Loaded and light engine test runs planned for Class 69

The first GB Railfreight Class 69 will remain at the Severn Valley Railway until around March

12, after which it will return to Progress Rail’s Longport facility.

Rebuilt from 56031, the locomotive arrived at the SVR on February 16 for testing and training ( RAIL 925).

GBRf plans for the Class 69 to undergo loaded and light engine test runs to evaluate its computer systems, as well as to ensure the locomotive is set up for its best operational specifications. The operator also confirmed that some driver training will be carried out at the SVR.

The locomotive is the first of an initial batch of ten former Class 56s to be converted into ‘69s’. When it returns to Longport it will undergo more testing, before being repainted in April.

It is currently in undercoat but will be outshopped in a livery celebrating the relationship between Progress Rail and GBRf.

Meanwhile 69002, rebuilt from 56311, will be the first sent to Arlington Fleet Services’ Eastleigh Works for repainting, and will also be the first outshopped in GBRf livery. It is also expected that this will be the first Class 69 to operate under its own power on the national network.

Class 69s are being rebuilt from redundant Class 56s by fitting new EMD engines (as fitted to ‘66s’), alongside further modifications ( RAIL 919).

In order of release as ‘69s’, the Class 56s being rebuilt are 56031/ 311/018/069/007/128/037/038/ 065/060.

GBRf says that despite suggestions that they will be based at Tonbridge, no decision has yet been confirmed for their operational base.