The first Class 50 to be withdrawn, 50011 Centurion, was formally condemned on February 24, 1987. Five years later, the rest of the fleet – apart from a trio retained for special duties – had also been stood down, as Network SouthEast finally moved on to other traction. Following two years of railtour appearances, the final three were formally withdrawn in March 1994. Ian Horner looks back on the rundown period.
The mid-1980s could be described as the high-water mark for the Class 50s, as the fully refurbished fleet worked extensively across the Western Region, the Waterloo to Exeter line, and to the West Midlands – from Paddington and the southwest. Their workload had, in principle, changed little since West of England services went over to High Speed Train operations in the early 1980s. Weekly diagrammed mileage, on a variety of trains including passenger, parcels, and freight trains, was consistently in the 100-105,000 bracket and peaked above 107,000 in the summer 1986 timetable.
At about the same time, however, high-level decisions were being made to start running down the 50s from the following year. As the railway moved away from being run regionally to a structure more aligned with the needs of its customers, the business sectors of British Rail planned to take control of assets such as locomotives and rolling stock. National long-distance passenger train operator InterCity preferred to restrict its main line diesel locomotive fleet to Class 47s wherever possible, with few exceptions save for low RA routes where Class 37s were needed.
From summer 1987, ownership and use of Class 50s would – in theory – be limited to Network SouthEast, and Provincial, Parcels and Departmental sectors.
Peak of their powers
Nearing the end of two decades of erratic service, the Class 50s were performing well as the summer 1986 timetable period drew to a close. Two locomotives were at Doncaster Works for intermediate overhauls, while a third was stopped at Laira for an F-exam – the future equivalent of the works overhaul.
