#3344· Class 31
British Rail Class 31
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Brush Traction· from 1957· class of 263 (A1A)(A1A) 1250hp (later 1470hp) diesel-electric locomotives
3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 31018 at National Railway Museum: Phil Scott ( Our Phellap )· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. 31249 & 31314 at Banbury: Tutenkhamun Sleeping· CC BY 2.0
- 3. Damaged Class 31: Paul Miller· Attribution
what is it?
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and previously as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957 to 1962. They were numbered in two series, D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. Construction of the first locomotive was completed in the final week of September 1957, and the handing-over took place on 31 October.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 69 years ago, in 1957.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1957–1962
- in service from
- 1957
- number built
- 263
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Brush Traction
- operators
- North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Eastern Region of British Railways
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- (A1A)(A1A)
- Dutch name
- Class 31
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4970767, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 31 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.