British Rail Class 50

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50050 Fearless at Reading, 1975.

50027 Lion at Birmingham New Street, 1985 in large logo livery.

50 002 Superb in Network SouthEast livery at Birmingham New Street, 1987.

The British Rail Class 50 is a diesel locomotive built from 1967-68 by English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry Works in Newton-le-Willows. Fifty of these locomotives were built to haul express passenger trains on the northern half of the West Coast Main Line. Under the pre-1968 classification system these locomotives were known as the English Electric Type 4. The class were affectionately nicknamed "Hoovers" by rail enthusiasts because of their distinctive engine sound, caused by the centrifugal air filters originally fitted. These proved unreliable, and were later removed, but the "Hoover" nickname stuck.

[edit] Description

The Class 50 fleet was developed following trials with the prototype Deltic-bodied DP2 locomotive. In many ways, the locomotives were a more powerful version of the earlier Class 40, and also included a host of complex electronic control gear, which to some extent was their downfall.

Fifty locomotives were built, initially numbered D400-D449. From 1973 onwards, the locomotives were renumbered into the range 50001-50050, to conform with the TOPS system. With the exception of the first-built locomotive, which was renumbered to 50050, the rest of the fleet retained the last two digits of their number, such that D431 would become no. 50031.

[edit] Service

The class were built for working passenger services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) north of Crewe, to Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow Central. Services south of Crewe would generally be worked by an electric locomotive, with the Class 50s taking over for the journeys that continued north. Trains were often double-headed to deal with the steep gradients, such as Shap Summit and Beattock Summit.

In 1974 the northern WCML was electrified, and the Class 50 fleet was displaced by new Class 87 electrics. The fleet was transferred en-masse to the Western Region, working mainline passenger services from London Paddington along the Great Western Main Line to destinations such as Oxford, Cheltenham Spa, Bristol Temple Meads, Plymouth and Penzance. It was not unusual for locomotives to work services on other routes, such as the Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads corridor. The introduction of the Class 50s on these routes enabled the last remaining diesel hydraulic "Hymeks", "Warships" and "Westerns" to be withdrawn. These locomotives were non-standard in the BR fleet, and the final "Western" was withdrawn in 1977.

In the late-1970s following the withdrawal of the last of the "Warships", BR decided to continue this naming policy, and as a result the Class 50 fleet were all named after Royal Navy warships. The first locomotive naming occurred in January 1978, when no. 50035 was named Ark Royal in honour of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. The rest of the fleet was named during the course of 1978, concluding in October with no. 50029, which was named Renown after the Resolution-class nuclear submarine HMS Renown. No. 50049 Defiance is named after a Royal Navy shore establishment rather than a sea-going vessel.

In 1977, British Rail introduced the Class 253 High Speed Trains onto the Great Western Main Line. The Class 50 fleet was therefore partially redeployed onto other routes, such as services to Birmingham New Street from London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads. The class also found work on services along the West of England Main Line from London Waterloo to Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth. However, due in part to the over-complexity of the design, the class was plagued with reliability problems. As a result, the decision was taken in the late 1970s to refurbish the entire fleet, removing much of the complex electrical gear.

[edit] Refurbishment

Between 1979 and 1984, the Class 50 fleet was refurbished at Doncaster Works. The work involved simplifying the complex electronics and removing redundant features such as slow speed control. In addition, modifications took place to the air intake fan arrangement which eliminated the characteristic "sucking" noise which had earned the "Hoover" nickname. The original air circulation arrangement was the cause of many failures in traffic as the filtration system often prevented fresh air entering the engine room and stale, oil mist-filled air could not escape leading to many main generator failures. Externally, the locomotives all received high-intensity headlights, which changed the appearance of the front end. The first locomotives were outshopped in the standard BR Blue livery. However, in 1980, no. 50023 Howe became the first to be outshopped in a revised livery with wrap around yellow cabs, large bodyside numerals and BR logo, in a livery that became known as BR Blue Large Logo.

