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Class 47 47367 (D1886)
47367 is owned by the
Stratford 47 Group
History
The History of Class 47 - 47367/D1886
by Steve Kibble
On the afternoon of Friday 7th February 2003, traffic at
Sheringham was halted as a large grey 118-ton diesel
locomotive was delivered to the North Norfolk Railway. It
is the first Type 4 engine to arrive at the line, and for
myself, and the other committee members of the Stratford
47 Group, it marked a historic event as finally our
dreams, of owning and operating a preserved Class 47 in
East Anglia, were realised.
A total of 512 Brush Type 4s were built between 1962 and
1968 at Brush works in Loughborough and the British Rail
Works at Crewe. These engines soon became a familiar sight
and sound throughout the country, handling anything from
the heaviest freight to inter-city expresses. These
locomotives, fitted with Sulzer I 2LDA28C power units at
2700 horsepower, later downgraded to 2580 horsepower had a
maximum design speed of 95 mph and were well received by
drivers and maintenance staff alike.
In East Anglia, these locomotives found work on, amongst
others, the London - Norwich expresses, heavy
cross-country holidaymaker services to Great Yarmouth and
heavy Freightliner services to the container port of
Felixstowe. For use on the GE Mainline, a number of
locomotives have, over time, been allocated to Stratford
Depot in East London, now sadly, all but a memory as the
site has disappeared under development for the Channel
Tunnel rail link. Stratford Depot had a fine reputation
for the standard of maintenance on its engines, and
several Class 47s were endorsed with a silver roof, which
matched well with the BR corporate Blue livery.
When the SF47 Group was formed, it was stated as our
intention to return a Class 47 to operational condition
and run her, in an authentic livery on a preserved railway
in East Anglia. The group is now also the proud owners of
another ex-Stratford classic, 47596, the former “Aldeburgh
Festival” which will find a home in East Anglia.
D1886 was built by Brush of Loughborough and was released
into traffic on 18th September 1965 allocated to Immingham
depot in Humberside. It was one of 81 Class 47s built with
no heating capabilities, thus only for use on freight
work, but it was fitted with boiler water tanks and steam
heat controls, which were a standard feature. It was
released in the two-tone green livery. On 18th May 1974,
it was renumbered 47367, under the TOPS computerised
numbering system. It became the last of its class to carry
two-tone green, which was kept until December 1977 when it
was repainted in the standard BR blue livery. Also, at
this time, it was the first of its kind to have its boiler
water tanks removed. On 30th September 1987, 47367 was
re-allocated to Stratford and re-painted in the popular
Railfreight Red Stripe livery. The loco only remained at
Stratford for three years, transferring in 1990 to Tinsley
depot in Sheffield, another depot with a history of
quality work on Class 47s. At this time it became part of
the Railfreight Distribution fleet, and could be seen
throughout the country on all manner of freight work.
Tinsley depot's pride in their fleet saw many engines
carry unofficial painted names, and ‘367 became “Kenny
Cockbird' and carried the Stratford “Cockney Sparrow”
sticker. It has been said that this name was a tribute to
the hard work and excellent standards of craftsmanship
carried out by Stratford depot. During the mid 1990s, the
loco spent a period of time in store, and following the
privatising of the railways, fell under the ownership of
Freightliner 1995 Ltd. It underwent a major refurbishment
at Toton, in February 1998, where the cabs were
refurbished, it was fitted with long range fuel tanks and
multiple working equipment and its vacuum breaks were
removed and it was repainted in the livery of Freightliner
grey. Now back in traffic, it became a regular performer
on heavy container trains along the GE main line and the
branch line to Felixstowe.
The locomotive's final passenger working was on Monday 4th
October 1999 during the week when, as a result of bridge
work at Carstairs, the main West Coast Main Line was
closed and Scottish bound services had to be diverted via
alternative routes. In the company of 47358, it rescued
47635, which had run out of fuel at Annan on the Glasgow &
South Western route, with the diverted I M35 1746 Glasgow
- Euston. It became the first pair of Freightliner 47s to
work a passenger train, which they dragged to Carlisle
where the booked Class 87 took over.
Its last ever working was on 19th August 2001 on a
freightliner service from Southampton to WiIton
Freightliner Terminal, which it worked as far as Crewe
Basford Hall, where it was removed because of wheel set
problems. The loco was transferred to Fragonset's
workshops at Derby for a bogie change, but this never took
place and the loco returned to Crewe for open storage,
until its purchase from Freightliner, by the group in
November 2002.
This article first appeared in Joint Line, the Midland and
Great Northern Joint Railway Society's award winning
quarterly journal, which all members of the Society
receive.
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