







Class 31101 Diesel Loco Northampton 1988

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Trainspotting Class 31101 Diesel Locomotive





In BR Blue livery, Class 31101 passes through Northampton station on the 27 th July 1988 hauling a rake of empty flatbed trucks.





The locomotive was built in October 1958 at Brush Traction in Loughborough and originally numbered D5518 and allocated to Crewe TMD.

Although in 1988 the

were coming close to the end of their working lives on British Rail, they were still a fairly common sight at or passing through Northampton'









An unidentified Class 31 diesel locomotive entering Northampton station in the 1980's





Recorded in my old spotting notebooks I found that during a short time, over a two-day period in 1988, the following Class 31 locomotives were seen at Northampton and Bletchley stations.





Northampton: 31101 31317 31135 31112 31141 31205 31215 31420 31108.

Bletchley: 31166 31296 31306 31168 31434 31152 31284.





Avon Valley Railway website, the locomotive was the first Class 31 to work passenger services on the Southern Region and as a According to information provided on the, the locomotive was the first Class 31 to work passenger services on the Southern Region and as a Royal Train locomotive

Finally withdrawn from service on British Rail on the 11

January 1993, Class 31101 escaped the fate of the scrapyard and, along with sister locomotive 31130 “

”, has been preserved and resides on the heritage

Avon Valley Railway

at Bitton Station, Bath Road, Bristol, South Gloucestershire BS30 6HD.









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