page_title: British Rail Class 50
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 50 / Service
caption_attribution_description: British English: British Rail Class 50, 50010, in BR all-over blue livery at Reading General on an up train in 1974. Number history: D410, 50010 Name: Monarch Scanned from a Kodachrome 35mm slide.
context_page_description: The British Rail Class 50 is a class of diesel locomotives 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, the Class 50s were initially on a 10-year lease from English Electric Leasing, and were employed hauling express passenger trains on the, then non-electrified, section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Scotland. Initially numbered D400 - D449 and known as English Electric Type 4s, the locomotives were purchased outright by British Rail at the end of the lease and became Class 50 in the TOPS renumbering of 1973. The class gained the nickname "Hoovers" because of the noise made by the clean air plant at the No.2 end, prior to refurbishment, which was likened to that of a vacuum cleaner, a name believed given to them by the staff at Paddington Station. 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.
context_section_description: The class was built for working passenger services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) north of Crewe, to Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle, Glasgow Central and Perth, occasionally reaching as far north as Aberdeen. Services south of Crewe would generally be worked by an electric locomotive, with the Class 50s taking over for the journeys that continued north. Initially trains were hauled by a single locomotive, but from May 1970 they were paired on 8 out of 34 locomotive diagrams covering Anglo-Scottish services north of Crewe, allowing greatly accelerated timings to be applied (including a six-hour schedule for the "Royal Scot" London Euston-Glasgow Central and v.v. service). Once the electric service was introduced as far as Preston in 1973, this double-heading by Class 50s transferred there, although poor availability often resulted in single-heading with consequent delays. The ability to operate using multiple working had been part of the locomotive's initial design brief, but only two of the class had the facility from new, but with the introduction of the regular double headed duties, this facility was fitted to the whole class.
  By 1974 the northern WCML was electrified, and the Class 50 fleet was displaced by new Class 87 electrics. The fleet was transferred to the Western Region between 1972 and 1976, working mainline passenger services from London Paddington along the Great Western Main Line (GWML) to destinations such as Oxford, Bristol Temple Meads, Plymouth and Penzance. It was not unusual for locomotives to work services on other routes, such as the Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads corridor. The introduction of the Class 50s on these routes enabled the last remaining, non-standard, diesel hydraulic "Westerns" to be withdrawn.
  In the late-1970s, following a period where the policy of locomotive naming had been abandoned, BR was persuaded to name the class 50s after Royal Navy ships with notable records in World War I and II. As a result, the first locomotive naming occurred in January 1978, when 50035 was named Ark Royal by the captain and crew of then current aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. The rest of the fleet was named during the course of the next few years.
  From 1977, British Rail introduced InterCity 125s onto the Great Western Main Line which began the displacement of the Class 50 fleet onto other routes, such as services to Birmingham New Street from London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads. The class also found work on the West of England Main Line from London Waterloo to Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth. However, due in part to the over-complexity of the design, the class was plagued with reliability problems which resulted in frequent service failures and cancellations. As a result, the decision was taken in the late 1970s to refurbish the entire fleet.
caption: 50010 at Reading General in 1974
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