Following refurbishment, the fleet was concentrated at two depots; Laira in Plymouth, and Old Oak Common in West London. The class were again used for Western Region services on the GWML out of Paddington, and on the West of England Main Line from Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter. In 1986, this latter route came under the control of the Network SouthEast (NSE) sector, which saw the introduction of their bright blue, red and white livery. The first locomotive in this livery was again no. 50023 Howe. The NSE livery had two versions; the original had upswept red and white stripes and the ends, with a white cab surround; the revised livery introduced in 1988 had the red and white stripes continue to the body ends, with a blue cab surround.

50007 Sir Edward Elgar in Brunswick green livery in 1993.

In 1984, no. 50007 Hercules was repainted into lined Brunswick green livery and renamed Sir Edward Elgar, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway. Four Class 47 locomotives were similarly treated, and a Class 117 diesel multiple unit was repainted in chocolate and cream livery. As a result, no. 50007 quickly became a favourite with rail enthusiasts. Another locomotive repainted in a special livery was no. 50019 Ramillies, which was repainted in a variation of BR Blue by staff at Plymouth Laira depot.

Towards the end of the 1980s, the fleet could be found mostly on the West of England route, as well as fast services from Paddington to Oxford. Some locomotives were also transferred to the civil engineers department to work maintenance and engineering trains. Around this time, the first locomotives started to be withdrawn, starting with no. 50011 Centurion in early 1987. This locomotive's names were later transferred to no. 50040, which was previously named "Leviathan". A further two locomotives, nos. 50006 Neptune and 50014 Warspite were withdrawn in 1987, followed by a further five locomotives (nos. 50010/13/22/38/47) in 1988.

50149 Defiance in Trainload Grey livery.

In 1987, consideration was given to using the class on freight trains. To this end, no. 50049 "Defiance" was renumbered to no. 50149, equipped with lower-geared bogies, and outshopped in the new trainload grey livery with railfreight decals. It was based at Plymouth Laira depot, and tested on local china clay trains in Cornwall. The project was, however, not an outstanding success, and by 1989, the locomotive had returned to its original identity. Part of the reason for the lack of success was that the sanding equipment had been removed during the refurbishment process.

At the dawn of the 1990s, reliability of the Class 50s was still an issue. By this time, the class was solely used on the West of England route, having been replaced on the Oxford route by Class 47/7 locomotives. Arguably, the Class 50s were not suitable for the stop-start service pattern of Waterloo-Exeter services, nor to the extended single-line sections of this route, where a single locomotive failure could cause chaos. Therefore the decision was taken to retire the fleet, temporarily replacing them with Class 47 locomotives, which were in turn replaced by new diesel multiple units. From 1992, the Oxford route was worked by Class 165 and Class 166 units, whilst Class 159 units were introduced onto the West of England route in 1993.

By 1992, just eight locomotives remained in services, these being nos. 50007/008/015/029/030/033/046/050. Several of these locomotives were specially repainted to commemorate the run-down of the fleet. The first-built locomotive, no. 50050 Fearless was renumbered D400 and painted in its original BR Blue livery. Two other locomotives, nos. 50008 Thunderer and 50015 Valiant were also repainted, the former in a variation of BR Blue (the same as no. 50019 had previously carried), and the latter in "Dutch" civil-engineers grey/yellow livery. Of the final eight locomotives, three were retained until 1994 for use on special railtours, these being nos. 50007 Sir Edward Elgar, 50033 Glorious and 50050 Fearless. 50007 was returned to working order using parts from 50046, which surrendered its recently-overhauled power unit and bogies. By this time, no. 50050 had been repainted into Blue Largo Logo livery and 50007 also received a repaint into GWR green as the 1985 paint was wearing very thin. The final railtours operated in March 1994, during one of which no. 50033 was delivered for preservation at the National Railway Museum. The final railtour operated with nos. 50007 and 50050 from London Waterloo to Penzance and returning to London Paddington. Both locomotives were later preserved.

[edit] Preservation

Class 50, no. 50035 Ark Royal at Doncaster Works on 27th July 2003. This locomotive carries BR Blue Large Logo livery, and is preserved on the Severn Valley Railway.

50021 Rodney with 50017 Royal Oak behind at the Birmingham Railway Museum on 21 November 2004. The former is painted in non-standard LMS maroon, a legacy from when it was hired to work the VSOE Northern Belle. Both locomotives are currently undergoing restoration to working order.

