Algodoo

In 1976, the first example was withdrawn: 74006 (originally E6106) was damaged by fire and judged to be beyond economical repair.

By the mid-1970s, electronics technology had advanced sufficiently that the fleet's unreliable electronic systems could potentially have been upgraded or even replaced entirely; something that British Rail had recently demonstrated a willingness to do with the AC electric locomotives of Classes 82, 83, and 84. However, while the AC locomotives were needed to cover services on newly-electrified sections of the West Coast Main Line, the work for which the Class 74 fleet had been built was drying up. Boat trains were greatly reduced in number, and many of those that remained had switched to being worked by multiple units. Freight and parcels demand on the Southern Region was also contracting. In July 1977, 74002 was withdrawn following a collision, and the following month BR decided not to repair 74009 after it suffered a failure. The remaining seven members of the class were withdrawn en masse on 31 December 1977, whereupon they languished at Eastleigh depot for a period of many months before being sent for scrap. The final extant locomotive, 74005, was scrapped at Fratton Traincare Depot near Portsmouth in January 1981.

Locomotive 74010 was given a brief reprieve so that it could be for evaluated for departmental use by the Railway Technical Centre in Derby. It was given a light overhaul at Eastleigh before being towed to Derby, where it was eventually deemed to be unsuitable and subsequently scrapped at Doncaster Works in 1979.