File:Class 31 D5557 (or 31438) on the Morning train - geograph.org.uk - 1449141.jpg

English: Class 31 D5557 (or 31438) on the Morning train. The locomotive on an unusual Wednesday train, the rest of the days working were with the lines 101 DMU.

This is on the 11 preserved Mid Norfolk Railway running from Dereham to Wymondham, the train set off at 10.15am and this was about 10.48am. The vantage point being the foot crossing over the line north of Abbey station.

The locomotive was finished at Brush Traction, Loughbrough 5303 by the beginning of October 1959. Movement to Doncaster a week later for existence trials then delivered to Ipswich shed (32B) on the 15th October 1959. Unusually it was built with electric train heating. After a few months in Suffolk it was transferred to Norwich 32A shed (where Morrisons is). Class 31s were common in East Anglia, from local to mainline services (as well as this branch) After just 4 years there it was given to Tinsley depot (41A), in 1973 it was painted into BR Blue (Prior to that, the loco was unique as a Brush Type 2 in that it carried the Brunswick Green livery with the BR arrow symbols on all four cab sides and with the numbers behind the doors) As new locomotives made it onto the railways class 31 days were numbered, the locomotive was sent to Carlisle in 1995, then to the Mid Norfolk railway late November 2001. The first train was in September 2002 and the depute in 2003.

The 31 is a perfect diesel for the railway, they were often seen on the line during its working life. One can be seen here (on the right) http://www.remembernorfolk.org/viewlarge.aspx?GI=23&MI=51000230119 in early BR green 76394. Also this one at Fakenham http://www.remembernorfolk.org/viewlarge.aspx?GI=23&MI=51000230193. There is even this photo near the very spot http://www.remembernorfolk.org/viewlarge.aspx?GI=23&MI=51000230023 Later on they were used for MNR freights to Fakeham and North Elmham in BR Blue http://www.remembernorfolk.org/viewlarge.aspx?GI=23&MI=51000230160 http://www.remembernorfolk.org/viewlarge.aspx?GI=23&MI=51000230196

I don't usually like diesels but because the class has got such a deep place in East Anglian history I can't help but like them.