Class 47, no. 47316 'Cam Peak', at Doncaster Works open day on 27th July 2003. This locomotive is operated by Cotswold Rail, whose livery it carries.

Class 47, no. 47376, approaching Cheltenham Racecourse station on 5th September 2003. This locomotive is preserved on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. It is painted in the previous corporate livery of Freightliner, whose identity was launched in 1995 with the naming of this locomotive "Freightliner 1995". It was withdrawn from traffic in 2001, and preserved a year later.

Class 47, no. 47815 'Abertawe Landore', at York Railfest on 3rd June 2004. The event was held to celebrate the 200th anniversary of railways. This locomotive is operated by First Great Western (FGW). It has been specially repainted in its original British Railway two-tone green livery, and given its original number of D1748, to commemorate the retirement of the FGW Class 47 fleet.

Class 47, no. 47818, at Cambridge on 23rd August 2004. This locomotive is owned by Cotswold Rail but hired to One Railway. Over the summer of 2004, it was used extensively to haul diverted passenger trains from London Liverpool St. to Norwich, due to engineering works at Ipswich.

Description

The British Rail Class 47 diesel locomotive also known as a Brush Type Four is a class of British locomotive. It was once the most numerous class, but numbers are now dwindling.

Current Operations

Direct Rail Services (DRS)

English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS)

EWS inherited locomotives from the Rail Express Systems parcels business, the three trainload companies (Trans-Rail, Mainline Freight and Load-Haul) and freight operator Railfreight Distribution.

This operator no longer uses Class 47 locomotives, with the final two withdrawn in June 2004. The last service trains worked by these locomotives for EWS were along the North Wales Coast Line from Crewe to Holyhead.

First Great Western

First Great Western inherited a fleet of Class 47/8 locomotives, which were primarily used to haul London Paddington-Penzance Sleeper and MotorRail trains. They employed on day passenger trains from the capital to the West Country at times when there was a low availability of other traction. The fleet consisted of seven locomotives, namely nos. 47811/813/815/816/830/832/846.

Locomotives were painted in a green-based livery, which was later embelished with a gold bodyside stripe. Several of the fleet were named after local attractions or place, such as nos. 47813 'SS Great Britain' and 47832 'Tamar'.

From 2001, First Great Western decided to replace the Class 47 fleet with re-engineered Class 57 locomotives. A prototype, no. 57601, was extensively tested by First Great Western, and resulted in an order for four production locomotives, numbered 57602-605. These started to replace the Class 47 fleet from 2003 onwards. Most of the 47's were transferred to other operators, although one, no. 47846 'THOR', was rebuilt to a Class 57. To commemorate the retirement of the Class 47 fleet, the final locomotive, no. 47815 'Abertawe Landore', was specially repainted into its original British Railways two-tone green livery.

The final two locomotives, nos. 47811 and 47815, were retired after working a London-Penzance special train in December 2004.

Freightliner

Virgin Trains

Spot-Hire Companies

Since privatisation of British Rail, numerous spot-hire companies have arisen to take advantage of the requirement for locomotives at short-notice, rescue locomotives, and locomotives for charter trains.

Cotswold Rail

Cotswold Rail first purchased redundant Class 47 locomotives from EWS in 2002. It has since acquired locomotives cascaded from First Great Western and Virgin Trains. Cotswold Rail works closely with 'One' Anglia, to which it provides several locomotives to haul diverted passenger and rescue failed trains. 'One' also use a class 47 to haul the through service from London Liverpool Street to Great Yarmouth on the final leg of the journey between Norwich and the coast. It also hires locomotives to charter operators. Locomotives are painted in either Cotswold Rail's silver livery, or in Anglia/'One' livery for those on hire to 'One' Anglia.

The fleet currently comprises five operational locomotives, nos. 47200/316/714/813/818, and nos. 47033 and 47365 undergoing repair. There are also several more locomotives in store.

Fragonset Railways

Fragonset Railways operates the largest Class 47 fleet of the spot-hire companies. Fragonset was formed in 1996, is based at Derby. In the early days the main contract was the hire of locomotives to Virgin Trains. However, since then, Virgin has ceased using locomotive-hauled trains. Therefore Fragonset has diversified into the charter marker, and also hires locomotives to freight companies, such as GB Railfreight, at short-notice. Locomotive livery is black, with either a red bodyside stripe, or large 'Fragonset' lettering.

The operational fleet currently comprises nos. 47145/355/375/488/640/701/703/709/712/716, with nos. 47710/715/780 undergoing repairs. Fragonset also own many stored locomotives, which could be repaired if demand increases.

Riviera Trains

Riviera Trains is a small spot-hire company based at Crewe. The fleet is often hired to Arriva Trains Wales for services from Crewe to Holyhead. Locomotives are also used to haul 'Foot-ex' Special trains from Manchester to Cardiff for the benenfit of football and rugby fans travelling to the Millennium Stadium. Locomotive livery is Oxford Blue.

As of December 2004, the fleet comprised of three operational locomotives, nos. 47769/839/853, with 47575 undergoing repairs.

As expected, Riviera Trains purchased seven operational locomotives from Porterbrook Leasing in late 2004/early 2005, these being 47805/812/829/843/847/848 (previously hired to Freightliner and 47815 (previously hired to First Great Western).

West Coast Railway Company (WCRC)

The West Coast Railway Company is primarily a charter-train operator based at Carnforth in North-West England. Locomotive livery is maroon with a black bodyside stripe.

The fleet currently comprises of no. 47854, with nos. 47245 and 47492 undergoing repairs.

Preservation

Several locomotives have been preserved on heritage railways. These are listed below. Of note are the first built, no. 47401 'North Eastern', and the Royal Train locomotive, no. 47798 'Prince William'.

Fleet Details

DRS = Direct Rail Services

EWS = English, Welsh and Scottish Railway

WCRC = West Coast Railway Company