KNOW YOUR… LIVERIES
PART 11B: Class 56 in the privatisation era
Paul Chancellor concludes his two-part history of the Class 56 diesel locomotives, by considering some of the schemes carried during their post-British Rail careers.
Transrail acquired ‘56s’ in various former British Rail liveries, such as the engineers’ ‘Dutch’ scheme seen above. Unlike Loadhaul and Mainline, Transrail stuck with the existing colour schemes, simply applying its ‘Big T’ logo and lettering. 56047 models this arrangement at Eastleigh in 1997.
COLOUR RAIL
With the Government set on privatising the railways, the Railways Act of 1993 split BR’s freight operations into three franchises: Transrail, Loadhaul and Mainline Freight, with BR’s former Railfreight locomotive fleet being divided among them.