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Monday 2nd April 2018
The Class 56 Group would just like to take this opportunity to wish all visitors to the site a very happy Easter.
Class 56 Fleet Status
Colas Railfreight
56049 COLS Nottingham Eastcroft Depot – Out of service (repairs)
56051 COLS Nottingham Eastcroft Depot – Out of service (overhaul)
56078 COFS 6M32 Lindsey Oil Refinery to Preston Docks (Ribble Rail) / 6E32 return (with 56113)
56087 COFS Crewe Basford Hall – Available for traffic
56090 COFS Nottingham Eastcroft Depot – Out of service (overhaul)
56094 COFS Grangemouth – Available for traffic
56096 COFS Nottingham Eastcroft Depot – Exam / repairs
56105 COFS Carlisle Yard – Available for traffic
56113 COFS 6M32 Lindsey Oil Refinery to Preston Docks (Ribble Rail) / 6E32 return (with 56078)
56302 COFS Crewe Basford Hall – Available for traffic
DCR
56091 HTLX Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56103 HTLX Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
RMS Locotec
56303 HTLX Wembley LHS – Available for traffic
UK Rail Leasing
56007 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56009 Shackerstone (Battlefield Line Railway) – Out of service (withdrawn)
56018 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56031 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56032 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56037 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56038 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56060 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56065 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56069 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56077 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56081 UKRL Leicester Depot – Out of service (repairs)
56098 UKRL Leicester Depot – Out of service (repairs)
56104 UKRL Leicester Depot – Available for traffic
56106 UKRS Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored and missing one cab)
56311 HTLX Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
56312 HTLX Leicester Depot – Out of service (stored)
The Class 56 Group
56006 MBDL Bury (East Lancashire Railway) – Preserved (undergoing repair)
56301 UKRL Bletchley Civil Engineers Sidings – Pending transfer to Leicester
Miscellaneous
56097 MBDL Ruddington (Great Central Railway North) – Preserved (privately owned)
56128 CF Booth’s Scrap Yard, Rotherham – Withdrawn (pending transfer having been re-sold)
Abroad (owned and operated by FLOYD)
56101 Hungary – Available for traffic
56115 Hungary – Stored (collision damage)
56117 Hungary – Stored
2nd April 2018
Locations currently reported as below. The Basford Hall pair usually work some engineers trains over Saturday evening / Sunday morning. That could be anywhere in the North West, engineers trains from Basford Hall are listed below (coded STP) but the Rhyl working has been a pretty regular job for the 56s over recent months (this info is available on the Realtime Trains website; type ‘Realtime Trains advanced’ into your browser and have a look).
| Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Lichfield Trent Valley | 2018 | 2018 | ||||
| STP | Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Woodsmoor | 2029 | 2029 | |||
| STP | Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Preston | 2044 | 2044 | |||
| STP | Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Winwick Jn | 2059 | 2059 | |||
| STP | Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Warrington Bank Quay | 2114 | 2114 | |||
| STP | Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Edge Hill | 2146½ | 2146 | |||
| STP | Starts here | FRGT | ZZ | Rhyl | 2323 | 2323 |
The Doncaster loco is likely to perform similar duties.
56049 / 56051 / 56087 / 56105 / 56302Â NOTTINGHAM EASTCROFT
56113Â DONCASTER CARRIAGE SIDINGS
56078 / 56096Â BASFORD HALL
56094Â GRANGEMOUTH OIL TERMINAL
56081 / 56091 / 56098 / 56103 / 56104 / 56303 / 56311 / 56312 LEICESTER UKRL
56301 BLETCHLEY CE SIDINGS
- Another 11 class 56 locomotives are located at Leicester but are stored
- These are 56007/018/031/032/037/038/060/065/069/077/106
17th March 2018
As far as can be determined, the operational class 56 fleet are located as follows:
56049 / 56051 / 56090 / 56094 / 56113Â NOTTINGHAM EASTCROFT
56087 / 56105 / 56302 BARNETBYSIDINGS
56078 / 56096Â GRANGEMOUTH OIL TERMINAL
56081 / 56091 / 56098 / 56103 / 56104 / 56303 / 56311 / 56312 LEICESTER UKRL
56301 BLETCHLEY CE SIDINGS
- Another 11 class 56 locomotives are located at Leicester but are stored
- These are 56007/018/031/032/037/038/060/065/069/077/106
3rd March 2018
56006 – Out of traffic at Baron Street, Bury. The technical team are awaiting the purchase of a megger tester which allows the insulation to be checked on the locomotive’s cables and electrical equipment. We suspect the fault is due to damp in the system and we need the megger tester to trace the problem. We also need some slightly more pleasant weather to carry out the work. The meter will be on order today but the delivery on the better weather is yet to be determined!
56301Â –Â Currently in ‘T’ status (i.e awaiting transfer to a maintenance facility). The loco is currently located at Bletchley Civil Engineers Sidings after triggering the Network Rail wheel check monitors while being towed from Wembley to Leicester for assesment of the wheel flats. The original plan was to put the loco on a wheel skate, but the cost and finding a path (even at night) on the WCML was thought to be unpractical. The plan is now likely to be a road move, probably direct to a wheel lathe facility.
3rd March 2018
While it is a fact that several class 56s were allocated to ‘Trainload Petroleum’ sector pools during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was only one loco (56036) which actually carried the official sector symbols of this particular sector. The attached photograph shows 56036 at Old Oak Common depot, courtesy of Jack Resay.
