British Rail Class 59

59001 Yeoman Endeavour at Doncaster Works in revised Foster Yeoman livery on 27 July 2003.

File:59204 at Newport.jpg

EWS 59204 Vale of Glamorgan at Newport on 10 December 2005.

The Class 59 Co-Co diesel locomotives were built by General Motors for private British companies, initially Foster Yeoman (59/0). They were designed for hauling heavy freight. EMD gave them the series code JT26CW-SS.

Overview

They arrived in 1986, being a new design to the restricted British loading gauge and specifications, derived from the EMD SD40-2. The cab was derived from the Westerns.

ARC purchased 4 (Class 59/1) and National Power 6 (Class 59/2). Foster Yeoman and ARC merged their rail concerns into Mendip Rail, whilst National Power's was taken over by EWS.

On 26 May 1991 class member 59 005 set the European haulage record for a single locomotive, with a stone train weighing 11982 tonnes and 5415 feet long.

In 1997 one of the Foster Yeoman locomotives, 59 003 Yeoman Highlander was exported to Germany by Heavy Haul Power International where it was renumbered 259003.

The later Class 66 design share a common body shell with them but they are internally different, and there are also minor external differences. The only livery shared between the classes is EWS red and gold, but whereas the 66s have zig-zag to the gold stripe, the 59's stripe is straight.

Class 59 Derivatives

Class 59/0 – Foster Yeoman

As a result of poor reliability of the various locomotives used by British Rail to haul the stone trains from the West Country (availability was as low as 30%, and never higher than 50%), Foster Yeoman began negotiations with British Rail to improve service. Although Class 56 were placed on the route, availability was still unacceptably low in a market with rising aggregates need.

Having already supplied their own wagons, Foster's suggested to British Rail that they could operate their own locomotives. British Rail's problem was the hard tie-in and control of the Rail Unions, but accepted the principle.

On agreement in principle, Foster Yeoman issued a tender document which request 90% reliability. It is untrue that British rail refused to tender, but withdrew having conceded that they nothing which was of the required combination of power and reliability. Having already operated a General Motors switcher in the Merehead Quarry, Fosters were pleased when General Motors returned with a response. Derived from the EMD SD40-2, the AWD and cab layout were taken from the British Rail Class 58 to make driver assimilation easier. To meet the British loading gauge, a considerable amount of re-design work and compromises were required, but it was possible to retain the well proven Super Series Creep Control (that allows superior traction at very low speeds), which eliminated double heading. Foster Yeoman therefore reduced their original requirement from six to four locomotives, and subsequently ordered four 59/0 in November 1984, and a fifth in 1988. All five locomotives were custom built by General Motors Diesel Division at their La Grange, Illinois, USA, plant in 1985 and 1989.

In their first ten years of operation the five locomotives between them hauled over 50 million tonnes of aggregates away from Merehead.

Class 59/1 – ARC Hanson

Built by General Motors Diesel Division at their London, Ontario, Canada, plant in 1990. The four Class 59/1 locomotives owned by Hanson (parent company of the former owners ARC) are similar to the Class 59/0 locomotives of Foster Yeoman. The main differences being a revised layout for the head lights and marker lights and modifications to the suspension to permit the maximum speed to be increased to 75 mph, if required in the future, with the fitting of yaw dampers.

Class 59/2 – National Power

Following Foster Yeoman, National Power decided to investigate the possibility of running its own trains, by ordering a single pilot locomotive. Following the trial, National Power ordered a further five locomotives and a fleet of hopper wagons to carry coal and limestone.

Built by General Motors Diesel Division at their London, Ontario, Canada, plant in 1994 and 1995, the six Class 59/2 locomotives differ from the Class 59/1's in several ways. A carbon dioxide fire control system replaces the original Halon system, NiCad batteries replace lead-acid, and the fleet all have drop-head knuckle couplers fitted. A more advanced slow speed control suitabe for merry-go-round power station coal train operation has been fitted, as well as yaw dampers for a higher top speed.

In August 1997 EWS announced that it would be taking over the National Power rail operations from 1 April 1998. Now that the locomotives are under EWS management they will be used more widely over the network.

Fleet details

Number	Works No	Commisioned by	Build Date	Ship	Arrive UK	Revenue	Owner	Name	Notes
59 001		Foster Yeoman		MV Fairlift	21 Jan 1986	Feb 1986	Mendip Rail	Yeoman Endeavour
59 002		Foster Yeoman		MV Fairlift	21 Jan 1986	Feb 1986	Mendip Rail	Alan J Day	Renamed from Yeoman Enterprise at Merehead Quarry on 21 June 1996 by Alan J Day, Managing Director of Day Aggregates
59 003	848002-3	Foster Yeoman	Dec 1985	MV Fairlift	21 Jan 1986	Feb 1986	Heavy Haul Power International		Originally named Yeoman Highlander. Transfered to Germany 1997
59 004		Foster Yeoman		MV Fairlift	21 Jan 1986	Feb 1986	Mendip Rail	Paul A Hammond	Renamed from Yeoman Challenger at Merehead Quarry on 21 June 1996 by Paul A Hammond, Managing Director of Yeoman Aggregates
59 005		Foster Yeoman		MV Fairlift	4 June 1989	June 1989	Mendip Rail	Paul A Hammond

External links

• http://www.semg.org.uk/diesel/class59_1.html