Diesel 31120

31120, formerly known as D5538, was a diesel engine who worked on British Railways.

The Railway Series
31120 was built by Brush Traction on 2 July, 1959, and formerly had the number D5538, until 1973 when he was renumbered 31120 upon the British Rail TOPS Renumbering scheme. He was later present to take Gordon's passengers at Barrow-in-Furness in 1986, after Gordon's fiery experience when a puncture dampened his fire and narrowly avoided overheating. 31120 was later retired from service on 27 September, 1991, and scrapped on 7 June, 1994.

Basis
31120 is based on a British Rail (BR) Class 31 A1A-A1A diesel-electric engine. Over two-hundred and sixty-three members of this class was built from 1957 and 1962, with twenty-six of these engines preserved by heritage railways, such as the Dean Forest Railway and the oldest one is at the National Railway Museum. Ten more of these engines were in preservation but were scrapped from either accidents or to give spare parts to other engines. These engines were given two nicknames, first being "Toffee Apples" because of the shape of their control lever and the second "Skinheads" because the first few engines did not have the codebox on the front of the roof.

D701 is also a member of this class.

Livery
Originally, 31120 was painted in the BR Deep Bronze green livery before being repainted in Rail Blue livery in 1967. He had yellow warning panels on his front and back end. His buffer beams were painted black with silver buffers. Later on, he was painted in the Railfreight grey with yellow cabs livery. The BR Double Arrow logo was painted on his sides in white. His buffer beams were painted red with black buffers.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * Gordon the High-Speed Engine - Fire Escape

Companion Volumes

 * 2007 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection

Trivia

 * 31120's headcode is "1X01". However, the "X" indicates "Royal Train" or "out-of-gauge load".
 * In The Railway Series, 31120 does not have the British Rail logo on his sides.