All locomotives, with the exception of the prototype, which was built at Doncaster, were built at the railway company's workshops at Gorton, Manchester, better known as 'Gorton Tank'. Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company of Trafford Park, Stretford, Manchester, and of Sheffield, supplied all the electrical equipment for both classes of electrical locomotives, that is, the Bo-Bo EM1s (later Class 76) and the Co-Co EM2s (later Class 77). The operating voltage was 1,500 V dc.

It is understood that following the withdrawal of EM1 26 000 'Tommy' and the seven EM2s that they were stored at the Bury Shed until the Netherlands State Railway (NSR) expressed an interest in purchasing the EM2s. 'Tommy' was subsequently cut up at Crewe in October 1972.

In December 1973, the Class EM1 freight locomotives became Class 76 and the EM2 passenger locomotives became Class 77 although this was a paper class only, never carried by the locomotives.

Class EM1 (Bo-Bo)
Prototype locomotive numbered 6701 in 1940, then renumbered as 6000 in 1947 and then renumbered again as 26 000 in 1953. All locomotives carried an 'E' prefix to their number until the new TOPS (Total Operations Processing Systems) numbering system applied from December 1973.

All nameplates were removed from Class EM1 locomotives between 1968 and 1970.

Class EM2 (Co-Co)

The six surviving EM2s were withdrawn from service in the Netherlands in 1986.

Additionally, there is a self-propelled inspection car, supplied by the Drewry Car Company, which is at the Middleton Railway, Leeds. This diesel-powered car was provided for overhead line inspection and maintenance purposes.