British Rail Class 47

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D1941 at Swansea Landore Depot, August 1967 in original two-tone green with small yellow warning panels.

Class 47, no. 47818, at Cambridge on 23 August 2004. This locomotive is owned by Cotswold Rail but hired to 'one'. Over the summer of 2004, it was used extensively to haul diverted passenger trains from London Liverpool St. to Norwich, due to engineering works at Ipswich.

The British Rail Class 47 diesel locomotive, also known as a Brush Type Four, is a class of British locomotive. It was once the most numerous class, but numbers are now dwindling. Among rail enthusiasts, they were nicknamed 'Duffs', although the origin of this nickname is unclear. One explanation is that because these locomotives were so common, from the perspective of trainspotters, they were not very exciting sightings. Nowadays they are far more interesting finds, due to a mixture of rareness, variety of liveries and the usage on the Blue Pullman trains of two specially-liveried 47s.

A small number of 47s actually used to be designated as Class 48s, as these were fitted with different engines. All were later refitted with standard Class 47 Sulzer engines. One of these locos is preserved at the Great Central Railway. Another example was 47114. An attempt was made to save this loco, however it was scrapped at C F Booth, Rotherham in March 2005.

[edit] Current operations

[edit] Direct Rail Services (DRS)

Direct Rail Services (DRS) has a fleet of four active Class 47s: 47237/298/501/802. All are overhauled and painted in DRS blue livery. Use of these locos is rare, and one has been hired to Virgin Trains on several occasions over the summer of 2005, both for standby duty and, on a couple of weekends, for use on the North Wales Coast Line. Sporadic use sees them deployed on route-learning duties and tripping other locomotives to the Brush Works at Loughborough. Use on freight is unusual. DRS have also recently purchased 47306 'The Sapper' from EWS, and 47829 from Riviera Trains. Both of these locomotives are currently out of service.

[edit] English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS)

EWS inherited locomotives from the Rail Express Systems parcels business, the three trainload companies (Trans-Rail, Mainline Freight and Load-Haul) and freight operator Railfreight Distribution.

This operator no longer uses Class 47 locomotives, with the final two withdrawn in June 2004. The last service trains worked by these locomotives for EWS were along the North Wales Coast Line from Crewe to Holyhead.

Class 47, no. 47815 'Abertawe Landore', at York Railfest on 3 June 2004. The event was held to celebrate the 200th anniversary of railways. It was specially repainted in its original British Railway two-tone green livery, and given its original number of D1748, to commemorate the retirement of the First Great Western Class 47 fleet. It is now owned by Riviera Trains.

[edit] First Great Western

First Great Western inherited a fleet of Class 47/8 locomotives, which were primarily used to haul the Night Riviera sleeper and Motorail trains. They were employed on day passenger trains from the capital to the West Country at times when there was a low availability of other traction. The fleet consisted of seven locomotives, namely nos. 47811/813/815/816/830/832/846.

Locomotives were painted in a green-based livery, which was later embelished with a gold bodyside stripe. Several of the fleet were named after local attractions or place, such as nos. 47813 'SS Great Britain' and 47832 'Tamar'.

From 2001, First Great Western decided to replace the Class 47 fleet with re-engineered Class 57 locomotives. A prototype, no. 57601, was extensively tested by First Great Western, and resulted in an order for four production locomotives, numbered 57602-605. These started to replace the Class 47 fleet from 2003 onwards. Most of the 47s were transferred to other operators, although one, no. 47846 'THOR', was rebuilt to a Class 57. To commemorate the retirement of the Class 47 fleet, the final locomotive, no. 47815 'Abertawe Landore', was specially repainted into its original British Railways two-tone green livery.

The final two locomotives, nos. 47811 and 47815, were retired after working a London-Penzance special train in December 2004.

However, in April 2005, FGW hired no. 47840, to cover for the non-availability of Class 57 locomotives as they underwent modifications. After this too failed while working an empty stock train, 47s were briefly hired in from Cotswold Rail to maintain the service, with 47813 and 47828 seeing service. All 57s soon returned and the brief revival of 47s on the Night Riviera was ended.

Class 47, no. 47376, at Toddington station on 25 September 2005. This locomotive is preserved on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. It is painted in the previous corporate livery of Freightliner, whose identity was launched in 1995 with the naming of this locomotive "Freightliner 1995". It was withdrawn from traffic in 2001, and preserved a year later.

[edit] Freightliner

Freightliner were once a very large user of the Class 47, using the locomotives to haul intermodal 'freightliner' trains across the length and breadth of the country. In recent times, the class have played much less of a role with Freightliner as the company shifted the diesel traction used on their trains. First a batch of 12 class 57s were converted from 47s. A decision was made to shift the main diesel traction to Class 66s from General Motors in Canada. As the new 66s arrived, the 47s' days were numbered, with the majority being withdrawn from service. Deadlines for fitting of TPWS to the fleet also hit the 47s, with just a small fleet of the original Freightliner 'no-heat' 47s left. A necessity for Class 47s with electric train heat (ETH) however did arise, and some locomotives were hired from Porterbrook leasing. These were 47805, 47812, 47829, 47847 and 47848. When the lease on these locos expanded they passed on to Riviera Trains, leaving a gap in the Freightliner fleet. 47811, 47816, 47830 and 47841 were acquired from Porterbrook to fulfill the continued need for ETH fitted locos. Locomotives still in service as of April 2006 are: 47150, 47811, 47816, 47830 and 47841.

