#4272
British Rail Class 69
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Electroputere· from 1976· British Rail class 56 diesel locomotives rebuilt with EMD 710 engines and electronics
6 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 69004 Swanage: The Nikon User· CC BY 2.0
- 2. Class 69 Number 69001 at Tonbridge West Yard: Wikimedia Commons· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Class 69 Diesel Locomotive: Samson Ng . D201@EAL· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. GBRF Class 69 005 "Eastleigh": kitmasterbloke· CC BY 2.0
- 5. GBRf 69010 The Poppy Line - 54735318679: ahisgett· CC BY 4.0
- 6. The Railway Observer 69003: Geof Sheppard· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 69 is a class of diesel locomotives which are converted from Class 56 locomotives. The conversion work is performed by Progress Rail at their workshop in Longport. The Class 69 was developed to fulfil the needs of the rail freight operator GB Railfreight (GBRf), which was unable to purchase additional Class 66 diesel locomotives yet sought more capacity in a similar performance band.
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 50 years ago, in 1976.
- 2.4 MW is about 28 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- 19.4 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1976–1984
- number built
- —
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Electroputere, British Rail Engineering Limited, Doncaster Works
- operators
- GB Railfreight
- top speed
- 129 km/h
- power
- 2.4 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- length
- 19.4 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q65074647, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 69 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.