Description - Class 56 and 58 by Mark Pike
Designed specifically for heavy freight operations in the UK, British Rail's Class 56 was introduced in 197684. The first 30 of a total of 135 locos were built by Electroputere in Romania, with construction of the rest divided between the Doncaster and Crewe works of British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL). Known by enthusiasts as 'Grids', they have given valuable service over the years and continue to do so to this day. With an eye on the export market, British Rail took what it had learned from the Class 56s and developed the Class 58s, a unique modular design that enabled easier and cheaper maintenance. The resulting narrow bodies were nicknamed 'Bones'. All 50 Class 58 locos were built by BREL at Doncaster and introduced between 1983 and 1987. Though the hoped-for foreign customers failed to materialise, Class 58 established itself upon Merry-Go-Round trains, moving later to infrastructure and stone trains. Even so, the class had its time cut short following the delivery of the now ubiquitous Class 66 locomotives and were retired by EWS between 1999 and 2002. With more than 200 images, this book details the service careers of these two heavy freight classes at a variety of locations. AUTHOR: Mark V. Pike has a lifelong interest in UK railways that started at the age of about six when his father used to take him to watch trains at Poole station in Dorset, just after steam had been abolished in the late 1960s. He later joined the railway at the age of 19 as a permanent way trackman at Bournemouth and was later an electric track maintenance worker at Dorchester for over 20 years. Now semi-retired, he is still an avid railway photographer, with various images appearing regularly in mainstream railway magazines and books.
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