The British Rail Class 58 is a class of Co-Co diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight. The narrow body with cabs at either end led to them being given the nickname "Bone" by rail enthusiasts. They were used primarily on heavy freight coal trains but could also be found hauling inter regional freight trains and the occasional passenger service.
Their design represented a major departure from British conventions of construction; amongst the innovations was the adoption of the American practice of modularization. The first locomotive of the class were delivered to British Rail during early 1983 and entered service that same year. A total of 50 locomotives were built and carried serval different liveries during their lifetime. Despite expectations of a lengthy service life, during 2002 EWS decided to withdraw all examples of the type after only 19 years in service. Subsequently, 32 were hired abroad. A few examples have also been scrapped or have entered preservation.
The Dapol 58 features:
- Smooth running 5 pole “Super Creep” motor
- All wheel pickup
- All wheel drive via a low friction mechanism.
- Next-18 decoder socket (recommended 6 function decoder)
- NEM pockets
- Standard NEM fitting N Gauge couplers
- Detailed body and fittings
- Accessory bag with optional detail parts
