31296 Amlwch Freighter / Trên Nwyddau Amlwch Railfreight (orange cantrail stripe)
The first week of September 1986 saw recently refurbished 31296 plucked from anonymity for what was described at the time as a ‘double first’. Despatched to Anglesey in North Wales, the Cricklewood-allocated locomotive became the first Class 31 (and Type 1 or Type 2) to be named as well as the first to receive dual Welsh and English nameplates, carrying Amlwch Freighter and Trên Nwyddau Amlwch on opposite sides of the body. This event commemorated the four decade partnership between British Rail and Associated Octel as well as 33 years of rail shipments from the Anglesey plant, at the time the world’s largest producer of liquid bromine. This was the final relaxation of BR’s restrictive rules on naming that had been steadily eroded over the previous decade. Wearing the later standard Railfreight grey livery with orange cantrail stripe, our model is provided with etched metal nameplates and a pair of the distinctive hexagonal Octel headboards worn by this Brush machine on its big day. It was re-allocated to Bescot in May 1987 and then to Stratford in January 1989 seeing plenty of passenger use in the Midlands and North West during this time – and even as far south as Devon – as well as its more regular freight duties. It was repainted in triple-grey with Construction brandings towards the end of that same year and initially retained its nameplates. These were removed in March 1990 and transferred back to Railfreight Distribution where they were refitted to Tinsley’s 47330. The former D5829 was withdrawn from Crewe Diesel in March 1993 but somehow survived onto the books of EWS. It was eventually disposed of at the LNWR site in January 2004.