Accurascale Class 31 - Chimaera Fragonset No.31602 - DCC Ready

Class 31 Chimaera Fragonset Livery No.31602 

No heat 31191 was one of seven Class 31s acquired from EWS in April 1998 by Fragonset Railways along with 31186, 31459/468 and 31549/552/558. Originally stored from Toton in October 1995 it was returned to the fray courtesy of the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley in June 1999 renumbered as 31602 the second member of the new Class 31/6 sub class, which included a repaint in Fragonset’s striking black livery with maroon/gold stripe and the mythical creature-themed name Chimaera. The only modification to justify the renumbering was the fitment of through ETS wiring allowing double heading with an electrical train supply-equipped Class 31/4, or for shutting down the ETS on the rear locomotive in case of fire while leading in a top and tail formation. Its first passenger use was on Silverlink Train’s Marston Vale branch between Bedford and Bletchley in summer 1999, which ended that same year, leaving 31602 with a regular diet of railtours and stock transfers until 2003 when Wessex Trains hired in loco-hauled sets for Cardiff-Brighton and Bristol-Weymouth diagrams, while 2004 saw it seconded to First North Western for Lytham St Annes-Greenbank and Manchester Victoria/Chester-Blackpool North commuter services. From 2005 Fragonset became FM Rail and when that collapsed into administration at the end of the following year it was put up for sale, eventually joining RVE at Derby, for Network Rail test train use, gaining that organisation’s house yellow in April 2007. That November it gained the new name Driver Dave Green and the following month it became one of just three Class 31s to gain brackets for UV spotlights for use with the Structure Gauging Train. It’s NR Service ended in November 2012 when it moved to DC Rail, which sidelined it at the end of 2013. It was put up for sale in 2017 but with no takers it was scrapped at Wolsingham by J Denham Metals in June 2018.