After the end of regular British Rail class 50-hauled trains between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids in early 1992, a handful of class members were retained for enthusiast tours. Privatisation of British Rail (BR) was now underway and redundant assets such as the remains of the class 50 fleet were to be sold off quickly.
Initial preservation attempt
The withdrawal of class 50s in the early 1990s came at an opportune time for preservationists. The class had built up quite a following amongst enthusiasts, especially since their transfer to BR’s Western Region. No other locomotive types were being withdrawn at this time and this meant that preservationists seeking to purchase a locomotive from BR tended to buy a class 50.
By the mid 1990s privatisation of BR was well underway and there was an impetus to get redundant assets off BR’s books by the time privatisation was to be formally completed on 31 March 1994. By this time 27 class 50 locomotives had already been withdrawn and scrapped.
Of these, 50046 Ajax had donated major parts to rebuild celebrity 50007 Sir Edward Elgar for railtour use. Some locomotives were purchased for little above their scrap value with BR in its dying days effectively just wanting rid of them.
During the first half of 1992, the first preserved examples 50002 Superb, 50027 Lion and 50031 Hood had already worked on various heritage railways across the UK. 50007 Sir Edward Elgar, 50008 Thunderer, 50015 Valiant, 50017 Royal Oak, 50019 Ramillies, 50021 Rodney, 50033 Glorious, 50035 Ark Royal, 50042 Triumph and 50049 Defiance followed during the next few years.
Following privatisation and the formation of Railtrack in 1994, a (somewhat nonsensical) BR ban on privately-owned heritage diesel locomotives operating on the main line was lifted. The first class 50 to return to main line action was 50031 on 1 November 1997, hauling the ‘Pilgrim Hoover’ railtour from Birmingham International to Plymouth.
50007/08/17/44/49/50 have also worked on the main line during their preservation careers although not all of these examples are still active.
A strong survival rate
At the time of writing, the preserved class 50 fleet comprises a very strong survival rate of 18 out of the original 50-strong fleet. All except 50029 and 50030 have hauled trains since the end of their BR careers. Some are owned by individuals or preservation societies where the future wellbeing of the locomotive is paramount. 50008 and 50050 are used as ‘spot hire’ mainline locomotives where powerful traction is required and the enthusiast angle of them being class 50s is less important.
50007 was initially purchased for preservation by the Class 40 Appeal (C40A) but was subsequently sold to the Class 50 Alliance to add to their stable of 50031/35/44/49. The Class 50 Alliance formed from a merger between the Fifty Fund (50031/35/44) and Project Defiance (50049). The two preservation societies had been regularly collaborating with 50031/49 being often paired together on the main line. 50007 was in excellent mechanical condition having received an extensive overhaul close to the end of its BR career and had not been overly taxed during ownership by the C40A. Upon joining the Class 50 Alliance fleet it lost its green livery and regained its original Hercules name. It now operates regularly on the main line usually in the company of 50049.
Operation Collingwood – lofty ambitions
One of the most ambitious preservation attempts of the 1990s was the engineering charity Operation Collingwood. This aimed to rebuild a number of class 50 locomotives using apprentice workers and redesigning with modern traction equipment to overcome the remaining reliability concerns with class 50s. The only proviso was that the end product should still look and sound like a class 50.
To this end, Collingwood purchased and stored 50001 Dreadnought, 50023 Howe, 50029 Renown, 50030 Repulse, 50040 Leviathan and 50045 Achilles. All of these except 50029 and 50030 were heavily stripped examples rescued from scrapyards with serious problems. For example, 50023 had swapped engines with 50037 Illustrious to keep the latter in BR traffic longer and 50037 had the original engine block from prototype locomotive DP2. The slight problem was that a piston and conrod had smashed through the cylinder block and by the time Collingwood acquired Howe every engine component above the top of the cylinder block had been stripped. 50040 was missing 15 of its 16 pistons as well as all its cylinder heads and engine ancillaries.
In theory, none of these issues were insurmountable for Operation Collingwood, as the plan was to use industrial sponsorship to train engineering apprentices. Lofty ambitions were unfortunately met with an inability to raise the required funds and as the 1990s progressed various key people left the project. The poor condition of most of Collingwood’s charges deterred further preservation attempts. 50001 and 50045 were sold back to scrapyards and were cut up by the turn of the millennium. 50023 and 50040 survived longer with an initial restoration attempt on Howe being abandoned in 2003 and Leviathan scrapped in 2008.
The fate of 50029 and 50030
Most of Operation Collingwood’s locomotives were heavily stripped shells requiring extensive rebuilding and re-engineering as envisaged by Operation Collingwood but beyond the means of normal preservationists. The exceptions were 50029 Renown and 50030 Repulse which had been purchased straight from Plymouth Laira depot and had never seen a scrap line. Initially Collingwood transported these two locomotives to Allied Steel and Wire in Cardiff but they subsequently moved to the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway (P&B) in South Wales.
Also present at the P&B was 50043 Eagle, withdrawn by BR on 31 January 1991 following a main generator failure. Eagle looked externally smart, having been cosmetically restored since withdrawal but it had been purchased as a spares donor for other preservation projects including mechanically similar class 40 no. 40118. An ambitious private restoration attempt came to naught and Eagle was scrapped at the P&B in early 2002. This raised enthusiast concerns that 50029 and 50030 might well follow, since by this stage Operation Collingwood had failed and was in the process of being wound up with its assets being disposed of.
Renown Repulse Restoration Group is formed
Solihull-based enthusiast Paul Taylor felt 50029 and 50030 were too good to scrap. He had a letter published by Traction magazine in spring 2002 soliciting interest in forming a preservation group to save and restore 50029 and 50030. This is where I come in! I had read the letter published by Traction and I was intrigued. I was at a stage of my life and career where I had a bit of spare money and I was attracted by the idea of joining a preservation group right at the start, where I would have a chance to participate more fully instead of joining an existing society where the rules of the game are already decided and I would be little more than a cash cow.
As such I joined the nascent Renown Repulse Restoration Group (RRRG) where we were fortunate enough to have others with experience of railway preservation and the technical challenges of the project we were contemplating on board. Collectively we visited the P&B in mid 2002 when Operation Collingwood had publicly stated that their assets would be disposed of via competitive tender in early autumn of that year. The purpose of this trip was to thoroughly survey 50029 and 50030 from an engineering perspective, to work out their internal condition and what components were missing. With this and some educated guesses at who would be bidding against us and what they might be prepared to pay, we could decide what our bid would be.
50029 and 50030 transfer ownership
It quickly became apparent to us that 50030 was in better condition. With a few minor exceptions, if a component was missing from 50030 it was also missing from 50029, so using 50029 as a donor to rebuild 50030 was not really an option. 50030 was withdrawn by BR following that most typical of class 50 faults, a main generator failure. 50029 had suffered a seized engine and the resulting crankshaft damage may or may not be repairable. We formulated our strategy and submitted our tender to the trustees of Operation Collingwood.
At the same time we began proactively looking for a restoration base. The P&B’s management was understandably quite firm that they wanted the class 50s removing from their railway as soon as possible and South Wales was rather remote and inconvenient for most of our membership which was based across the Midlands. We were ultimately pleased to accept an offer to base ourselves in the spacious yards of Rowsley South on the Peak Rail heritage railway near Matlock in Derbyshire. At this time we also received confirmation from Operation Collingwood that we were the successful bidders for all their assets – 50029, 50030, a surviving cab from 50037 and some miscellaneous bits. It was time to get serious!
