The Renown Repulse Restoration Group owns two Class 50s – 50029 Renown and 50030 Repulse – which have now been out of service for more than three decades and are the only surviving members of the fleet yet to run in preservation. Andy Coward visited Rowsley South on Peak Rail to see the progress being made on rebuilding 50030.
At the end of a long siding at Rowsley South lie two Class 50s, having been at Peak Rail for just over two decades. Both are painted in the iconic British Rail Large Logo blue livery, and it’s fair to say that at first glance they appear to have seen much better days and look a little unloved. But appearances can be deceptive, as they are far from abandoned, and one of them – 50030 Repulse – is now well on the way to being an operational locomotive again.
Photographs of 50030 and classmate 50029 Renown regularly appear online, often accompanied by comments based purely on their current external appearance and which are mostly critical of their ‘neglect’.
However, a quick online search would reveal the reality of the situation. While 50029 internally is still largely in the same condition as when it first arrived at Peak Rail in 2002, 50030 has been undergoing a painstaking restoration by its owner, the Renown Repulse Restoration Group, and 2024 should see some significant restoration milestones achieved.
I visited Rowsley South in December to meet RRRG chairman Mark Burrows and some of the group's volunteers to view progress on 50030. Far from forgotten, about £200,000 has already been spent on its revival so far – on what is an impressive restoration project.
A brief history
Both 50029 and 50030 survived until close to the end of Class 50 operations on the Waterloo-Exeter route for Network South-East, being withdrawn in 1992. They were subsequently sold by BR in the summer of 1994, having been bought for engineering charity Operational Collingwood, which sought to rebuild several derelict Class 50s using engineering
