They only smoked towards the end due to lack of maintenance. when I first saw them in the mid 1980's they never smoked while working, although cold starts or after running idle they might be a little smoky but it soon cleared. 50033 was the worst in 1991 and that was due to cracked piston ring liners.

Agree, Reading station is now ruined, it may as well be milton keynes.😔

Apparently the Laira staff gave 50033 the nickname "Old smokey joe" towards the end of her service life due to the smoke

Apparently yeah as per Geoff Hudson in the LocoMaster Profile videos, none of us cranks called it that though.

Night time was the best, always sounded louder at night, I got into them for the noise, names and the speed of them. spent many a hour between Salisbury and Exeter with a few trips along the sea wall for added value.

I wasnt to far away from Didcot around the same time, I lived near Goring back then and I can remember hearing them whilst in bed at night as they thumped through Goring & Streatly station. Halycon days indeed.

Here is a video I edited from a BTF video circa 1973 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fs-cisSVmNqdl5s.html

Thanks, lovely setting too.

I walked the canal many years ago in the area watching 50's thrash through the valley very nice.

I have a lot of 50 videos on this page check out my home page or the 50 playlist. I managed nearly 8 years of regular daily service trains with 50's & have since done most of the UK with the final BR tours, along with the Fifty Fund/Alliance tours from 1997 to the present day. if a tour is too expensive then check them out on the Severn Valley Railway or Lion on the Mid Hants.

Indeed, I can't take credit for the footage, but I did edit it all to just show only class 50's from the original video for maximum flailing and Hellfireness!

Which one? Glorious at Teignmouth going west at sun rise with all the cranks? or the NSE vac along the Teign estuary?

It was ignored for more than 20 years, but that was due to the way it was run by the government, they could never spend the money that they allowed them to spend. Although money has been pumped into the railways, so much more could be achieved by using the shareholder money also! While it's improved it's also soulless railway now.

But we are hardly looking at the whole rail system here are we...just certain bits of it, bits disproportionately likely to look run down in a video like this as that is where the loco hauled diesel trains were left running by the end. A lot was achieved in the 1980s such as electrification of the ECML and in Anglia, wholesale replacement of first generation DMUs and most loco hauled services with new stock, the Network South East concept and the beginnings of passenger recovery. You're right it's much improved now and needs to be given that passenger numbers have tripled - yes tripled - nationally since this video was shot.

I was on that train, it was some bashers ripping up a newspaper and throwing it out of the window, I can be seen in the front bay window with no table looking out then backing up when I saw the camera. No Pigeons were killed in the making of this video. 50009 was working the 14.18 Plymouth to Waterloo FO service I did it back to Salisbury.

Somebody owned a DC3/C47 about that time which would be seen from time to time.

Thanks!

@@Thunderer0872 You’re Welcome 👍

Thank you! Cheers!

50011 Centurion was the first of the Class 50's to be withdrawn in February 1987 working a parcels train without names gong north, it ended its days at Crewe works as a test bed for overhauled power units as Crewe had the contract outside of Laira or Old Oak Common. So with it gone 50040 Leviathan was renamed at the behest of the Royal Navy because 50011 had a rededication to a ship in May of 1986 so they requested the change due to Leviathan being a lesser used name and the shiny crest applied to 11 the year before. Not many were impressed by this but these things happen. I hope that explains it? cheers for asking though.

@@Thunderer0872 Scrapped by Texas Metals of Hyde there during the September 1992 clear out, which also saw the old electrics shifted to MC Metals.

One of the cabs was saved and placed in the Heritage Centre until it was craned over the fence and stolen for scrap metal. I have pictures of it inside and out before it was half inched. are you on any of the 50 groups on faeces Book? sorry Face ach... no Facebook?

Before I was into Railways, But I did a load on D9000 with priv rate and tours when it came back in 1997

It's complicated but NSE had stock that went further than it's boundaries. You can't just paint stock to suit every service, also trains were serviced in Plymouth for an NSE service to Waterloo so again it is what it is, This lines NSE boundary was at Bedwyn. Trains that started at Paddington were using NSE as that stock was based inside the NSE area. Just look at some of the TOC's today they aren't all in a geographical correct area!

In loco hauled days some of the Waterloo - Exeter trains continued on to Plymouth by reversing at Exeter St. Davids. I think particularly on summer Saturdays. Hence the NSE stock at Plymouth.

Was Network south east just all mk1 stock and all second class kind of budget rail fare ? Didn’t think they went that far on long haul journeys…

Mk1 & 2ab Stock only. There were first class coaches in the Thames and Chiltern trains of a full Mk2 corridor stock and BFKs Brake first corridor coaches on the Waterloo - Exeter and some on or from Plymouth. Fares were a standard price but off-peak and with a NSE rail cards after 10AM reduced no matter what the price then 75% off, plus 3 or 4 days a year of all areas in NSE for £3 then £5 some were magazine offers for the day on a Saturday. The stuff in this video on the western west of Bedwyn are additional trains using NSE stock on non NSE services, just using the available formation of coaches. The normal NSE expresses were Paddington to Banbury with peak service over the Chiltern line with trains mostly terminating and starting at Oxford or Newbury with Class 50s or 47s The Southern were Waterloo - Exeter or Salisbury when the 33/1s stopped using 4TC stock in 1989. One train went via Southampton and there were trains from Portsmouth to Waterloo, Also with class 50s being serviced at Plymouth Laira the were trains starting or terminating there with weekend trains to Paignton with NSE stock. NSE stock was used anywhere when it was required, like summer Saturday trains to Newquay, Lastly NSE stock was used on Rail tours to Holyhead, and we had a pair of 50s to Chester and to Carlisle with NSE coaches. At the start of Network Southeast they had Mk1 coaches out of London Euston to Northampton on the cobblers with class 85/6 locos until the 321 units came online. Hope that answers your question? Cheers.