Class 50s carry out a spot of ‘hoovering’ in Devon
50049 Defiance (with 50007 Hercules on the rear) leads the return trip of the ‘Springtime Hoovering in Devon’ rail tour from Okehampton through Crediton station on March 26.
The Class 50s are synonymous with the county, having been originally designed to haul 100mph express trains, and were
given the nickname ‘hoovers’ by staff at London Paddington, who likened the noise they made to a vacuum cleaner.
The charter departed the capital at 0735, with stopping points at Slough, Reading and Swindon, before heading to Paignton via Bristol and the Dawlish Sea Wall, and then returning via the Okehampton branch and Westbury.