BR Class 50 50044 Exeter

BRBritish Rail or British Railways Class 50 50044 Exeter
50044 Exeter at Kidderminster, April 2017
Built By	English Electric Vulcan Foundry Works, Newton-le-Willows
Configuration	Co-Co
Power type	Diesel Electric
Status	Operational
Loco Number	50044
Other Numbers	D444
History
Built	1968
Designed By	English Electric
Type	Class 50
1991	Purchased by Project Defiance
1994	Entered SVRSevern Valley Railway service
2012	Diesel engine damaged
2018	Returned to service
Technical
Length	68ft 6"
Weight	115t
Diesel Locomotives

50044 Exeter (D444) is a BRBritish Rail or British Railways Class 50 diesel locomotive. A brief description and history of the class can be found on the 50007 page.

50044 Exeter in service

D444 entered service at Stoke in November 1968, having been built as English Electric Works No 3814/D1185.

In May 1973 D444 was transferred to Crewe, being re-numbered 50044 in February 1974. Following electrification of the WCML, 50044 moved to Bristol in May 1974, before a move to Plymouth Laira in November 1980.

In April 1978, 50044 was named Exeter after HMS Exeter, a Royal Navy World War York Class Cruiser. Commissioned in 1931, HMS Exeter was involved in the Battle of the River Plate which resulted in the sinking of the German battleship Graf Spee. HMS Exeter was later sent to the East Indies where she was sunk by the Japanese in 1942.

50044 was withdrawn from service by BRBritish Rail or British Railways in January 1991.

50044 Exeter in preservation

Following withdrawal, 50044 was sent to London's Stratford depot for component recovery and later offered for sale as suitable for scrap only. The Fifty Fund were seeking a locomotive as a source of spares for 50035 Ark Royal, but finding that few components had been removed, successfully purchased 50044 for preservation in November 1991 at a cost of £5,044 (plus VAT). The locomotive was initially moved to St Leonards Depot in East Sussex in January 1992. A poll of the Fund's shareholders voted to cosmetically 'de-furbish' the locomotive to as near to as-built condition as practical.

On 1-2 May 1994, 'Exeter Railfair' was held at Exeter Riverside Yard to mark the City's 150-year link with the railways. 50044 was re-dedicated in a ceremony 1 May 1994. Following the event, 50044 was moved to the SVRSevern Valley Railway on 6 May 1994 with 50031 Hood.. 50044 made its inaugural passenger operation at the SVRSevern Valley Railway in the same month,while both appeared at Kidderminster as static exhibits at the Vintage Vehicle Day on 9 October that year.

After arrival repairs were carried out to the B1 cylinder liner which was leaking coolant into the sump. The No. 6 traction motor was also running in an isolated condition. In summer 1996 50044 and 50031 attended the Tinsley Depot Open Day. While there, 50044 had the No. 6 traction motor changed; the proportional brake valves were also changed at the same time. In that autumn, all the traction motor brushes were changed, and the locomotive was repainted into a 1960-70s livery.

Between 1996 and 1998 50044 Exeter (D444) performed the brunt of all the class 50 diagrams on the SVRSevern Valley Railway, being used for rostered passenger work and driver training. In 1998 it attended the Toton Depot open day and the West Somerset Railway Diesel Gala. After visiting Brush Engineering at Loughborough to have a faulty field winding attended to in the generator; it was re-registered with RESCO for main line work.

50044 was operational until the end of 1999 both on the SVRSevern Valley Railway and the main line. In early 2000 50044 returned to Brush Engineering under warranty to check out what was thought to be a small earth fault on the recently repaired generator. 50044 returned to the SVRSevern Valley Railway where other overhaul work was undertaken, while the generator underwent a lengthy repair carried out by Dowding and Mills. The locomotive eventually returned to service in May 2004 having also been fitted with TWPS which had become a requirement for main line working by that time. It had been repainted as D444 (nameless) in an early BRBritish Rail or British Railways two tone green livery (non-authentic, but representing how the class would have appeared if BRBritish Rail or British Railways had not turned to blue livery at that time.

On Saturday 14 October 2006, D444 was rededicated to HMS Exeter by Lieutenant Commander Scott Sellars, Logistics Officer of the later HMS Exeter, as part of the Kidderminster Station Festival. In early 2011 50044 was repainted by Pullman Rail at Cardiff Canton into an authentic BRBritish Rail or British Railways blue livery, returning to main line use in the late summer of that year.

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  D444 (50044 Exeter) on a mainline tour at Bristol, October 2008

During 2012 a problem with oil temperature on a mainline rail tour damaged 50044's diesel set. 50044 entered the new Diesel Depot facility when it became available for use in January 2016. A replacement English Electric 16CSVT was secured from Portugal (ex CP 1807) which was fitted with adjustments made to bring it in line with UK specifications.

On 30 August 2017 50044 travelled to the Old Oak Common open day in a convoy which also included 50049, 50047, 50035 and D1015. 50044 returned to passenger duty on 10 September 2018 having received the overhauled engine and overhauled main, ETHElectric Train Heating and auxiliary generators. It received a bogie overhaul in the Diesel Depot over the winter of 2019/20, and returned to the mainline in 2021. The C50A describe it as "Operational [..] awaiting attention to optimise performance", and it spent the 2024 operational season sheeted over.

50044 Exeter on the main line in preservation

A potentially incomplete list of main line appearances is as follows:

Date	Tour name	Tour Operator	Route	Notes	Reference
1999			Paddington to York	With 50031 Hood
18 October 2008		Rail Blue Charters	Manchester Piccadilly to Minehead	With 50049 Defiance and 57601
9 May 2009	The Cambrian Mountaineer	Spitfire	Bristol to Aberystwyth
3-4 September 2011	The Snowdon Ranger	PTG Tours	London Euston to Holyhead	With 57304 Gordon Tracy
19 November 2011	The Edinburgh Explorer II	Spitfire	Preston to Edinburgh	With 50049 Defiance and 57001
21 July 2012		GBRfGB Railfreight, a main line rail freight operating company.	Cardiff-Paignton (private leg) - Plymouth	With 66720
11 September 2021		GBRfGB Railfreight, a main line rail freight operating company.	Tame Bridge Parkway-Stranraer	'The Galloway Fifties', with 50007 Hercules and 50049 Defiance

See also

• Diesel Locomotives
• List of preservation groups
• SVR-based diesel locomotives visiting other events
• Locomotives running under different identities

Notes

References

Links

• Class 50 Alliance web site
• 50 Fund web site (still maintained)