.
Type 3s
Class 33: In February 1988, withdrawn 33018 was taken to the Moreton-in-Marsh Fire Training Centre as an emergency response training locomotive. It was due to take up the number TDB968030, but this was never applied. It lasted in this role until 1998 and has since been sold for preservation.
In May 1989, 33115 was converted to an unpowered Channel Tunnel test locomotive ( by RFS at Doncaster). It emerged in InterCity livery numbered 83301 and undertook many tests with a Class 73 - usually Gatwick Express’s 73205 (which was never taken into the Departmental fleet). The ‘33’ was scrapped in 1996 while the ‘73’ was rebuilt for GB Railfreight as 73964.
Class 35: 7089 became a carriage heater allocated the number TDB968005 (but never applied). It was moved to Laira in November 1974 and remained in this role until February 1976.
D7076/ 096 became dead weight locomotives at the RTC’s Egginton test track. Neither had Departmental numbers and lasted in these roles until 1982, with D7076 sold for preservation and its classmate going for scrap in February 1986 (the last Hymek scrapped).
Class 37: 37070 and 37138 were withdrawn by EWS and had their bodies cut away and all internal equipment removed for use as engine transporters at Toton.
In 2008, four Class 37s were overhauled for Network Rail’s European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) trials on the Cambrian Line, where they would be used to pilot charters, haul freight, infrastructure monitoring (IM) or engineer’s trains. The four (37100/170/178, 37217) were renumbered 97301-304 and fitted with ERTMS, although 97301 was fitted with a different supplier’s equipment as part of the trial. NR also uses these for IM trains and railhead treatment trains in various parts of the UK when required.
Type 4s
Class 40: In February 1985, BR ended its use of Class 40s - apart from 40122, which was retained for railtours.
Four (40012/ 060, 40118/135) were reinstated in May for use as infrastructure locomotives for Crewe station remodelling work. They were renumbered 97407/405/408/406 respectively and limited to 40mph for use
‘in the Crewe area’, although they did work further afield and at faster speeds. Three were withdrawn in 1986, but 97405 lingered on until March 1987. Three of the four were preserved with only 97405 scrapped.
In March 1983, the Ministry of Defence took on 40046 as a training locomotive based at its Moreton-on-Lugg site near Hereford. The ‘40’ was not given a new identity and was scrapped in August 1987.
Class 42: D832 Onslaught was taken on by the RTC as a dead weight load locomotive in January 1973. It lasted in this role until late 1979, when sold for preservation. At one point it was allocated the number 97401, although it never carried it. D818 Glory was retained at Swindon Works, as a source of spares, but was scrapped in November 1985.
Class 43: D844 Spartan was retained by the Western Region as a carriage heater
(albeit briefly) at Worcester from October to November 1971. It never had a Departmental number. Class 45: Five (45022/ 029/ 034/ 040/ 066) were renumbered 97409-413 in October 1987 and used for infrastructure work in connection with East Coast Main Line electrification. All were withdrawn by August 1988.
Two others had brief Departmental roles, with 45017 becoming ADB968024 in October 1985 as a training locomotive (which lasted
until June 1987). It replaced 45048, which had initially been earmarked for this role.
Class 46: Four were moved to the Departmental sector and one became infamous. 46009 was withdrawn in October 1983, followed by 46023 a month later. They were taken to the RTC, where one would be prepared for a high-speed controlled collision - it would be driven into a ‘derailed’ nuclear flask as a PR stunt, to show that the flasks would not leak if damaged.
They were allocated numbers 97401/402 (although neither had them applied). 46009 was the locomotive for the crash, at Old Dalby on July 17 1984. The flask remained undamaged, while 46009 was written off. With the test done and 46023 no longer needed, it was passed from pillar to post until it was scrapped in April 1994.
In November 1984, two of the last remaining active Class 46s (46035/ 045) were taken on by the RTC and renumbered 97403/404.
The former was to haul test trains - it was repainted in RTC livery and named Ixion. The other was a spare and not used, although it did gain its new number.
97403 was withdrawn in August 1991 and both were sold for preservation, with 46035 gaining fame as the first preserved diesel to run on the national network.
Class 47: Four (47472/480, 47545/ 561) were taken on by the RTC to haul test trains and renumbered to 97472/480, 97545/ 561. As mentioned earlier, some drivers refused to drive ‘Class 97s’ so they were renumbered in July 1989 - 97472 reverted back to 47472; 97480 became 47971; 97545 became 47972; and 97561 became 47973. In summer 1990. they were joined by 47974-976 (47531/ 540/ 546 respectively), of which 47531/ 540 later regained their original identities.
