CLASS 31 PERFORMANCE

The subject of Class 31 performance has never been tackled seriously by any publication at this point in time. This may seem to some a rather sweeping statement but I make no apology for it. The best book on the subject is definitely the 1988 book from Ian Allan by D.N. Clough & M. Beckett entitled BR Motive Power Performance. Whilst predominantly concentrating on the more powerful diesel locomotive classes, it does not ignore Class 31 but fails to make comparisons between class members on what were their regular stamping grounds. In the absence of any comparison, a log of 31460 on the Hope Valley therefore means very little and only those who took the trouble to log individual locomotives over the years are really able to present a balanced view. I am fortunate in that I made countless logs of class 31s in the 80s/90s - something which one had to be very patient to do. Many will be very surprised that this patience was occasionally rewarded with some locos exceeding their rated power outputs by some margin, particularly in view of their well known 'poor power to weight ratio' - how many times has that been written ? Like all classes there were poor examples and the majority were average, but a few were locally renowned for their performances. The ETH locos were generally handicapped in the winter months by the drain on power caused by the electric train heat supply, however, in the summer months when this facility was often disconnected a favourable comparison could be made with the non-ETH fitted 31s. Looking at the 31/4s in particular, reputations were often made or ruined by a visit to works where a different power unit would be substituted. This was no more well illustrated than with the Classic series which after a visit to works in the mid 80s often came out literally a different engine. 31408/15/19/20/23 went in as near wrecks and upon completion of their HGOs became real beasts. Some of the classics were always pretty good and 31403/07/10/11/13 were a force to be reckoned with throughout the 1980s.

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Some of the classics were always pretty good and 31403/07/10/11/13 were a force to be reckoned with throughout the 1980s. Others remained mediocre, while in the late 1980s a number of locos hitherto average or poor were transformed to give some astonishing runs, examples being 31431, 31438 and 31449. Whilst it is difficult to maintain an unbiased view, the locomotives which backed by statistics consistently gave the best runs in this period were 31410/13/29/37. Then there was the curious case of 31442 which in 1988 went from being an average example to one capable of giving a Type 3 a run for its money. I hope to reproduce some of my logs on this site in the future and your comments are as always welcome.

One phenomenon I haven't mentioned so far is the 'wound up driver' syndrome and I've a few examples of this to include too, most notably the legendary run with 31410 & 31445 on the Saturday evening Liverpool - Yarmouth when the pair took a hefty load from Peterborough - Norwich none stop in a little over 73 minutes. The near 82 miles have surely never been covered this quickly by any train ? On a similar note a few drivers let rip with a 31 down Stoke Bank, particularly in 1988 and my own personal record is a stunning 105mph on this stretch with 31413. So you can see that the class 31s reputation as 'pedestrian' is quite far from the truth in reality. I think many more scintillating runs would have been recorded had it not been for the fact that many drivers felt that anything in excess of 76mph, incidentally a speed known to many enthusiasts as 'SGS' (Standard Goyle Speed), would have resulted in many a 31s downfall, the dreaded 'high water temperature'. Certainly this complaint was responsible for the majority of Class 31 failures in my experience. One of the finest hours for the 31s performance wise was in the twilight of their BR careers in 1990 when they became responsible for the major part of the passenger service on the reprieved Settle and Carlisle line. Here at last it was possible to time 31s singly rather than in pairs on one of Englands most testing routes. That Summer made a few long lasting reputations amongst the class. Those who were there will remember with affection the amazing performances of 31449 and likewise the misfiring struggle up to Ribblehead which could only belong to 31416. Great days which I certainly will never forget and a fitting end to the era of loco hauled travel on the S & C.

So eventually - hopefully later in 2008 - some logs will appear here and I hope it will put paid to some of those myths of 31s as being lumbering underpowered locomotives. The time has come for the truth to be told !