The first batch, ordered in April 59, was for the NER and was allocated to Bradford Hammerton St. & Leeds Neville Hill. The second batch was for the LMR, allocated to Newton Heath in Manchester. Before delivery the sets were tested along the Midland Division lines to Derby, and at least one also travelled the Wirksworth branch where some of the official publicity photographs were taken. For the Bradford based sets, driver training took place over the Queensbury lines, much to the annoyance of the locals, as it had recently lost its passenger services. Performance tests showed an unladen set reaching 30mph in 45secs from a standing start on a 1 in 261 ruling gradient, 40mph in 70secs, 50mph in 124 secs, 60mph in 177 secs, and 70mph, the maximum allowed speed in 246secs. From a standing start on a 1 in 45 a speed of 25mph in third gear was reached in 42 secs.

The 1st January 1962 saw the sets enter service, mainly centering around the Sowerby Bridge - Manchester line. Destinations included Leeds Central, Bradford Exchange, Manchester Victoria, Liverpool Exchange, Blackpool Central, Southport Chapel Street, York and Wakefield. The sets replaced all but two weekday steam turns, both of them in the small hours, as on Sundays all but a single Liverpool - York service running via Bolton, Heywood and Rochdale.

The biggest improvement on introduction was the combination of Leeds and Bradford portions, doing away with the need to split and combine trains at Low Moor. Including the extra run via Bradford this cut the fastest journey time (the 16:06 from Leeds) from 90mins to 82 mins for the 50 · miles. An hourly interval service was introduced, leaving Leeds at 6 mins past the hour from 09:06 to 21:06, and Manchester at 25 min past the hour from 09:25 to 21:25. Seven trains ran to/from Liverpool, and the majority were extended past Leeds to/from Harrogate.

On the Normanton route, better connections at Sowerby Bridge with Leeds allowed the through trains from York and Liverpool to be reduced. The fastest York - Manchester timings over the Calder Valley were reduced from 2hr 6 min to 1 hr 51 min (by the mid-'80s this journey time had crept up to 2 hr 35 mins!)

The sets increased power allowed many other steam timings to be cut. The 10 1/2 mile section from Manchester to Rochdale was cut from 18 min to 14 min, which included a 1 in 59 - 151 from a standing start up Cheetham Hill and then climbing all the way with a peak of 1 in 63. However the most noticeable reductions were in the Sowerby Bridge to Bradford sections, which included sections of 1 in 156 and 118, with a short, sharp 1 in 91 on the climb up from Milner Royd Jct. The timings were cut from 30 to 20 min, giving a net reduction of 16 min over steam timings, after allowing for the removal of the 4 min pause at Low Moor to detach the Leeds portion.

Differences in operating procedures between the Regions when new caused a few problems. The NER allocated a set of keys and driving controls to each set which the driver was to leave in the cab in the special storage bracket. The LMR allocated keys and driving controls to drivers which had to stay with them at all times. In situations when NER drivers took over from LMR men they were left with no controls, resulting in cancellations or delays while another set was found. After several months the LMR changed their procedure, leaving keys with the units.

When introduced, booked diagrams took the sets as far afield as Liverpool, Southport and Blackpool, but as the years went by they were to become even more widely travelled, regularly reaching Morecambe, Sheffield, Doncaster, Hull, the East Coast resorts, and even the North East. One would regularly work the 07:35 York to Blackpool North over Copy Pit and a regular Sunday turn for a Newton Heath set in the early '60s included a Church Fenton - York - Market Weighton - Bridlington train. In the late '70s there was a Class 110 diagram along the GN&GE Joint line from Doncaster to Cambridge.

The units operated the West Riding - Blackpool and Southport services when these were reintroduced after withdrawal on dieselisation, while through Liverpool workings were gradually wound down, with only one remaining in the mid-'80s. Services on the Normanton route to/from York were withdrawn in May 1970.

In the mid '70s several sets had an additional trailer, from Class 104s, for a short spell.

Sheffield Peter, Lincolnshire & East Yorkshire Transport Review

In the early '80s the West Yorkshire PTE adopted a policy of reducing sets to two-cars wherever possible to meet public transport spending limitations imposed by Parliament. Services required only nine 3-car sets for peak workings, and so eighteen trailers were withdrawn in 1983, leaving ten 3-car sets. The trailers were scrapped, despite some having been recently refurbished, which attracted a lot of criticism, although asbestos insulation meant they had a limited life anyway. The first three withdrawn on 9/1/83 (unrefurbished 59695/702/808) were immediately replaced by Met-Camm trailers 59570-2. The remaining fifteen, all refurbished, were withdrawn in Oct. 83, at the same time the Met-Camm trailers were transferred to the LMR. Many of the trailers were stored at Hammerton St. for several months before scrapping.

2-car sets were often found on 3-car turns, resulting in serious overcrowding, and it was not unknown for passengers to use the drivers cab as the only way out! In the Summer of '84 the problem got so bad that 2x2 car sets had to be used on Saturdays when a 3-car set was not available. The remaining trailers were there to stay, and began receiving body overhauls with 59710 being the first outshopped from Doncaster on 30th January 1985.

Before the trailers were withdrawn there were 19 diagrams for 28 units. By 1985 this had fallen to 7 diagrams for the 3-car sets. The other 18 2-car sets were included in a pool of Met-Camm and Derby 600hp and Met-Camm 720hp units, with no distinction between different types for diagramming purposes, so they shared the same duties. In addition to the Calder Valley route, these included Leeds to Manchester via Diggle, Leeds - Hull / Ilkley / Harrogate / Morecambe, Sheffield - York / Huddersfield - Doncaster, and Leeds to Preston, with a fill- turn between Preston and Colne.

Seventeen weekday Calder Valley trains were included in the seven 3-car diagrams, which was about 50% of the service. Eighteen trains on Saturday and six on Sundays were covered. Some examples of 1985 diagrams included:-

In December 1984 a disastrous fire in Summit Tunnel, disrupting Calder Valley services, required Class 110 diagrams to be extensively amended. Generally, the sets worked between York and Todmorden, with Newton Heath sets of various types used on the Lancashire side of the blockage, although there was the occasional Class 110.

It wasn't until May 84 till the sets had drastic changes to their operating pattern. All services were extended to York, except a few peak hour and evening trains, and the Blackpool workings were withdrawn. Two new stations, Mills Hill and Smithy Bridge saw timings extended by 3 mins (up) and 6 mins (down). This month also saw the close of Bradford Hammerton St. depot. Many had been allocated there since new, and all had been moved there by 1980. The sets were transferred to Leeds Neville Hill, along with most of the staff.

There was a lot of pressure from the WYPTE to downgrade the power cars to one engine only, as had been trialed on a Class 104 and implemented on the Class 111s. They believed that the effect on timings would have been marginal, but this was resisted as in reality it could have added 20 mins to a Manchester - York journey due to the nature of the line through the Calder Valley. The mid '80s also saw Class 110s, amongst others, taken of their diagrams, often at short notice, to deputise for Class 141s which were experiencing prolonged teething problems.

The class made rare visits to Scarborough, and a 2-car set is pictured there on the Lincolnshire & East Yorkshire Transport Review website.

In the '88/'89 period some trailers worked on the ScR & WR. 59694/709/812 had a spell at CF before two moved to NH. The other, 59709, was burnt out after being temporarily stored with other units near Abercynn, South Wales. 59696/7/701/810/7 were allocated to ED & HA, and worked with 101 or 101/108 power cars.