#4585· Class 59
British Rail Class 59
🇨🇦 Canada ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1985· class of 15 Co′Co′ 3300 hp diesel-electric locomotives
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3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 59001 'Yeoman Endeavour' at Doncaster Works: No machine-readable author provided. Our Phellap~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. General Motors EMD Class 59 Co-Co DE 59 002 OOC 050800: kitmasterbloke· CC BY 2.0
- 3. Westbury - 59001 (30 years of class 59): Geof Sheppard· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 59 is a fleet of Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives built between 1985 and 1995 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for use in Great Britain. A total of 15 locomotives were built for three different operators. They were both the first privately owned diesel locomotives, and the first US-made diesel locomotives, to operate regularly on British mainline railways.
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 41 years ago, in 1985.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1985–1995
- in service from
- 1985
- number built
- 15
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- operators
- National Power, Amey Ltd, Foster Yeoman
- top speed
- 120 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- Dutch name
- Class 59
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q943610, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 59 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.