Class 50 locomotives proved popular, with many saved for preservation. Several of the preserved locomotives have been registered for use on the mainline, including nos. 50031 Hood and 50049 Defiance. One locomotive, no. 50017, was previously hired to Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) to work the Northern Belle service from Bath to Manchester Victoria. As part of the contract it was painted in LMS-style maroon livery. However, it is now undergoing restoration having suffered a serious mechanical failure.

An ambitious project involving preserved Class 50s was "Operation Collingwood", an engineering charity established in the early 1990s. The aim had been to train young engineering apprentices by getting them to rebuild railway locomotives and Class 50s were chosen both for the fact that they were a British design throughout and that all were named (so the apprentices would derive some pride from rededication ceremonies at the completion of their work). To this end, Operation Collingwood purchased and stored nos. 50001, 50023, 50029, 50030, 50040 and 50045. All except 50029 and 50030 were heavily-stripped examples sold to scrapyards for final cutting up. The intention was to restore them by using industrial sponsorship money to build an engineering centre and overhaul the components, making brand new ones where necessary to overcome lack of availability of some parts unique to the original design. These ambitions failed when sponsorship did not reach the required level and the project lost various key people. The charity was wound up in 2002; 50001/023/040 and 045 were sold back to scrapyards and their state as little more than bodyshells deterred most further preservation attempts. 50045 was scrapped to provide spares for preserved 50026 and 50001 met a similar fate, A private individual made an attempt to restore 50023 using some parts from 50001 but this was abandoned and the shell was cut up a few years after the initial purchase. 50040 is widely believed to be suitable for cosmetic restoration and its future is unclear as of late 2005. 50029 and 50030 were in far better mechanical condition, and were sold to a preservation group for full restoration.

50043 Eagle was purchased in almost working order (the main generator had failed, a very common Class 50 problem) but it was never intended for restoration. Instead the power unit was gutted to provide parts for preserved Class 40 no. 40118 as the two share a very similar design of diesel engine. Eagle was then subjected to a further bout of stripping when electrical and other parts were sold to various Class 50 preservationists. Although cosmetically very smart, the loco was by this stage unrestorable and although an ambitious private individual did try this effort soon came to naught and it was scrapped to provide parts for 50026 Indomitable.

In 2005, 50031 and 50049 were returned to regular mainline use, on long term hire to Arriva Trains Wales, for use on special services in connection with events at the Millenium Stadium, and over the summer period saw regular use on the monday to saturday "Fishguard Flyer" from Cardiff to Fishguard and return, in connection with the ferry sailing to Ireland. One of the two locomotives was used for the service each day, along with 4 Mk2 coaches, the short formation and high power leading to very good performance.

[edit] Portuguese Locomotives

The Portuguese public operator, CP, bought 10 locomotives similar to the BR Class 50, the 1800 series (1801-1810) that entered service in 1968. Like the UK design, they were equipped with an English Electric 16 CSVT engine and produced 2020 HP at the wheels. The specification of the Portuguese locomotives was more basic than the British Rail examples; for example the BR locomotives drive the radiator fan via electric power derived from the electric train heating (ETH) generator whereas on the CP1800s the fan is belt-driven from the diesel engine. The CP1800s are not fitted with ETH and the electrical control equipment is consequently simpler. They were the only diesel locomotives in Portugal authorised to run at 140 km/h. The CP1800s were all withdrawn in 2001 and most still survive, with their future unclear as of September 2006.

[edit] Preservation

The remaining locomotives are listed below:

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: British Rail Class 50

[edit] General information

• Class 50 photo gallery
• The 50's - information website.
• Railways online - Class 50 profile.

[edit] Preserved locomotives

• Manchester Class 50 Group - Owners of preserved locomotive no. 50015 Valiant
• Project Defiance - Owners of preserved locomotive no. 50049/50149 Defiance.
• Renown Repulse Restoration Group - Owners of preserved locomotives nos. 50029 and 50030, which are currently undergoing extensive restoration.
• The Fifty Fund - Owners of preserved locomotives nos. 50031, 50035 and 50044. Includes class history, specifications and more information.