Masterclass

It should have been the end of the ‘50s’ 25 years ago... but it wasn’t. Pip Dunn brings the story up to date.

Class 50s should have gone 25 years ago… but they didn’t. Pip Dunn tells us how.

All 50 Class 50s were still in traffic at the start of 1987. It was a remarkable feat for a 1960s BR diesel fleet not to have suffered one withdrawal, but that record only lasted until February ‘87, when 50011 Centurion was condemned. The writing was on the wall for the Class 50. English Electric’s Type 4 Co- Co was a good design but it had one major shortcoming – there were only 50 of them. It was perhaps no surprise, when BR split its operations into business sectors in the mid-1980s that they were deemed ‘non-standard’. Parts became harder to source and fewer drivers knew how to operate them, when compared to, say, the Class 47s. The cull was swift and when January 1 1992 dawned there were just four left in traffic: 50029 Renown, 50030 Repulse, 50033 Glorious and 50050, running without its Fearless nameplates. The quartet were based at Plymouth Laira, where depot staff planned to resurrect a fifth, GWR150 green ‘pet’ 50007 Sir Edward Elgar, using parts from 50046 Ajax. 50019 Ramillies and 50035 Ark Royal had already been sold to preservationists and the remainder were dumped. The last ‘50s’ were employed on the ‘Mule’, the nickname for the EX-LSWR main line between London Waterloo and Exeter, because there were not enough Class 47s available to cover the timetabled diagrams. 50029 failed near Salisbury on January 2 1992 and never worked again. The remaining trio were already on borrowed time. 50033 hauled the last regular ‘Mule’ working on March 24. BR held a special farewell day on May 24, with 50007 and 50050 being used on ‘Mule’ services between Exeter St David’s and Salisbury. That wasn’t quite the end for main line ‘50s’. 50007, 50033 and 50050 were retained for charters and worked a handful before looming privatisation

“It was a good design but it had one major shortcoming – there were only 50 of them ”

D. PYE/COLOUR RAIL Above: The end? 50050 Fearless and 50007 rattlsirrattle Sir Edward Elgar rattle the foundations of Basingstoke with Pathfinder Tours’ LondonPenzance ‘The 50 Terminator’ on March 26 1994. After several years on borrowed time hauling charters, this was the last time Class 50s were expected to work on the national network.

GBRF Left: A new era dawns for Class 50s on the main line: 50007 and 50049 will wear GBRF’S distinctive blue colour scheme as part of a new hire agreement between it and the Class 50 Alliance.