page_title: British Rail Class 50
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 50
caption_attribution_description: This was a Footex from Cardiff and ran direct to Wadsley Bridge,the station used for the Sheffield Wednesday ground and so became one of only 2 Fifties to run over the Woodhead line,the other being D414 on a Manchester United supporters train on 14th March 1970.
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 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 (BR) 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 (GWML) out of Paddington to allow the retirement of most of the remaining diesel-hydraulic locomotives then in use. As trains on the GWML 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.
caption: 50008 Thunderer at Slittingmill Crossing with a Footex train consisting of Mark 1 coaches in 1983.
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