British Rail Class 97 facts for kids

British Rail had a special group of locomotives called Class 97. These weren't like the trains that carry passengers or cargo. Instead, they were used for important, special jobs, often for engineering or testing. Think of them as the "behind-the-scenes" workers of the railway!

The Class 97 name was part of a system called TOPS (which stands for "Total Operations Processing System"). This system gave every train a special number. What's cool about Class 97 is that it wasn't just one type of train. It was a mix of different engines that were grouped together under this one number for convenience.

Some of these locomotives were older trains that were changed and given new jobs. Others were built specifically for these special tasks. Later, in 2008, Network Rail (the company that looks after the railway tracks) also started using the Class 97 name again for trains that test signalling equipment. These were known as Class 97/3.

Images for kids

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  97201 at Worksop in 2007.

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  97301 and 97302 at Clay Cross in October 2008.

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  Departmental locomotive 97407 at Manchester Victoria station in 1986. The locomotive still carried its red nameplate, Aureol, and both of its previous numbers; 40012 and (D)212.

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  No.97545, formerly Class 47 No.47545, at Birmingham International station in 1989

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  Locomotive 97651 at Northampton & Lamport Railway