The Class 57 Story Continued
Following on from the successful introduction of the Class 57/0s with Freightliner that I covered in a previous video the rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook placed an order for a prototype passenger locomotive fitted with electric train heating in the year 2000.
This locomotive became 57601 and was painted in a striking version of the Porterbrook purple livery.
It was leased to First Great Western in June 2001 as the company were looking for a locomotive to replace its ageing fleet of Class 47s.
It hauled Mark 2 stock on day services from London Paddington to Plymouth and Penzance until these ceased operating in September 2002.
In May 2002 First Great Western agreed to lease three production Class 57/6s from Porterbrook to work its Night Riviera sleeper services to the West Country.
As 57601 was a non-standard prototype it was returned to Porterbrook and a fourth Class 57/6 was ordered as a replacement. 57601 was later sold to West Coast Railways.
On summer Saturdays during 2014 and 2015 the Class 57 and the day coaches from the overnight Night Riviera sleeper were used to operate an additional passenger service between Par, Exeter and Penzance.
In 2002 Virgin Trains signed a deal with Porterbrook to rebuild twelve Class 47s as Class 57/3s to provide a fleet of locomotives for rescue duties and for drags on routes with no overhead wires.
A further four were ordered in 2003 which were fitter with Dellner retractable couplings.
The original twelve were retrofitted with these couplings from October 2003.
The Dellner coupling allowed the Class 57s to be compatible with the couplings fitted to the Class 390 Pendolinos and Class 221 Super Voyagers.
After the completion of the West Coast Main Line upgrade in 2008, Virgin's requirement for Class 57/3s decreased.
The sixteen strong fleet did find other work with both Arriva Trains Wales and Colas Rail.
During September 2010, six were placed in warm storage before being returned to Porterbrook.
In December 2012, the remaining seven Virgin Class 57/3s were returned.
Three of which were then leased to Direct Rail Services while the remaining four were sold to West Coast Railways.
During September 2011 Network Rail leased six former Virgin Class 57/3s from Porterbrook, which were initially intended for use on test trains and the company's deicing trains as seen here on test.
In July 2014, these leases were transferred to Direct Rail Services.
The next episode will feature clips of the class at work between 2018 and 2023.
This video explores the history of the Class 57 diesel locomotive, focusing on its development and use in passenger services. It details how Porterbrook introduced a prototype passenger version of the Class 57 in 2000, later leasing it to First Great Western for use on routes from London Paddington to Plymouth and Penzance. The locomotive was eventually replaced by production models for Night Riviera sleeper services. Several Class 57 and other rolling stock types are mentioned, along with operators such as Freightliner, First Great Western, and others, and locations including London Paddington, Exeter St Davids, and Par.
Fishplate has identified 26 locomotives in this video. We’ve also matched 25 headcodes and 10 operators . Create a free account to see where they appear, unlock timestamps and locations, and view the full breakdown.
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