Gerard Fletcher says:
31101 was one of the May 1981 cull, withdrawn from Immingham at the beginning of the month. It was sent to Swindon in January 1982, but its stay there was very short departing to Doncaster Works in March. Here it remained in increasingly dilapidated condition (as shown here in Dan's photo) until overhaul commenced at which time it lost the '1977 modification' of a sealed door with no footsteps. 31101 was given air brakes and released from Doncaster after an intermediate overhaul in late January 1983. After this close call, 31101 survives today in preservation.
See the comment below from Mister C detailing the reason for 101's reprieve.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Thornaby's 31122 was a rare bird by all accounts and was withdrawn from traffic on 31/5/81. Arriving at Swindon in mid June, she was then reinstated on 19th February 1982. In John's picture taken in September that year she looks remarkably fresh and only the worn electrification warning plate gives away her period of storage.
31122 went on to get dual braked at an intermediate overhaul in August 1983 but ended up being withdrawn prematurely in January 1987 after sustaining fire damage at Willesden.
Gerard Fletcher says:
A nice picture from Terry here of 31139 in action in April 1982, soon after her escape from Swindon. Another 31/5/81 casualty, she arrived at Swindon in late June and remained there in storage until the resuscitation call came on 7/2/82 at which time she was reinstated and allocated to Toton.
Unlike some examples, 139 was in sufficiently good condition to be able to continue in service without works attention.
Having last been in the Doncaster paintshop in February 1978, she soldiered on until for a further 6 years until re-emerging on 16th March 1984 as 31438. Until recently preserved on the Mid Norfolk Railway, she is now delighting punters on the Epping Ongar Railway.
Gerard Fletcher says:
31167 (originally D5585) was one of the batch withdrawn on May 31st 1981, initially it was stored at Tinsley and then transferred to Swindon. The upsurge in freight traffic in 1982 saw it reinstated and it left Swindon on March 4th 1982 for further service at Toton. 31167 had been overhauled at Doncaster in November 1977 and it continued in the condition shown here until its next works visit in November 1983 where it at last received air brakes. It then had the distinction of being the last Class 31/1 to emerge from overhaul in standard banger blue condition. 31106/156/202 which followed had heavy general overhauls and lost the central bodyside bands amongst other features.
Here we are very fortunate to be able to include Roger's photo of 31167 just two days before its temporary retirement on 29th May 1981.
Gerard Fletcher says:
31193 was another vacuum braked loco last in works in 1977 which was chosen for storage on 31/5/81. Here she is apparently producing some boiler clag when photographed by Steve on 29/4/81.
Her last recorded perfomance on the Norwich - Birmingham route came on May 7th. Swindon then beckoned and 193 was stored there from June 1981 until November 1982, at which time she was towed to Doncaster, finally being taken in for overhaul in August 1983 and re-emerging that October as 31426.
Gerard Fletcher says:
31194 was, like 31193, another March allocated Norwich - Birmingham regular. Here she is bowling through Brandon eastbound in 1980 in this delightful picture by Gordon.
194 was released from Doncaster after overhaul on 4/6/77 and the 1977 modification to the gangway doors without footsteps is quite obvious here. Her history mirrors that of 31193 and a long period of storage, firstly at Swindon (June 1981 to October 1982) and then Doncaster resulted in her being a candidate for ETH conversion. 31194 was renumbered 31427 and emerged in her new guise after 18 months of inactivity on 20th October 1983.
Gerard Fletcher says:
My old friend Steve Harvey took this picture of 31211 in 1979 at the unilkely location of Weymouth - see the caption and comments for further details.
Despite being an Immingham loco, 31211 was far from common and when she was withdrawn on 31.5.81 retained the gangway doors as seen here. Her last works visit had been in February 1977, so, being limited in operations due to being vacuum braked only, it was no surprise that she followed the example set by 31193/4. Swindon residency was from June 1981 until October 1982 and then further stagnation at Doncaster until her turn came around and final release from overhaul as 31428 on 28th October 1983.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Our original picture of 31228 disappeared from Flickr, but here is a better one taken by Dave Jolly at Gateshead on 21st October 1983.
228 was stored from 31/5/81, arriving at Swindon on 1st July that year. Her revival came on 10th February 1982, when along with several other 31s featured here she was allocated to Toton for further use. 228 soldiered on in increasingly rundown condition in this capacity and her occasional appearances on passenger trains were legendary for their stagger factor. Amazingly it was August 1984 when she was called to works to become 31454, six and a half years since her previous overhaul. Here she is standing in front of one of the vacuum braked locos which escaped storage, 31251 which later became 31442.
Gerard Fletcher says:
31264 was the loco chosen for the first experiment to seal the redundant gangway doors. This was carried out when it was still numbered 5694. Withdrawal due to rundown condition and the recession came on 5/11/80.
At Swindon from October 1980 until March 1982 where Brian's picture was taken, she was chosen to have an intermediate overhaul and after a period of disuse at Doncaster, re-emerged in February 1983 complete with dual brakes as well as the standard steel plate in place of the doors. Mister C has corrected me in saying that the vertical grilles/exhaust cowl 31264 received, were added later in 1983 - also see Mister C's comment for further info on 31101 & 31264.
