Oldest BR loco still in revenue earning service?

[sjp23480]

Hello Everyone,

 

Not sure if this has been asked before, but does anyone know which is the oldest loco (not multiple units) still in revenue generating/earning service?

 

I am not thinking of preserved locos that still run on the mainline, but those that are owned by the current rail operating companies.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Steve

[Wickham Green too]

It'll be an 08 - surely ??!?

[MyRule1]

If an 08 discussed here

 

 

[Halvarras]

Other than Class 08s, how about 20007? I was surprised to see it still alive and kicking last year, it turned up at Plymouth North Road with a classmate.

[25901]

One of the LMS shunters that went to Italy was still working a few years ago in industry, 75 yrs service approx.

[adb968008]

Depends what you call preserved...

 

West Coast, its a full time business, profitable entity, paid professionals,  generating income etc etc. Occasionally they use preserved locos, but their own fleet is commercial work horses just as any other locomotive.. i’d class 44932/45699/46115/48151/35018 etc as service locos myself, that just happen to use coal, just in the same way their 37/47/57 fleet are commercial work horses powered by diesel.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by adb968008

[rodent279]

Yes, the distinction between "preserved" and "in service" has become very blurred in the last decade or so. Are the Pullman coaches on the VSOE preserved? I'd say not.

[caradoc]

No 9 on the Vale of Rheidol ? Introduced in 1902 and, for a while, wore BR blue with double arrow ! 

 

[thirty2a]

I'm a bit out of Touch but I would have thought class 31 or 37 if any are still running as they ran early on the Norwich main line early in the diesel program. 

[Wickham Green too]

5 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Yes, the distinction between "preserved" and "in service" has become very blurred in the last decade or so. Are the Pullman coaches on the VSOE preserved? I'd say not.

Sadly, there's VERY little of the original left in those Pullmans - apart from most of the interior trim - though those which were steel bodied retain more of the structure ............ the forthcoming 'new Brighton Belle' will be VERY heavily reconstructed too.

[BernardTPM]

1 hour ago, caradoc said:

No 9 on the Vale of Rheidol ? Introduced in 1902 and, for a while, wore BR blue with double arrow !

If you believe the accounting fiction that it was a rebuild. Still very old though.

Edited February 8, 2021 by BernardTPM

[Tim V]

If you are going to mention No.9, then No.3 is even older at 1878.

 

Carried this number on the Corris, the GWR, BR and then Talyllyn.

[Fat Controller]

18 hours ago, 25901 said:

One of the LMS shunters that went to Italy was still working a few years ago in industry, 75 yrs service approx.

It wasn't in industrial use, but running on what the Americans call a 'short line' between Stia and Arezzo in Tuscany. The line had some very modern EMUs for the passenger service, but its freight was handled by the British 0-6-0, an ex-German military shunter, and a couple of electrics built in the early 1920s.

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Sadly, there's VERY little of the original left in those Pullmans - apart from most of the interior trim - though those which were steel bodied retain more of the structure ............ the forthcoming 'new Brighton Belle' will be VERY heavily reconstructed too.

But that only adds to their patina.. it demonstrates use.

 

WCRC has a wooden bodied GNR saloon in the Queen of Scots set still running, though admittedly that set is “preserved” and doesnt see daylight that often.

Edited February 8, 2021 by adb968008