A BR blue makeover for Class 71 electric at Shildon
THE sole-surviving Southern Region Class 71 electric locomotive has been cosmetically restored by a team of staff and volunteers at the Locomotion museum in Shildon.
The mixed-traffic Bo-Bo locomotive was one of 24 built at Doncaster Works in 1958 for the Kent Coast third-rail electrified main lines as part of BR's Modernisation Plan. The engine remained in service for almost two decades before being withdrawn in 1977.
Prestigious services including the heavy London-to-Paris overnight ‘Night Ferry' and the ‘Golden Arrow' Pullman were a mainstay of the class for many years. However, they were ousted from large parts of the system by EMUs and were hindered by the fact they could not haul night freights when power was turned off for track maintenance work.
Background
By the late 1960s there was less work for the class, and several members were placed in store. Between 1967 and 1968, 10 were converted at Crewe into Class 74 electro-diesels. Under the TOPS scheme, the remaining 14 became Class 71 and were all withdrawn on New Year's Eve 1977 as a result of motive power rationalisation, being replaced by Class 73 electro-diesels as part of a new timetable.
No. 71001 was saved by the National Railway Museum at York and restored in its previous guise as E5001. It has now been returned to BR blue livery with yellow ends as No. 71001.
Anthony Coulls, senior curator of rail transport and technology at the NRM, said: “The Class 71 restoration gives a new look to an old favourite from the collection. In BR green livery for more than 40 years, it is now exhibited in the condition in which it finished work in the 1970s and takes pride of place at Locomotion where it is coupled to the Wagon Lits carriage alongside Battle of Britain 4-6-2 Winston Churchill – an interesting contrast between steam and its electric successor.”