Some observers have pointed to the dying years of the route, when its life was literally ebbing away, as painfully exciting times, when nearly new Brush Type 4 locos (less than two years old when the writing was on the wall in February '67) and fellow Co-Co, EE Type 3s, made an impact. BR's 'Standard Type 4' certainly proved itself more than capable on the line's legendary climbs, perhaps even more so than the Peaks with which the line is inseparably associated in folklore. The locos concerned were D1968-1976.

Yorkshire locos began to appear on 1S64 and its sibling diagrams in the last couple of years too, but Haymarket had received some 9 of the class ex-works from late October '65 onwards. For those of us who mourn the decimation of main lines and the post-Forth crossing network, the sight of these locos on principal car sleepers and expresses between Edinburgh and Perth via the direct route through the beautiful Glenfarg, and taming the Waverley on freight and passenger, is poignant to say the least.

Behind the scenes, sharpened pencils were conspiring to seal the fate of much of the network, and by June 1968 60A Type 2s rendered idle by the closure of the Moray Coast lines were working to Edinburgh in pairs on ScR internal Class 1s, this and the demise of the Waverley spelled change for the 64B 'Nine,' D1968-76.

D1968 - D1976 new to Haymarket between 23 October and 24th November 1965 - showing how quickly deliveries were of the Standard mixed traffic large diesel by this time.

Only three: D1968/74/6, remained Haymarket-based throughout.

D1975 spent two months at Polmadie from August '67, but D1969-73 were loaned to Gateshead in October '68 and moved there permanently a month later. As is well documented 1970 worked one of the last weekend specials, whether this was under the auspices of Newcastle or Edinburgh management is not known. Therefore the Waverley heyday of this batch of TTGSYP locos should really be considered as drawing to a close with 1968's summer T/T, and the inevitable moving away of assets to lines and diagrams with a viable future.

The class has received its fair share of attention from photographers whilst on the Waverley, on a variety of services, predominantly freight, although the aforementioned last day special is recorded (on video too), as are several foreigners working 1S64 et al, along with a couple of diversions (BFYE locos feature on the W/B blog).

Some very obscure modelling potential exists in the shape of the out and back freight turn which included a 57' non gangwayed brake to convey children to school in Hawick. This fully-fitted inter-yard Class 4 with Brush haulage would make a very unusual but plausible prototype.

The dates when the majority of the batch received full yellow ends on their two-tone green livery are not known, although a picture of one such on 2M52 at Stobs features in one of Rowbotham's pictorials. Locos concerned are 1968-70/72/73. Of these, 1973 gained later style sans serif numbers. Good weathering pictures can be found on the Class 47 website.