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BR Class 50 50044 Exeter

1,801 bytes added, 09:51, 25 April 2020
m
Typo
|wheels = Co-Co
|power = Diesel Electric
|status = Under overhaulOperational
|locono = 50044
|othernos = D444
|years2 = 2012
|events2 = Diesel engine damaged
|years3 = 2018
|events3 = Returned to service
|length = 68ft 6"
|weight = 115t
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, 50031 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 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, but finding that few components had been removed, successfully purchased 50044 for preservation. It arrived from St Leonards on 6 May 1994 with [[BR Class 50 50031 Hood|50031 Hood]].<ref>SVR Stock Book, ninth edition</ref> The locomotive has been cosmetically de-refurbished, to appear as it did when released to BR from English Electric's Vulcan Foundry works. Since its preservation 50044 has worked both on the SVR and on the main line.
<gallery>
File:Hugh llewelyn D444 (5581607177).jpg|D444 (50044 Exeter) on a mainline tour at Bristol
Exeter was repainted in un-prototypical two tone green and rededicated by the Crew of HMS Exeter at Kidderminster in 2007. '44 has subsequently been repainted in BR Blue.
In 2012 a problem with oil temperature on a mainline railtour damaged 50044's diesel set. A replacement English Electric 16CSVT has been secured from Portugal (ex CP 1807) which is now was fitted inside '44 and the final touches with adjustments made to bring it in line with UK specifications are being worked . On 10 September 2018 50044 returned to passenger duty having received the overhauled engine and overhauled main, ETH and auxiliary generators.<ref>Severn Valley Diesels Official Facebook Group.</ref> It received a bogie overhaul in the [[Diesel Depot]] over the winter of 2019/20. ===50044 Exeter onthe main line in preservation===An incomplete list of main line appearances is as follows: {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"!data-sort-type="date"| Date!!Tour name !! Tour Operator!!Route !! Notes !! Reference|-|data-sort-value="18/10/2008" | 18 October 2008||||Rail Blue Charters|| Manchester Piccadilly to Minehead||With 50049 Defiance and 57601 || <ref>[http://www. Start up is anticipated in early 2017hondawanderer.com/50044_50049_Magor_2008.htm Hondawanderer.com/Martin Loader Photography] (Retrieved 21 January 2018)</ref>|-|data-sort-value="9/5/2009" | 9 May 2009||The Cambrian Mountaineer||Spitfire||Bristol to Aberystwyth |||| <ref>[https://www.renownrepulse.com/gallery/other-class-50-s/preserved-class-50-s-on-main-line.html Renown Repluse Restoration Group website] (Retrieved 21 January 2018)</ref>|-|data-sort-value="3/9/2011" | 3-4 September 2011||The Snowdon Ranger ||PTG Tours||London Euston to Holyhead ||With 57304 Gordon Tracy || <ref name="EEOrg">[http://www.fiftyfundenglishelectric.org.uk/indexf819756767 Englishelectric.org website] (Retrieved 21 January 2018)</ref>|-|data-sort-value="19/11/2011" | 19 November 2011||The Edinburgh Explorer II || Spitfire||Preston to Edinburgh ||With 50049 Defiance and 57001 || <ref>Hart M.php, ‘English Electric Class 40, 50 & 55 Diesel Locomotives’, Amberley Publishing Limited, April 2014</ourref>|-|data-locomotivessort-value="21/500447/2012" | 21 July 2012|| ||GBRf||Cardiff-Paignton (private leg) -exeter Fifty Fund 50044 page]Plymouth ||With 66720 || <ref name="EEOrg"/ref>|-|}
==See also==
[[Diesel Locomotives]]<br>
[[List of preservation groups]]<br>
[[SVR-based diesel locomotives visiting other events]]<br>[[Rolling stock currently under restoration]]<br>
[[Locomotive numbering|Locomotives running under different identities]]
{{DieselNavbox}}
 
[[Category:Operational passenger hauling diesel locomotives]]
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