50031 'Hood' Class 50 seen smoking away at London Waterloo with 1V09, the Waterloo - Exeter service, on 31st May 1991
The British Rail Class 50s were designed to haul express passenger trains at 100 mph. Built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968, they were initially employed hauling express passenger trains on the then non-electrified section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Glasgow. Initially numbered D400 - D449 and known as English Electric Type 4s, the locomotives became Class 50 in the TOPS renumbering scheme of 1973, and were renumbered 50001-50050. Once the electrification from Crewe to Glasgow was completed the locomotives were moved to the Great Western Main Line out of Paddington to allow the retirement of most of the remaining diesel-hydraulic locomotives then in use. As trains on the Great Western Main Line steadily moved to High Speed Train operation from 1976, the Class 50s moved to hauling trains between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids, and also trains from London Paddington to Hereford and Worcester via Oxford until the majority of those trains too were taken over by IC125 operation. The class was steadily retired from service in the late 1980s and early 1990s as their services moved to operation by second-generation Class 159 DMUs.
Size: 3089px × 2048px
Location: London Waterloo
Photo credit: © Chris McKee / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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