37264 along the line
Image courtesy: Chris Gee.

Service History

Class BR Class 37
Wheel arrangement Co-Co
Designer English Electric Ltd.
Built in Newton-le-Willows
Entered service 12 August 1965 at Tinsley
Withdrawn 1 December 1999 at Cardiff Canton
Length of service 34 years, 10 months & 2 days
Companies British Rail
Numbers carried D6964 (1965-74) 37264 (1974-99)
Names carried None

The British Railways Modernisation Plan of the 1950s identified a need for a powerful 1,500-2,000hp diesel, designated Type 3. The English Electric company’s design was commissioned and the first examples were built in 1959. Later renumbered as the Class 37, the type became a jack-of-all-trades, seen hauling everything from heavy freight to express passenger services with over 300 being built. Nicknamed “tractors” for their noisy engines, a few are still in service on the British railway network despite their age, though most have now retired.

No. 37264 (originally numbered D6964) was built at Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows in 1965 and served in South Yorkshire and East Anglia before transferring to Cardiff in 1988 and finishing its nearly 35-year career there in 1999.

No. 37264 arrived at the NYMR in 2010 and has been in regular use since. It is currently painted in the 1980s "Large Logo" version of the British Rail (BR) rail blue livery.