Class 291

Updated: August 2026 – Class 291 is a good example of how vehicle identification doesn’t always work through shape alone. It belongs to the V 90 family and shares its silhouette with four other classes. Anyone wanting a reliable identification can’t get around the vehicle number – and that’s exactly what makes this group of vehicles a rewarding exercise.

What is Class 291?

Class 291 is a diesel-hydraulic shunting and transfer locomotive from the V 90 vehicle family. It has four powered axles in two two-axle bogies, a centre cab, and two bonnets of different lengths. Power is transmitted hydraulically through a gearbox with shunting and transfer gears.

Within the family, Classes 290, 291, 294, 295 and 296 don’t differ in their base design, but in the vehicles’ fitting-out and conversion status. That’s exactly what the class digit reflects. A clear consequence follows for identification in the field: without reading the vehicle number, any identification remains a guess.

Why the number matters more here than the shape

For most classes, outward appearance gets you there: axle count, front shape, roof fittings. With the V 90 family, that only gets you as far as the family – then it stops. The vehicles were rebuilt, re-engined, repainted and, in some cases, transferred to new keepers over the decades. Details such as lamp arrangement, fittings or colour scheme therefore say more about an individual machine’s operating history than about its class.

The complete twelve-digit vehicle number provides two pieces of information at once: the type code 98 at the start, which identifies the locomotive as a diesel shunting vehicle, and the class digits, which name the family member. The guide to reading the UIC number explains how this number is structured.

Quick check: which shunting locomotive is this?

The systematic order for identifying unfamiliar vehicles is described in detail in the guide to identifying classes.

Operating environment and what it means for spotting

Environment	Likelihood	Access
Marshalling and freight yards	high	Only from platforms and public areas
Transfer lines to industrial areas	high	Often visible from public roads
Port railways	medium	Operational land, access only with permission
Industrial and private sidings	medium	Private land, no access
Passenger stations without freight traffic	low	No scheduled deployment

Practical viewpoints and suitable times of day for observing shunting operations are covered in the guide to spotting at marshalling yards.

Documentation: why date and livery matter too

Shunting locomotives don’t follow a timetable but service contracts. When a contract ends, the locomotive changes location – sometimes right across the country. Many machines also belong to the fleets of leasing companies such as On Rail and carry their colours rather than those of a state railway.

For a reliable sighting you therefore need four pieces of information: vehicle number, location, date, and livery or keeper. Without a date, the location is worthless; without the number, the class is worthless. The guide to the sighting logbook shows how to keep this structured and usable instead of losing it in a flood of photos.

What a transfer run is – and why the V 90 was built for it

The term transfer appears in every description of this vehicle family but is rarely explained. It means transporting single wagons and groups of wagons between a marshalling or freight yard and the private sidings in the surrounding area: industrial plants, ports, transhipment facilities, power stations.

These runs have their own profile. They’re short, often only a few kilometres, but heavy and involve many stops. At the destination, the locomotive also has to shunt – delivering, collecting and repositioning wagons. And some of the tracks used have neither overhead line nor the signalling of a main line.

This is exactly what shapes the design of the V 90:

• Four powered axles put the whole vehicle weight on the rail and deliver the tractive effort to start heavy groups of wagons moving.
• Two bogies allow the tight curve radii typical of private sidings.
• The two-speed gearbox separates the high-tractive-effort shunting gear from the faster transfer gear.
• The centre cab gives visibility in both directions of travel without the locomotive needing to be turned.
• The diesel drive makes the locomotive independent of the overhead line – the reason for type code 98.

Anyone who knows these five points understands at a glance why shunting locomotives look the way they do – and can correctly place the design even for unfamiliar manufacturer types.

Common mix-ups

Within the family, Class 290 as the base type, Class 295 and Class 296 are the obvious comparisons.

Conclusion

Class 291 shows where classic vehicle identification reaches its limit. The design gets you as far as the V 90 family, and no further. From there, the vehicle number decides – and reading it is usually easier on a slowly shunting locomotive than on a passing train. Anyone who gets into the habit of noting number, location, date and livery together builds up, over time, a record far more valuable than any copied fleet list.