Direct Rail Services puts 12 Class 37 locomotives up for sale

10 Class 37 locomotives have been listed on DRS Tender Page as part of a Sale and Lease Back deal, with 2 other Class 37s being up for sale as well as a Class 57.

These are not the first Class 37s up for sale – back in October, DRS said that they were selling off some of its heritage locomotives, which included 2 Class 37s along with Class 20s and Class 57s.

Following this, in January 2022, the freight operator added more 3x Class 37s and 6x Class 57s to the sale list, this was then followed quickly by 37405 which joined the sale a few days later.

What is different this time is the disposal list, which is available publicly through DRS' Disposal Website, specifically states that this is a Sale and Lease Back deal, which would mean that the 37s could see operations with DRS for a while longer yet.

The Sale and Lease Back deal is available for 10 Class 37s, including 37218, 37401, 37419, 37402, 37407, 37422, 37423, 37424, 37425 and 37716.

Meanwhile, 37069, 37602 and 57002 are now all available for purchase (not part of the buy and lease back scheme).

This now means that DRS will be left with 10 operational Class 37s for RHTT work in the autumn, which requires a Type 3 locomotive and then the operator can use more modern locomotives for the other routes.

A DRS spokesperson said “Locomotives 37218, 37401, 37419, 37402, 37407, 37422, 37423, 37424, 37425, 37716 will be offered as part of the buy and lease back scheme. Locomotives 37069, 37602 and 57002 will be offered for sale. That's all the 37s and should leave us 10 to do the RHTT work which require a 37 and we can utilise more modern and efficient engines for the other routes.”

Bidding for this round of sales is open until Friday 29th July. Any interested parties can view the full tender details on the DRS tender page.