Class 37/5 Refurb. 37501 'Teesside Steelmaster' BR/British Steel Blue

Unveiled during the Bachmann Collectors Club’s Practically Perfect Sale in June 2022, we are delighted to present this Bachmann Collectors Club Limited Edition model of Refurbished Class 37/5 No. 37501 ‘Teesside Steelmaster’ finished in the colourful and unique BR/British Steel Light Blue livery.

The Class 37 is a favourite for many and the Graham Farish model captures the unmistakable look of the 37, with this version correctly exhibiting the characteristics of a refurbished loco – most notably the flush ends where the headcode boxes have been removed, and the fitting of a high intensity headlight which is operational, of course. The light blue livery is certainly eye catching, and this model makes the perfect partner to the recently released Sales Area Exclusive model of No. 37502 ‘British Steel Teesside’ (371-167TL), with which No. 37501 was often seen operating in the North East during the 1980s.

MODEL FEATURES:

• Graham Farish N Scale
• Era 8
• Pristine BR/British Steel Light Blue livery
• Running No. 37501
• Named ‘Teesside Steelmaster’
• Accessory Pack
• NEM Coupling Pockets
• Powerful 3 Pole Motor
• Directional Lighting
• Equipped with a 6 Pin DCC Decoder Socket – Recommend Decoder item No. 36-568A
• Length 125mm
• Bachmann Collectors Club Limited Edition - 504 Certificated Pieces

No. 37501 HISTORY

Built at the English Electric Vulcan Foundry in 1961 as No. D6705, this Class 37 was first allocated to March in Cambridgeshire, with later spells at Stratford, Darnall, Thornaby and Gateshead before being renumbered to No. 37005 in 1974.

After 12 years working out of Gateshead and Thornaby, this loco then underwent a heavy overhaul and was renumbered again as No. 37501. At the same time, this machine was painted in an unconventional pale blue and adorned with a British Steel logo, Thornaby Depot Kingfisher, white stripe and BR large logo. It was given the name ‘Teesside Steelmaster’ in 1987. No. 37501 was often seen paired with classmate No. 37502, working steel trains out of the Humberside steel mills.

No. 37501 was renumbered yet again in 1995 as No. 37601, and was one of the few class 37s to transfer to European Passenger Services Ltd for work on the infamous ‘Nightstar’ operation and perform Class 373 Eurostar stock movements. No. 37601 survives to this day with Rail Operations Group based at Leicester.

CLASS 37 HISTORY

The British Rail 1955 Modernisation Plan paved the way for the large-scale replacement of steam traction with diesel locomotives, and one of the most successful diesel locomotive designs to result from this was the English Electric Type 3. These 1,700hp Types 3 diesel-electric locomotives were built at English Electric’s Vulcan Foundry and by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns between 1960 and 1965, with 309 examples produced in total.

The class proved popular with railwaymen and so in 1985, a major refurbishment programme for the Class 37 locomotives was sanctioned to extend the working lives of 135 locomotives. Features of the refurbishment involved plating over the four-character head codes and sealing off the nose end communication doors. Dedicated freight locomotives received lower gearing to increase the tractive effort, and some were fitted with extra ballast or even more powerful engines. A new subclass was created for locomotives refurbished with Electric Train Heating (ETH) equipment, allowing their use on passenger trains the whole year-round.

With the sectorisation of British Rail taking hold in the early-1980s, the locomotives returned to traffic following refurbishment in a wide and diverse range of liveries. Passenger machines appeared in BR Blue Large Logo, InterCity and Regional Railways schemes to name just three, whilst freight engines received numerous varieties of Railfreight livery, Transrail, Mainline and Loadhaul. The Class continued to be widely used into the Privatisation-era, with examples operating for the likes of EWS, DRS, West Coast Railways and Colas, whilst others have received ‘retro’ heritage repaints.