HELJAN CLASS 56
High-pitched turbo whistle, plumes of exhaust smoke and torque – a lasting memory that I have of Class 56s hauling loaded MGR trains from a young age. Brush’s previously-manufactured and highly successful Class 47 bodyshell design was adapted as the framework for these locomotives – a specification from British Rail for its new Type 5 locomotives.
British Rail Engineering Ltd received an order for 60 locomotives in 1974, but Brush Traction’s Loughborough site being at capacity saw its share of the order for 30 locomotives out-sourced to Romanian manufacturer, Electroputere at Craiova.