[edit] Virgin CrossCountry

On 1 August 2003, there were 32 Class 47s in service on Virgin CrossCountry. Since then, they have all been withdrawn from service. Sixteen of them have been converted to Thunderbird Class 57s, named after characters and features from the 1960s TV Show - Thunderbirds. These have been fitted so that they can rescue failed DEMUs and EMUs, as well as being used for diversions on the West Coast Main Line where Class 390 Pendolino EMUs cannot run on non-electrified routes.

[edit] Spot-Hire Companies

Since privatisation of British Rail, numerous spot-hire companies have arisen to take advantage of the requirement for locomotives at short-notice, rescue locomotives, and locomotives for charter trains.

Class 47, no. 47316 'Cam Peak', at Doncaster Works open day on 27 July 2003. This locomotive is operated by Cotswold Rail, whose livery it carries.

[edit] Cotswold Rail

Cotswold Rail first purchased redundant Class 47 locomotives from EWS in 2002. It has since acquired locomotives cascaded from First Great Western and Virgin Trains. Cotswold Rail works closely with 'one' Anglia, to which it provides several locomotives to haul diverted passenger and rescue failed trains. 'one' also use a Class 47 to haul the through service from London Liverpool Street to Great Yarmouth on the final leg of the journey between Norwich and the coast. It also hires locomotives to charter operators. Locomotives are painted in either Cotswold Rail's silver livery, or in Anglia/'one' livery for those on hire to 'one' Anglia.

The fleet currently comprises seven operational locomotives, nos. 47200/316/714/810/813/818/828, and nos. 47033 and 47365 undergoing repair. There are also several more locomotives in store.

Fragonset's 47715 Poseidon visiting the National Railway Museum at York in October 2005.

47817 The Institution of Mechanical Enginees at Exeter St Davids on 7 June 2002.

[edit] FM Rail

FM Rail (previously Fragonset Railways) operates the largest Class 47 fleet of the spot-hire companies. Fragonset was formed in 1996, and is based at Derby. In the early days the main contract was the hire of locomotives to Virgin Trains. However, since then, Virgin has ceased using locomotive-hauled trains. Therefore Fragonset has diversified into the charter market, and also hires locomotives to freight companies, such as GB Railfreight, at short-notice. Locomotive livery is black, with either a red bodyside stripe, or large 'Fragonset' lettering.

The operational fleet currently comprises nos. 47145/355/703/709/712/716/832, with nos. 47053/375/488/701/710/715/780 undergoing repairs. Fragonset also own many stored locomotives, which could be repaired if demand increases. Two of the operational locomotives- 47709 'DIONISOS' and 47712 'ARTEMIS' have recently been repainted in the striking 'Naking Blue' livery and are often seen working with the 'Blue Pullman' charter train for Hertfordshire Railtours (which is owned by FM Rail).

[edit] Riviera Trains

Riviera Trains is a small spot-hire company based at Crewe. The fleet has in the past been hired to Arriva Trains Wales for services from Crewe to Holyhead, and laterly Manchester to Holyhead. Locomotives are also used to haul 'Foot-ex' Special trains from Manchester to Cardiff for the benenfit of football and rugby fans travelling to the Millennium Stadium. Locomotive livery is Oxford Blue.

As of November 2006, the fleet comprised of ten operational locomotives, nos. 47769/805/811/812/815/839/843/847/848/853, with 47575 undergoing repairs. Of these, only 47769 retains it Virgin colours, with 47805/839/843/848 carrying Riviera's blue livery. Of the rest, 47812 and 47815 are in British Railways two-tone green; 47847 is in BR large-logo livery; and 47853 is in the experimental XP64 livery, as applied to this loco during the 1960s. Riviera Trains sold the long term out of service locomotive 47829, recently stored at Crewe Diesel Depot, to Direct Rail Services in October 2006.

[edit] West Coast Railway Company (WCRC)

The West Coast Railway Company is primarily a charter-train operator based at Carnforth in North-West England. Locomotive livery is maroon .

The fleet currently comprises nos. 47245, 47826, 47851 and 47854. In April 2005, two former Virgin locomotives, nos. 47826 and 47851, were hired from Porterbrook, and have since been purchased outright.

[edit] Preservation

Several locomotives have been preserved on heritage railways. These are listed below. Of note are the first built, no. 47401 'North Eastern', and the Royal Train locomotive, no. 47798 'Prince William'. Locomotive that do not currently carry their names are shown with the name in brackets.

[edit] Fleet Details

DRS = Direct Rail Services

EWS = English, Welsh and Scottish Railway

WCRC = West Coast Railway Company

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