Description
The Class 57 is a re-engineered locomotive, rebuilt by Brush Traction at Loughborough from redundant Class 47 locomotives. The locomotives are fitted with a refurbished EMD engine and a reconditioned alternator, improving reliability and performance. Three variants exist, one for freight and two for passenger operations. At £500,000 it was about one-third the cost of a new build locomotive.
The class has its origins in 1997 when Freightliner ordered an initial six locomotives. In 2000 a prototype locomotive was converted with electric train heating, with a view to obtaining orders from passenger companies.
They are known as "Bodysnatchers", or "Zombies" to enthusiasts, by virtue of the fact that the shell (body) of the Class 47 has been stripped, rewired and re-engined and as "GM"s due to them being "genetically modified" with General Motors equipment.
Read more about this topic: British Rail Class 57
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“God damnit, why must all those journalists be such sticklers for detail? Why, they’d hold you to an accurate description of the first time you ever made love, expecting you to remember the color of the room and the shape of the windows.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)
“Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)