Class 50 History

After the final BR trains with Class 50s, groups of preservationists bought scrapped locomotives with the plans of making them run once again. Some have been long term projects while others returned to the limelight in weeks.

The first Class 50s were introduced to British Railways service on the West Coast Main Line in 1967. Initially they largely saw service north of Crewe, but in the mid 1970s they transferred to the Western Region before refurbishment and setting to work on the Waterloo to Exeter route before end of life withdrawal in the late 1980s.

Just after the English Electric Co. had finished building the fifties they had an order for 10 nearly identical locomotives from Portuguese Railways