Changes

50049 was bought for preservation by Project Defiance. Following an overhaul at AWS in Cardiff, it moved to the West Somerset Railway where it was repainted into the Railfreight Distribution two tone grey livery as 50149.Defiance left the WSR to attend the SVR Diesel Gala in 1999, and remained at the SVR thereafter. A year later, in BR Blue livery as D449, it participated in its first mainline with 50031 Hood (as D431) on the Celtic Hoover Railtour in September 2000.

Project Defiance has now merged with The 50 Fund, owners of two other Class 50s and operators of a third, to form [[The Class 50 Alliance]]. {{As of|2016|01}}, 50049 is coming to the end of an overhaul and is likely to be in service for the 2016 season, and has undergone several test runs.