class 56 diesel at Heaton Norris Junction

Much maligned and misunderstood! When the Romanian versions first arrived with all their inherent problems, none of which were down to design, they rapidly earned a bad reputation. The British built versions cut less corners but still needed some attention. The records state the power unit to be a direct descendant of the English Electric unit fitted in class 40s. 2,000hp to 3,300hp from the same unit within 20 years. They also claim the new units to originate from Ruston-Paxman but, take it from someone that's been through the engine compartment of many of these locos, there was an English Electric plate on the side of the power unit! What's that about? Did they recycle some or did they have a few put aside!?
They also suffered from mishandling in the early days, many drivers of the old school wouldn't trust a machine to make it's own decisions, a 56 could handle anything if treated well!

We'd only just started driver training with them. Some of the Class 76 drivers had little or no experience with diesels and were struggling with the technicalities of them. The instructors were under pressure to 'pass' out these respected old hands and one of them gave me (a guard!) a full set of class 56 manuals and fault finders and said "Keep an eye on the buggers!". Names withheld to protect the innocent. I only had to wait another five years for a rule change before I could do it myself (so to speak!).