31418 BR Blue
Between 1971 and 1975, 24 Class 31s were upgraded with electric train heating capability (ETH) courtesy of a 320kW Brush BL100-30 alternator, the same as fitted to the similarly modified Class 45/1 ‘Peaks’ and Class 47/4s. Powered directly from the engine, this provided an impressive ETH index rating of 66, perfect for their expected duties shuttling empty coaching stock (ECS) in and out of King’s Cross, Paddington and St. Pancras as well as portions of ‘air-con’ trains around the Leeds/Doncaster area. An oddity within the new sub class was 31418, the former D5522 of 30A, which was from the lower geared 80mph batch delivered in 1959 and also the only disc headcode or ‘skinhead’ machine to be converted until a second series of Class 31/4s was undertaken in the mid 1980s. In 1978, having swapped North London for Gateshead via a spell at Finsbury Park, it saw its connecting doors plated over, which resulted in the loss of its centre pair of discs. It retained this basic appearance for the next nine years before being ‘refurbished’ at Doncaster in October 1987, which saw it lose its steam generator, bufferbeam cowls and bodyside banding. The ETH receptacle was also resited to the driver’s side corner of the cab front. Within days of release it was unofficially named Boadicea and received white painted ‘discs’ the following year, both customisations surviving to its withdrawal from Springs Branch with engine failure in October 1995. With minor celebrity status it was quickly purchased for preservation at the Great Central Railway, before joining A1A Locomotive Ltd’s fleet in 2002. Over the last two decades it has been slowly restored to 1970-80s condition at the group’s base at Swanwick Junction and is expected to be completed within the next few years.