A nice story about D5694 involves a visit by HRH The Queen to Stratford depot in February 1962, Her Majesty sat in the driving seat in the cab while being shown around by Dick Hardy.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Now here's a strange one. 31265 was in Doncaster Works for fire damage repairs in February 1979 and for some odd reason, came out repainted still with working headcode panel, by the time this picture was taken, she had received some very wonky eyes in the sky !
Steve's picture of 31265 here with the disrtinctive 'sunken eyes' in the headcode panel was taken in June 1980. I should also at this point express my thanks to Paul for hosting Steve's photos on Flickr.
31265 is included here as it was surprisingly withdrawn on 14/12/80 having already arrived at Swindon in October. Rescue came with a tow to Doncaster in November 1982 and then the story becomes a familiar one, she eventually re-emerged as 31430 a year later in November 1983. This loco has survived in preservation and is currently undergoing restoration at Mangapps Farm.
Gerard Fletcher says:
31269 was another March based Class 31/1 which plied its trade on the Norwich - Birmingham route for much of the time. These trains used vacuum braked stock and the lack of air brakes on 31269 would not have been restrictive. Seen on the route at Thetford in this picture by Alan, it was actually allocated to March from July 1965 (as D5699) until 2/5/81 when it was withdrawn.
The picture was taken a couple of months or so after its April 1977 overhaul where it was given the plated door without footsteps and higher than normal warning flash, also carried by 31101.
31269 was at Swindon from May 1981 until October the following year when it was taken to Doncaster to join the queue of locos to be reinstated. 269 came back into traffic in November 1983 as 31429.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Not many people can claim to have ridden behind 31274 for haulage. When withdrawn on 5th October 1980 it had been a Thornaby loco for some time and had previously been based at a string of northern depots including Gateshead, Wath and Tinsley. Arriving at Swindon on 18/10/80 it remained there until transfer to Doncaster in March 1982 and where it was photographed by Andy in the October of that year. Note the 'wide eyed' look of the headcode panel dots, the same treatment given to 31211 above.
The prolonged spell out of service for 31274 resulted in it becoming the first new ETH conversion and as 31425 it finally emerged from the Doncaster paintshop on 21st September 1983, almost 3 years since it had last worked.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Another of Andy's pictures, this time of 31280 which was pulled out of service on 31/5/81 and sent to Swindon. It wasn't idle for long though and by February 1982 had been reinstated. It is seen here at Toton on 3/10/82 still with its modified sealed door which it had sported since overhaul in June 1977.
31280 was called back to Doncaster for an intermediate overhaul in February 1983 and re-emerged with dual brakes and the standard type of door plate with footsteps.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Grahame's photograph of 31298 is interesting for a number of reasons. 31298 was stored at Swindon from June 1981 until it was restored to traffic on 8/2/82. Unusually it was almost immediately called to works, such was its poor condition. Here she is in Doncaster Works about to receive an intermediate overhaul which was completed in early June 1982. Incredibly, air brakes weren't added on this occasion and she became the very last Class 31 to be overhauled retaining vacuum and eq brakes. When Derby Research Centre required a fresh locomotive in July 1986, 31298 was chosen and eventually received the number 97203 together with the departments unique livery. During 1987 she sustained severe fire damage and was withdrawn from service.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Overhauled in January 1978, 31305 was one of the great Swindon survivors and lasted many years in 'banger blue'. Here it was photographed by John on a typical duty. a Norwich bound service at Birmingham New Street on 31st May 1979. Two years later, to the day, it became a casualty of the 31/5/81 Class 31 fleet pruning. A period of storage at Swindon spanned 19/6/81 until some time in 1982, exact date unknown, however, Mister C confirms it as active on the Cambridge line in June of that year. It became a Toton loco upon return to service and survived to get an intermediate overhaul in November 1983 where she was given air brakes ensuring another 8 years service in blue livery.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Eddie took this picture of 31309 soon after it had returned to service and long before it became a white stripe celebrity named 'Cricklewood'.
Another victim of the 31/5/81 recession cull, 309 was stored at Swindon between July 1981 and February 1982. Works overhauls occurred in December 1977 and again in February 1983. Withdrawn in '81 as a March based passenger loco, her reinstatement , along with several others, saw the boiler isolated and transfer to Toton.
Gerard Fletcher says:
Lovely study of our last loco, 31326 by Chris. Taken in March 1982, 31326 was just getting back into its stride after being unceremoniously taken out of traffic on 31/5/81. See one of my pictures of it on that actual day here :
www.flickr.com/photos/28178727@N08/5004568627/
The Swindon storage of 31326 began in July 1982 and lasted less than 6 months with reinstatement to Toton coming in the following January. Overhauls were given to 31326 in January 1978 and May 1983, it being dual braked on the latter occasion. Later renumbered 31970 for the RTC it lasted in service until December 1990.
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