Other ‘47s’ that were ‘departmentalised’ were 47403 (a replacement for 40046 at Moreton-on-Lugg and never renumbered) and 47538 (which was allocated the number ADB968035, which was actually applied, for use as an engine transporter at Crewe).
Class 50: After becoming the first of its class to be withdrawn, 50011 Centurion was moved to Crewe Works in February 1987 to become an engine test bed for overhauled 16CSVT engines. It was allocated the number ADB968031, but never carried it. The ‘50’ was scrapped in September 1992.
Class 52: Both D1033/34 were used as carriage heaters at Laira - the former from October 1976 to January 1977 and the latter from October 1975 to September 1976. Neither had any numbers allocated to them.
Electric locomotives
Class 74: 74010 was earmarked for a Departmental role, but it never happened.
Class 84: 84009 was taken on by the Derby RTC as a load bank locomotive in August 1978, renumbered ADB968021 (initially it was going to be ADB966514) and repainted into RTC red and blue. It lasted in this role until December 1992 and was scrapped exactly three years later. 84008 was kept in reserve and allocated the number ADB968022, which it never carried.
Class 86: Network Rail acquired 86210 and 86253 for use, as load bank locomotives renumbered as 86902 and 86901 respectively. NR later used them for ice-breaking duties before disposing of them. Having been used for component recvovery by other Class 86 operators, they were scrapped in June 2018 and November 2016 respectively.
The ‘Departmental’ fleet today
Under BR, the Departmental fleet relied on vehicles that would otherwise most likely have been withdrawn and disposed of. There were two main functions of the fleet - to maintain the railway and to develop the railway.
In 1987, the bespoke Departmental sector was created for hauling the trains that maintained the railways, with Class 08, ‘09’, ‘20’, ‘27’, ‘31’, ‘33’, ‘37’, ‘45’, ‘47’, ‘50’ and ‘73’ locomotives used mainly on what we would term as infrastructure support trains - taking materials to and from worksites.
The development and assets condition assessment of the railway (those trains needed to test new rolling stock and monitor the condition of the infrastructure, such as overhead line maintenance trains and track monitoring trains) was initially operated by the Central Services fleet, which for accounting purposes eventually formed part of the Rail Express Systems fleet. It had a few examples of Classes 08, ‘20’, ‘31’ and ‘47’.
In 1992 the Departmental fleet for infrastructure support was disbanded. Each of the different business sectors ‘paid in’ to these roles, and thus locomotives were allocated to (for example) InterCity Infrastructure and NSE infrastructure.
At privatisation, all the infrastructure trains - support, monitoring and development - essentially fell under the remit of the freight companies. Initially, all were taken on by EWS. Now they are operated by DB Cargo, Direct Rail Services, GB Railfreight, Freightliner and Colas, using mostly Class 66s.
The contract for IM trains was awarded by Railtrack (later Network Rail) and operated initially by Serco using Class 31 and ‘47’ traction from now defunct FM Rail, then by DBC and then Colas. Today it is split over several freight operators, with the majority operated by Colas and others by GBRf, DBC and DRS.
Colas has a fleet of Class 37s and two
‘67s’ specifically for IM trains, while DRS locomotives (usually Class 37s) are hired by DBC and used by their owner for these trains. They are supported by other Class 37s supplied by spot hire companies such as Harry Needle Railroad Company. NR had a fleet of four Class 31s for this work (31105, 31233/285, 31465), but they were retired a few years ago. All four survive today.
GBRf has five Class 73/9s dedicated to NR work (hauling IM trains and infrastructure trains) and can call on Class 73/1s to support them as required.
Network Rail still owns three Class 73s - original 73138 and re-engineered 73951/952, which are used for IM trains as required. NR also owns a Class 08 (08417) for shunting vehicles at Derby. It also owns 37198, but this is currently not operational and indeed has never been used by NR.
For 100mph test trains there is the New Measurement Train (NMT), which uses an HST set, and Colas has two Class 67s for running with other test/IM coaches.
The IM fleet coaches are owned by NR, but the NMT’s three HST power cars
(43013/ 014/ 062) are leased from Porterbrook and maintained by LORAM at Derby, in what was the old Railway Technical Centre.