Class 37s since privatisation
Privatisation has undoubtedly extended the lives of the Class 37s.
When EWS took over the freight operators, it also took over the vast majority of main line ‘37s’. With the oldest aged 35 at this point, their time for replacement was due, and the order for Class 66s ensured that would be the case.
However, other operators were beginning to see the Type 3s as useful.
Eurostar bought 12 and converted them for the Nightstar Sleeper trains that were planned to run from various destinations around the UK to Kensington Olympia, before being marshalled into one train and hauled by a
‘92’ through the Channel Tunnel. This plan never materialised, and slowly the ‘37s’ all transferred to Direct Rail Services - the final three (37601/603/604) changed hands in 2007.
Companies such as Harry Needle Railroad Company, Ian Riley Engineering Co and West Coast Railway Company all began acquiring ‘37s’ from EWS for main line duties, while many examples entered the preservation sector.
Network Rail also bought four, fitting them with European Train Control System (ETCS) for use on the Cambrian Coast Line, where only trains fitted with that system could run.
DB Schenker, which acquired EWS in 2007, finally dispensed with Class 37s in 2010, with many of the final examples purchased by Direct Rail Services.
During the mid-2000s and early 2010s, DRS also bought locomotives from various companies, with the aim of returning them to the main line. It even began overhauls for some (37111/197, for example), but these were stopped and the locomotives scrapped as the operator acquired newer Class 66s and ‘68s’.
The next major development for the class came when Colas Rail secured the Infrastructure Management (IM) contract with Network Rail and acquired several preserved Class 37s for a return to the main line.
Within a few months, Colas had bought 37057/ 099, 37116/146/175/188, 37207/219/254, 37421. Of those, six had worked in preservation.
Not all returned to traffic, with 37146/188, 37207 later sold to Europhoenix, while Colas also later bought 37521 from preservation and subsequently sold it to Locomotive Services Ltd after a short period in use.
Colas has also since hired 37025, 37240, 37418, 37607/610/612 from various companies and preservation groups, to boost its IM fleet.
Europhoenix entered the Class 37 market when it bought two ‘Heavyweight’ Class 37/7s from DB that had recently been repatriated from Spain.
The locomotives (37800/884) were overhauled by UK Rail Leicester and fitted with modern couplers to enable them to haul modern rolling stock. They were hired to Rail Operations Group and have since been joined by 37510, 37601/608/611.
EP also owns 37901, which has been overhauled and certified for the main line, but which has yet to return.