Falcon reborn as GB Railfreight’s latest Class 69

GB Railfreight’s latest Class 69 to emerge from the Arlington Paintshop at Eastleigh is 69012, which has been repainted in the same British Railways green livery that was applied to the unique Brush/Maybach test locomotive D0280 Falcon in the 1960s.

D0280 was built in 1961, and married a pair of the same Maybach MD655 engines used in the Class 52 Westerns with a diesel electric driveline - as opposed to a diesel hydraulic set-up.

When it emerged from Brush’s Falcon works (after which it was named), it sported ornate nameplates and individual lettering. This has been replicated on 69012 (albeit named Falcon 2).

D0820 was initially painted in a predominately all-over lime green with a darker green solebar and upper grille section.

It was returned to Brush in late 1963, only to be returned to British Railways in early 1965, now repainted in standard green with a light green solebar and upper grilles - the livery 69012 now carries.

Unlike many prototype test locomotives of the early 1960s, Falcon was bought outright by BR and became the sole Class 53, numbered 1200. It was fitted with air brakes only and repainted into BR blue in late 1970 - and often used on Paddington to Bristol passenger trains alongside Class 47s and ‘52s’.

It was initially withdrawn on May 18 1974, and returned to Loughborough. In June 1974 it was back with BR, and was reinstated on June 17 1974 for freight work in South Wales, based at Ebbw Junction.

However, being non-standard meant it was hard to maintain, and it was duly stored on June 30 1975. It was finally withdrawn, for a second time, on October 5 1975.

Despite tentative enquiries to buy the locomotive for preservation, part of the contract to sell the locomotive saw Brush issue an edict with BR that it must be scrapped or returned to Brush after its use ended. In April 1976 it was broken up by Cashmore’s in Newport.

69012 is the sixth of the new GBRf locomotives to be painted in a non-standard, one-off livery.

The Class 69s use Class 56 bodyshells and bogies, but with a General Motors 12N-710G3B-T2 engines replacing the old Ruston Paxman 16RK3CT engine.

Four more ‘69s’ are in production, and it is likely that at least one or two more may appear in interesting ex-BR liveries.

Those done previously were 69002 in BR ‘large logo’ blue, 69004 in Research Centre red/blue, 69005 in BR Southern Region green, 69007 in BR blue, and 69009 in BR Western Region maroon.

Meanwhile, GBRf’s 66305 is the first of the five Beacon Rail Class 66/3s it acquired after their use with Direct Rail Services ended to be repainted into its orange and blue livery.

All five locomotives transferred to GBRf in base unbranded DRS livery. Also now in GBRf colours is 66313, the eighth of 11 Class 66s sourced from Europe through Akiem.

Delivery of 29003, which had been delayed owing to the locomotive’s condition, is now expected in August. Due to become 66316, it will move initially to UK Rail Leasing’s site at Loughborough for its modification work to run in the UK.

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