• Home diesel fleet to double-head and top ‘n’ tail Sunday train services • 47105 & 47376 to ‘Brush Up’ together on 7th May & 3rd September • D6948 & 37215 to bring the ‘Full English Electric’ experience on 6th August
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's resident Brush Type 4 (British RailClass 47) Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives No’s 47105 & 47376, and English Electric Type 3 (British Rail Class 37) diesel-electric locomotives No’s D6948& 37215 will be ‘Doubling Up’ on 7th May, 6th August and 3rd September, double-heading and top ‘n’ tailing train services - giving visitors and diesel enthusiasts the full ‘Brush’ and 'English Electric' experience on these summer Sundays.
Time for a bit of history on the Brush Type 4 / British Rail Class 47 locomotives.
512 locomotives were built between 1962 and 1968, with construction being carried out at Brush Traction’s Falcon Works in Loughborough and British Railways’ Crewe Works. With the decline of steam and with diesel-hydraulics falling out of favour – the latter had become synonymous with the Western Region; the Class 47s quickly became the workhorse of the new diesel-electric era. Fitted with powerful 2,750 bhp Sulzer 12LDA28-C engines(which were later de-rated to 2,580 bhp to aid reliability), the Brush Type 4s could be found at home on both freight and passenger services across the railway network.
Large numbers of the class took charge of express passenger workings which for many years had been the preserve of prestigious steam locomotives. The locomotives had a route availability of 6 & 7(RA6/7) and many examples led colourful and interesting lives wearing a myriad of liveries. A number of subclasses were developed over the years to meet the ever changing landscape and needs of British Rail and the Privatisation era which subsequently followed during the mid-1990s. Between 1998 and 2004, Brush Traction rebuilt 33 examples fitting them with EMD 12-645 engines and reconditioned alternators, which became the British Rail Class 57s. Popular with rail operators and enthusiasts alike, over 70 members of the Brush developed Class 47 still exist today, either in active mainline service, long term storage, or in preservation.
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway currently has two members of the class in its home fleet which are both permanent residents.
47105 (D1693) is owned by The Brush Type 4 Fund and was built by Brush Electrical Machines Ltd at Loughborough in 1963. The locomotive was accepted into traffic on the 6th December 1963 as D1693 and operated for the best part of 30 years before being stored unserviceable on the 1st November 1993. 47105 was withdrawn from service on the 13th December 1993 and was purchased by the Brush Type 4 Fund on the 24th January 1994. The locomotive was transported to the GWR in April 1994 and started for the first time in preservation 1 month later. Since then, a considerable amount of work has been carried out on the 47 culminating in the reinstatement of its steam heat boiler– thus making 47105 the first Class 47 to steam since 1987. The locomotive returned to passenger service on the 16th July 2021 following a 10-year overhaul, including a full repaint into British Rail Blue livery.
47376 (D1895) is owned by The Brush Type 4 Fund and was built by Brush Electrical Machines Ltd at Loughborough in 1965. The locomotive was accepted into traffic on the 1st September 1965 as D1895 and operated for the best part of 36 years before its last working on the 8th June 2001. Whilst operating the Southampton freightliner (4O07) in the Oxford area, a piston dropped into the engine sump writing off the Sulzer 12LDA28-C engine - the train was subsequently assisted to Southampton by a Class 57. The Class 47 was purchased by The Brush Type 4Fund in November 2002 and transported to the GWR in 2003 after receiving areplacement engine at Ashchurch from sister loco No. 47295 - The engine swap took place on 21st June 2003 following 47376's arrival from Southampton Maritime. An interesting fact is that 47376 was the first locomotive to wear the Freightliner Triple Grey livery.
Time for a bitof history on the English Electric Type 3 / British Rail Class 37 locomotives.
309 locomotives were built by English Electric between 1960 and 1965, with construction being carried out at Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows and Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns in Darlington. The Class 37s were versatile and reliable locomotives which made light work of heavy freight trains and mainline passenger services on both primary and secondary routes.
The locomotives had a low axle load and a route availability of 5 (RA5) meaning that they could travel virtually anywhere on the national rail network, which made them particularly useful for operating services on branch lines across the country. Due to their reliability, a number of subclasses were developed over the years to extend their lifespan, so much so that over 90 locomotives still exist today, either in active mainline service, long term storage, or in preservation. Much like the Class 47s, the Class 37s have a big following with rail enthusiasts and are known to many as ‘Tractors’ due to their sound being quite similar to that of the agricultural machines.
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway currently has two members of the class in its home fleet which are both permanent residents.
37215 (D6915) is a 37/0 owned by The Growler Group and was built at Newton-le-Willows in1963. The locomotive operated for the best part of 29 years before it was taken out of service in 1992. The Type 3 was preserved in 1994 and arrived at Toddington in the summer of the same year. It was restored to full working order in 1998, with 2023 marking the significant milestone of 25 years of active preservation service. In 2007, 37215 was repainted in to a high standard in BR blue livery as worn by the class during the 1970s and 1980s.
D6948 (37248) is a 37/0 owned by four individuals who are members of The Growler Group. The locomotive was built at Newton-le-Willows in 1964 and came to Toddington in 2010 wearing West Coast Railways livery and carrying its TOPS running number of37248 (the locomotive had been restored to operational condition at Carnforth by West Coast Railways as part of a loan agreement which expired in 2009). Under preservation, the Type 3 underwent an extensive refurbishment to ‘asbuilt’ 1964 condition taking many years, which included the provision of steamheating and a return to BR green livery with small yellow warning panels(GSYP). 2023 will see the return of D6948 to a Diesel Gala (with its lastappearance at a diesel gala being the summer of 2019) having spent the past three years ‘on the side-lines’. The locomotive returned to active serviceagain earlier this year.
The sound of a 2,580bhp Sulzer 12LDA28-C or a 1,750 bhp English Electric 12CSVT diesel engine rumbling through Greet Tunnel is hard to beat, especially when there are two ofthem at work!
Tickets for ‘Double Up Sundays’ are available to purchase online at www.gwsr.com.
