The English Electric Class 37/4 Diesel Locomotives

By Fred Kerr

A stunning pictorial survey of the Class 37/4s, covering their operations in Scotland, England, and Wales.

In the prelude to the privatisation of British Railways, the Provincial Sector (later Regional Railways) became responsible for local / secondary train services. It initiated the refurbishment of thirty-one Class 37 locomotives, fitted with train heating equipment—hence designated Class 37/4—to support the shortfall of DMU trainsets. Their initial task was to work services on Scottish lines radiating from Inverness to points north and Glasgow to service the West Highland Line with a small batch based in South Wales to service Cambrian Line services and services from Cardiff traversing the Marches Line to serve Liverpool.

These services were soon replaced by Sprinter trainsets thus releasing the fleet to other duties including freight operators hence, at privatisation in April 1994, the fleet became owned by freight companies who subsequently hired locomotives to both other freight companies and passenger operators.

Throughout their working life, the fleet members have proved invaluable and capable of powering a variety of services whose history confirms both the locomotives’ adaptability and prowess in handling the duties allocated to them.

Fred Kerr’s book seeks to show this adaptability by detailing the reason for their initial creation and the tasks successfully undertaken once released from their initial roles as support for the shortage of DMU trainsets. The advent of privatisation saw an increased demand for their ‘go-anywhere do anything’ ability which is also displayed by the range of photographs that illustrate the wide range of duties performed by class members.

Once withdrawn from service some class members were purchased for preservation and—such was their adaptability—that preserved examples were hired by train operators to cover duties that no other class of diesel locomotive was capable of achieving.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781399096140

Fred Kerr

Fred Kerr was born in Edinburgh in 1948 where he gained an interest in railway locomotives from both the LMSR and LNER companies whose services permeated the local network. When his parents moved to Corby in 1956 the local steelworks provided further interest from its mix of freight services, including seeing the last of the Beyer Garrets and the replacement Standard Class 9Fs whilst the industrial locomotives of the internal steelworks network offered further insight into the variety of steam locomotives. This was a time of change and during the 1960s the interest in locomotives included the new order of diesel and electric traction without reducing the interest in steam traction. While his interest in Diesel Traction led to his early involvement with the Diesel & Electric Group and its preservation activities during the 1970s, his move to Southport in 1982 restored his opportunities to return to his first love of viewing steam locomotives at work and this album records some of the locations that he chose to visit and the locomotives that he was able to photograph.Today his interest continues as a life member of the A4 Locomotive Society, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and Ribble Steam Railway whilst he also support bodies concerned with preserving steam locomotives, diesel locomotives and infrastructure extensions.

Book preview

SECTION 1: SCOTLAND

The main beneficiary of the new fleet was the Scottish Region which received twenty-five locomotives to operate on two main routes: seventeen locomotives (37401 - 413; 37422 - 425) based at (Glasgow) Eastfield to work on the West Highland services between Glasgow and Mallaig and eight locomotives (37414 - 421) based at Inverness to work on the Far North services between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh/Thurso/ Wick. Most of the duties were on passenger services, hence the introduction of the Class 156 / 158 Sprinter fleets during the early 1990s saw many of the locomotives being replaced and transferred to England where they were used on a variety of services – both freight and passenger.

The West Highland Line, however, requires diesel locomotives to power the sleeper service to/from Euston between Glasgow Queen St (later Edinburgh) and Fort William hence the use of Class 37/4 locomotives remained until more modern locomotives, in the guise of Class 67, became available from June 2006.

(Image 1): 37424 Glendarroch stables at Fort William depot on 31 August 1988 while awaiting its next duty.

(Image 2): 37403 Isle of Mull stables at Fort William depot on 29 August 1988 while awaiting its next duty.

(Image 3): 37410 Aluminium 100 stables at Oban platform on 29 August 1988 awaiting its next duty.

(Image 4): 37412 Loch Lomond enters Spean Bridge on 2 September 1988 while working the Glasgow Queen St–Fort William service that includes the sleeping car portion from Euston.

(Image 5): 37425 Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob climbs to Spean Bridge on 27 August 1988 while working a Fort William–Glasgow Queen St service that included the overnight sleeper coaches for London Euston.

In 1988 the Provincial Railways sector introduced its Mainline livery, based on that adopted by the Inter City sector for its locomotive fleet and demonstrated it on West Highland Line services during August 1988. The first recipient was 37401, which was also named Mary Queen of Scots, to continue the Scottish themes that the West Highland Line fleet of Class 37/4 locomotives sought to