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 railway locomotive. It is a six-axle development of the eight-axle Class 46. Some Class 47s have been rebuilt with EMD engines and re-classified Class 57.

[edit] Introduction

Numbering 512 examples when built, after more than 40 years of front line passenger and freight operations, fewer than 40 examples still regularly operate on the National network. 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 prestige trains like the Blue Pullman.

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 three active Class 47s: 47237/501/802. 47298 is presently out of service and is rumoured to be donating parts to 47829 (see below). 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.

It is expected that 47829 will be repaired using parts from stored 47298. Meanwhile 47306 was confirmed as having passed into preservation on 25th February in a statement released by the Bodmin & Wenford Mainline Diesel Group. The locomotive moved from from St Blazey to Bodmin in March 2007.

The company acquired 47790 from EWS in February 2007.

[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.

The company offered all but one of their stored Class 47 locomotives for sale in January 2007. The details of the tender process were revealed in late February 2007. The locomotives were sold as follows

Preserved : 47732, 47746, 47761, 47770, 47772,47773 and 47793 Direct Rail Services : 47790 West Coast Railway Company : 47760, 47786 ,47792, 47776 SECO : 47635, 47727 Sold for Scrap : 47721, 47722, 47726, 47733, 47734, 47736, 47737, 47739, 47741, 47742, 47747, 47749, 47750, 47758, 47759, 47781, 47783, 47784, 47785, 47789 and 47791

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 embellished 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 and return special train on 11th 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.

Continuing availability issues with Class 57s saw locomotives from Cotswold Rail hired in to work the Night Riviera service on more than one occasion in January and July 2006.

47703 hired in from Cotswold Rail CRHH sector was commandeered to work the Night Riviera service from Penzance to Paddington on 31st January, the first such incident since July 2006.

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.

Freightliner offered a number of its stored locomotives for sale on 5th February 2007. Included in the tender are : 47197 47270 47279 47292 47302 47303 47309 47358 and 47370. It was reported that all the locos have been sold to TJ Thompson and are all likely to be scrapped. 47270 has since been resold into preservation at the Nene Valley Railway, this once hybrid locomotive was the test bed for the first class 57/0s.

[edit] Virgin CrossCountry

On 1 August 2001, 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] Seco

From 2007 Seco infrastructure have acquired 2 class 47s from the EWS tender list, these locomotives are 47-635 & 47-727 the locomotives were moved on 3rd April 2007 to Eastleigh pending overhull and return to main line work.

[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. 47200/316/703/714/810/813/818/828, and nos. 47033 and 47365 undergoing repair. There are also several more locomotives in store.

47365 has since moved to CF Booth for Scrapping

47703 transferred from former FM ownership on 29th January 2007, moving from East Ham to Gloucester. The loco was denamed on 27/03/07 and is due to move to be painted.

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. 47145/355/709/712/716/832, 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 'Nanking Blue' livery and are often seen working with the 'Blue Pullman' charter train for Hertfordshire Railtours (which is owned by FM Rail).

FM Rail went into receivership on 11th December 2006 and has subsequently seen a lot of assets sold including locomotives and coaching stock.

47703 was sold to Cotswold Rail on 29th January 2007. The following have been sold to EMR (European Metal Recycling) and are expected to be cut up shortly : ex Barrow Hill 47053 and 47717, ex Derby : 47710 and ex MOD Kineton : 47186 47201 47219 47226 47228 47280 47293 47307 47313 47314 47335 and 47360.

Locomotives 47145, 47709 & 47712 were moved to Carnforth on 22nd February for storage. They are embargoed from working at present. 47355 also moved to Carnforth on 3rd April 2007, its to be seen what is to happen with this locomotive.

[edit] Nemesis Rail and Mainline Rail

This small new spot hire company which is made up with ex FM rail directors now plan another Fragonset, they also have a fleet of non working examples of Class 47s. This fleet are ex EWS locomotives from the RES fleet all of which are stored- 47640 47707 47716 47744 47767 it is to be seen what they company plan for this fleet.

[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 latterly 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.

The company acquired 47760, 47786, 47792, 47776, from EWS in February 2007. speculation now links WCRC with 47488 at Barrow Hill, although this is yet to be confirmed.

[edit] Derailment

On 6 September 1993, at 12:02am, Locomotive No 47288 derailed at speed in the tunnel approaching Maidstone East. The incident caused severe damage, and the line was closed for several weeks, but there were no fatalities or injuries.

[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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British Rail Class 47