The British Rail Class 59 is a fleet of Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives built between 1985 and 1995 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for use in Great Britain.

Foster Yeoman operated the Torr Works quarry near Merehead in Somerset, with much of the output going to rail-served depots at places such as Theale and Acton.

Domestic manufacturers Brush Traction and British Rail Engineering Limited were also invited to tender, but could not meet the 95% availability that Foster Yeoman demanded.

59002 and 59004 returned to Merehead on 29 January to allow the training of drivers and maintenance staff and to prove the haulage capability on Foster Yeoman's tracks, also on the main line towards London when regular services were not running.

At the same time EMD presented a non-working American-style locomotive bell which was fixed to special brackets above the front windows of 59001.

[14] While the locomotives were owned by Foster Yeoman, the operation of trains on the main line was by British Rail drivers based at Westbury and Old Oak Common in London.

[13] From October 1993, the five locomotives operated jointly with the ARC Southern Class 59/1s under the Mendip Rail agreement but remained the property of Foster Yeoman.

[19] In 1997, 59003 was withdrawn from Mendip Rail traffic and modified to work in Germany in a joint operation with DB Cargo.

Construction started in 1990 at EMD's Canadian plant in London, Ontario as La Grange was not building locomotives at the time.

[17] From October 1993, the locomotives operated jointly with the Foster Yeoman Class 59/0s under the Mendip Rail agreement but remained the property of ARC Southern.

[23] The six Class 59/2s have the same lighting arrangement as the 59/1s and are all equipped with the additional yaw dampers that were tested on 59104 which allows operation at up to 75 miles per hour (121 km/h).

Other changes to earlier builds are a carbon dioxide fire control system (instead of a Halon system), Ni-Cad batteries (instead of lead acid), drop-head knuckle couplers, and a more advanced slow speed control for merry-go-round power station coal train operation.

[23] Livery was a bright blue body with pale grey bogies, underframe and lower bodyside.

[23] To better manage the utilisation of their locomotives and wagons, ARC Southern and Foster Yeoman founded Mendip Rail in October 1993.

An MRL logo was centred on the green body side with the company name below on the orange section.

In 1996 it was agreed that they could operate trains on German railways if they formed a joint venture with DB Cargo.

After testing by DB at Minden and further modifications at Cottbus it entered service on 14 September 1997 from a depot in Berlin.

259003-2 was transferred to a new company, Heavy Haul Power International (HHPI), which had been set up as an open access rail freight haulier.

This had been established by Richard Painter who had worked with Foster Yeoman and had led the DB-Yeoman joint venture.

It arrived at the Port of Immingham in October 2014 and taken to Eastleigh for overhaul and modifications to allow it to operate in Britain.

[32] It was repatriated back to Great Britain from Germany via the Port of Immingham in October 2014 and then moved by rail to Eastleigh Works for recommissioning by Arlington Fleet Services.

[33] As of September 2020[update], it is principally used on general freight in the Westbury area where the other Class 59s operate stone trains.

In 2015 the border between the orange and blue was immediately behind the cab side windows and semi-circular mimicking the Europorte logo with a red quarter circle.

The number and 'EWS' were in maroon on the yellow band while the EWS logo was applied beneath the right side cab window.

[31] When DB Cargo lost the Mendip Rail contract in 2019 they put their Class 59/2s up for sale and Freightliner purchased them to operate on their stone trains.

[27] DB Cargo UK's contract to operate the Mendip Rail stone trains expired in 2019 and was awarded instead to Freightliner.

[38][27] With their work gone DB put the six Class 59/2s up for sale and they were also purchased by Freightliner who continue to operate them on these stone trains.

[41] The only Class 59 to be significantly damaged in an accident is 59103[note 2] which was working a Whatley to Acton stone train on 12 September 2000 when the first ten hopper wagons derailed at 23:20 between Great Elm Tunnel and Bedlam Tunnel on the single track branch line to the Hanson Quarry at Whatley.

When the Class 59/1s entered service an alternative kit was made available with the revised light arrangements.

Prototype Replica Model Railway Products produce an 0 scale Class 59 in both kit form and ready-to-run.