BR Class 50 50049 Defiance
| BR Class 50 50049 Defiance | |
|---|---|
 50049 Defiance returning to service in 2016 | |
| Built By | English Electric Vulcan Foundry Works, Newton-le-Willows |
| Configuration | Co-Co |
| Power type | Diesel Electric |
| Status | In service |
| Loco Number | 50049 |
| Other Numbers | D449 |
| History | |
| Built | 1968 |
| Designed By | English Electric |
| Type | Class 50 |
| 1991 | Purchased by Project Defiance |
| 1999 | Arrived on SVR |
| 2016 | Reentered service from overhaul |
| Technical | |
| Length | 68ft 6" |
| Weight | 115t |
50049 Defiance is a BR Class 50 diesel locomotive owned and operated by The Class 50 Alliance. .
Contents
BR Class 50
Fifty English Electric Type 4 (later BR Class 50) diesel locomotives were built by English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry Works plant in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968. When built they were numbered in the D4xx series. They later became BR’s Class 50, being allocated TOPS numbers in the 50xxx series. The class was nicknamed “Hoovers” because of the distinctive sound of the inertial air-filters with which the locomotives were originally fitted.
Initially the locomotives were used to haul express passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between Crewe and Scotland; that section not then being electrified. This often entailed ‘Multiple Working’, with two locomotives under control of a single driver.
By 1974 the northern WCML had been electrified, and the Class 50 fleet was being transferred to BR’s Western Region to work main line passenger services out of London Paddington.
The Class 50’s did not originally carry names, but in the late 1970s BR agreed to their being named after Royal Navy vessels with notable records in the First and Second World Wars.
Withdrawal of the class began in the early 1990s.
50049 Defiance in service
D449 entered service at Stoke in December 1968. Renumbered to 50049 in January 1973, the locomotive moved to Bristol in May 1974.
In May 1978, 50049 was named Defiance after the Royal Navy's torpedo school.
In 1987, 50049 was involved in an experiment to use Class 50 locomotives on freight trains. To that end it was re-numbered as 50149, equipped with modified Class 37 lower-geared bogies, and out-shopped in trainload grey livery with Railfreight decals. Based at Plymouth Laira, two years was spent working china clay trains in Cornwall and heavy stone trains from Devon quarries to London. By 1989 the locomotive has reverted to 50049, being withdrawn from service by BR in August 1991.
50049 Defiance in preservation
50049 was bought for preservation by 'The Class 50 Society', later re-named Project Defiance.[1] 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.
In 2005, 50031 and 50049 were on long term hire to Arriva Trains Wales (ATW), for use on special services in connection with events at the Millennium Stadium, and over the summer period saw regular use on the Monday to Saturday "Fishguard Flyer" from Cardiff to Fishguard and return, in connection with the ferry sailing to Ireland. One of the two locomotives was used for the service each day, along with 4 Mark 2 coaches.[2]
In November 2006 shareholders in Project Defiance agreed to a merger with The Fifty Fund, owners of two other Class 50s and operators of a third, to form The Class 50 Alliance. Ownership of 50049 passed to the new organisation.
After the railtour of 18 October 2008, Defiance underwent a bogie and wheelset overhaul.
The loco was taken out of traffic in 2013 following the discovery of leaking cylinder liners. A top end power unit rebuild was carried out, along with replacement of the main and ETH generators with overhauled ones.[3] 50049 completed its overhaul in April 2016 in time to work passenger services during the April 'Open House' weekend.
50049 Defiance on the main line in preservation
An incomplete list of main line appearances is as follows:
| Date | Tour name | Tour Operator | Route | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2000 | Celtic Hoover | With 50031 Hood (as D431) | |||
| 27 November 2004 | The Yorkshire Royale | Pathfinder | Cardiff-Derby (detached/reattached)-York (steam) | With 50031 Hood and 6233 Duchess of Sutherland | [4] |
| 4 March 2005 | The Monarch Of The Glen | Pathfinder | With 50031 Hood | [4] | |
| 12 March 2005 | The West Somerset Wanderer | Pathfinder | Chester to Minehead | With 6024 King Edward 1 | [4] |
| 29 May 2005 | The Pixies Revenge | Pathfinder | Banbury to Penzance | With 50031 Hood | [4] |
| 1 October 2005 | The Devonshire Riviera Express | Steamy Affairs | Northampton to Kingswear | With 50031 Hood and 60009 Union of South Africa | [4] |
| 25 March 2006 | The Redmire Rambler | Pathfinder | Cardiff to Redmire | With 50031 Hood | [4] |
| 16-19 June 2006 | The Orcadian | Pathfinder | Swindon to Inverness, Kyle of Lochalsh, Wick and Thurso | With 50031 Hood | [4] |
| 16 December 2006 | The Airean Raider | Pathfinder | Cardiff to Leeds | With 50031 Hood | [4] |
| 12 May 2007 | The Pompey-Vectis Explorer | Vintage Trains | Tyseley to Havant | The loco failed at Elstree and the tour was cancelled | [4] |
| 3 June 2007 | The Bristol Coal-Stone Haul | Bristol and Portbury, Avonmouth, Tytherington, Westerleigh and Severn Beach | With 31105 and 31285. Tour in support of the Railway Children charity | [4] | |
| 18 August 2007 | Airbourne Eastbourne | Vintage Trains | Tyseley to Eastbourne | With 57601 | [4] |
| 4 November 2007 | Valley Aid | North York Moors Railway | Whitby-Battersby | NYMR staged the "Valley aid" benefit gala to raise funds for the SVR repairs after the 2007 Storm Damage | [5] |
| 8 December 2007 | The Lincoln Marketeer | Pathfinder | Salisbury to Barnetby via the East Coast Main Line and via Leicester and the Midland Main Line (MML) for the return | [4] | |
| 10 May 2008 | The Purbeck And Weymouth Explorer | Vintage Trains | Birmingham Moor Street to Weymouth | With 47773 | [4] |
| 18 October 2008 | Rail Blue Charters | Manchester Piccadilly to Minehead | With 50044 Exeter and 57601. 50049's final railtour before a bogie and wheelset overhaul | [6] | |
| 19 November 2011 | The Edinburgh Explorer II | Spitfire | Preston to Edinburgh | With 50044 Exeter and 57001 | [7] |
| 7 October 2017 | The Caledonian | Pathfinder | Crewe-Glasgow | With 50007 Hercules | [8] |
| 14 April 2018 | Cumbrian Hoovers | Pathfinder | Birmingham - Settle & Carlisle -Carlisle returning via Cumbrian Coast | Charity railtour, with 50007 Hercules | [9] |
Gallery
50049 Defiance at Kidderminster
See also
Diesel Locomotives
List of preservation groups
SVR-based locomotives visiting other events
Locomotives running under different identities
References
- ↑ Fifty Fund history
- ↑ Wikipedia
- ↑ Fifty Fund (retrieved 21 January 2018)
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Englishelectric.org website (Retrieved 21 January 2018)
- ↑ Renown Repulse Restoration Group website (Retrieved 21 January 2018)
- ↑ Hondawanderer.com/Martin Loader Photography (Retrieved 21 January 2018)
- ↑ Hart M., ‘English Electric Class 40, 50 & 55 Diesel Locomotives’, Amberley Publishing Limited, April 2014
- ↑ YouTube (Retrieved 21 January 2018)
- ↑ Fifty Fund website (Retrieved 21 January 2018)
Links
Class 50 Alliance web site
50 Fund web site (still maintained)
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