For the record, the other 56s allocated to Petroleum pools during the sector years were:
56035, 56036 & 56048 – FPLW – Petroleum Sector, West Wales
56084, 56094, 56106 & 56126 – FPGI – Petroleum Sector/Contract Services pool, Immingham TMD
56104 & 56127 – FPCA – Petroleum Sector unspecified code
56003, 56008, 56012 & 56014 FPYX- Petroleum Sector- Stored (these locos were destined for fitter training at Immingham).
18th February 2018
GBRf 2018 – “Out of the Ordinary” FULL PLAN
Details have been released for the upcoming four day tour, GB Railfreight’s 2018 trip “Out of the Ordinary”.
Tickets go on sale on good Friday.
Rumours were that anyone wanting to join the class 56 portion of the trip would have to pay for the whole four day tour but this appears to have been incorrect.
First, watch this video before reading on… !
Individual Day Tickets:
For Day One, Two, Three and Four the fare per person will be £80 standard class, £120 first class.
For Day N (the overnight) the fare per person will be £65 standard class, £105 first class.
A guaranteed table for two supplement will be available in first class for £10 per person per day. (Day N is considered a seperate day for the purposes of this).
Whole Tour Tickets:
Standard Class – £320
Standard Class PLUS – £370
First Class – £480
First Class PLUS – £530
THE FULL WORKS – £730
Details of the 56 hauled portion are as follows:
– Saturday 22/09/18
Day Three is an early start from Motherwell heading into Mossend Reception lines where some remarshalling of locomotives will take place. On departure from Mossend a Class 56 (kindly supplied by Colas Rail) will be leading, with a single Class 73/1 tucked behind and operating in tandem where appropriate. We will pick up at Dalmuir then head down the West Highland Line to Fort William where we expect to arrive late morning for a break of around 1 hour.
The return from Fort William will feature the Class 56 working solo, back up the West Highland Line, through Glasgow, round the Hamilton circle and back into Mossend. A brief pause here to re-attach the second Class 73/1 to the rear, and then with the Class 56 still leading we head via Cumbernauld, Falkirk and the Forth Bridge to Rosyth Down Loop. Here we’ll reverse and the two 73/1s will then lead us over the Forth Bridge and into Edinburgh Waverley. At Edinburgh we will replace the Class 56 with an electric locomotive and head back to Glasgow Central via Linlithgow, Cumbernauld, Coatbridge and Stepps – rare routes for AC locomotives.
10th February 2018
Sunday 11th February 2018.
Unfortunately, 56006 will not be available to work at this weekend’s diesel gala. During checks about three weeks ago, one of the electronic modules was found to be defective and the loco shut down as it could not recharge its batteries. A replacement module was obtained and tested the following week. However, this cured the shut down problem but one of the 3 auxiliary phase lights (which indicate all is well with each of the three phases output from the alternator) was extinguished. This was the same problem that occurred before the autumn gala last year, which we thought we’d cured by replacing a faulty choke on the auxiliary alternator. The technical team have visited Bury on four occasions recently, in efforts to get the loco ready but today’s visit was reluctantly called off as the investigation work will require a megger tester (which wasn’t available) and a couple of days work to check out the systems on 56006.
In addition to the site visits, many hours of telephone calls have taken place to try and identify the possible fault from schematic diagrams and our knowledge but unfortunately we’ve had to advise the ELR today that 56006 won’t be available.
Friday 9th February 2018
56006 has had some of the outstanding repairs completed, including replacing a leaking straight air brake valve and also resolving a low voltage relay which kept tripping out and shutting down the loco. The lost phase fault seems to have returned and the cause could be the cold, damp and wet conditions experienced recently. Work continues to get the loco warmed up and fit for next weekend’s gala.
Watch this space for updates. We should know by Sunday evening if 56006 will be fit for traffic.
10th February 2018
Wed 14th Feb 2018.
56301 set out behind 56303 heading back to Leicester for repairs and wheel set inspection, following damage sustained to a wheel set. However, the loco triggered a wheel check sensor and Network Rail put the loco into the civil engineers sidings at Bletchley for inspection, after which the loco should go forward at a reduced speed (likely overnight) to Leicester.
56s on oil trains seems to be the flavour of the month so far in February, with the Grangemouth pair working to and from Prestwick and Dalston. Unusually, 56078 and 56096 paired up on the 3rd Feb to work the Dalston train.
56094 & 56105 have worked the Lindsey – Preston tanks on at least the 6th, 8th and 9th February.
The photo accompanying this web page was kindly provided by Class 56 Group member Gareth Yates and Gareth has also provided links to a couple of YouTube videos, featuring the pair at work on the 6th and 8th February.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OArJSWktvqk
https://youtu.be/kB4uOYYVFdg
The month started with the Colas fleet being the only 56s doing much work. The ex DCR fleet and UKRL fleets were all at Leicester except our very own 56301 which is still sat at Wembley awaiting a tow back to Leicester for maintenance.
On the 1st February, the Colas fleet was as follows:
Nottingham Eastcroft – 56049/051/087/090/302
Grangemouth – 56078 / Carlisle – 56096 (working the Prestwick and Dalston duties respectively)
Millerhill – 56113
Doncaster 56105
Bescot 56094
10th February 2018