Would the Class 50 be seen here??

[Cphillips86]

Hi all,

 

newbie here so please be gentle.

 

looking to create a scale model of my childhood station Hither Green in network southeast colours and was wondering if the class 50 in the same livery would have been seen stopping here? I’ve tried looking on google and just getting the network rail signalling project which happened a few years ago.

 

Be great if anyone could lend me some knowledge on this please. 

 

Cheers

 

chris 

[sandra]

I once saw 50050 being towed by two class 33s through Lewisham and heading in the Hither Green direction. She was in large logo livery. I think this was exceptional and I don’t think class 50s would normally be seen at Hither Green.

[roythebus1]

Not normally seen on the south eastern division. But that's not to say they weren't.

[TravisM]

Class 50’s NSE livery would be unlikely to turn up at Hither Green as they were needed on NSE’s Waterloo - Exeter’s and Paddington - Oxford’s.  Not to say they did but unlikely.

 

As @sandra said, 50050 was bringing a pair of Class 33’s back to HG and presumably returning with something from whence it came from.  If you can find a copy of Platform 5’s loco pocket book from 1985 onwards, you can look to see which Class 50’s were allocated to the departmental sector and pick one of them.

 

Remember Rule 1 though, it’s your layout, your rules.  So if you want one, get it.  

Edited April 26, 2021 by jools1959
Spelling

[The Pilotman]

19 hours ago, sandra said:

I once saw 50050 being towed by two class 33s through Lewisham and heading in the Hither Green direction. She was in large logo livery. I think this was exceptional and I don’t think class 50s would normally be seen at Hither Green.

I wonder if that was anything to do with “The Dungeness Pebbledasher” railtour in April 1985? That featured 50050 and various bits of the SE Division as I recall. 

[eastwestdivide]

Extremely rare to see a 50 on the SE division when I was spotting there late 70s to mid-80s. That Dungeness Pebbledasher railtour mentioned above was one instance, and I've also got a photo of the green 50 on another charter of some sort near Chislehurst.

 

(and welcome to RMWeb!)

[keefer]

Not your era but from another topic detailing the class 47s seen on the SED:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/157105-class-47s-south-eastern-divison-the-definitive-list-complete/

 

Dec. 1979 R.O. mentions Slough-Hoo Jn. oil train is normally a WR cl.47 duty but on 27/09 was hauled by 50008, believed to be first visit of class [to Hoo/SED]

[Claude_Dreyfus]

As others have said, this part of the world was definitely not a stamping ground for the class. SED drivers did not have traction knowledge on them, so 'rule 1' is probably your best option, although it would not look too out of place surrounded by 33s and 73s.

 

A couple have passed by on tours. A little early for your period, but 50025 passed in March 1986 on a round Kent tour (The Vulcan van train, which used a variety of motive power, including a pair of MLVs). A couple of years later 50026 and 50032 both in original NSE livery came within a couple of miles of HG on the Malt and Hops tour (went via Shortlands).

[sandra]

2 hours ago, Western Aviator said:

I wonder if that was anything to do with “The Dungeness Pebbledasher” railtour in April 1985? That featured 50050 and various bits of the SE Division as I recall. 

I don’t think so as I saw 50050 about 1990 give or take a year or so. I think it may have been after it was withdrawn. The two 33s would certainly have taken 50050 through Hither Green but I don’t know where they were ultimately bound. At that time I lived in a flat which had a distant view of Lewisham station but with binoculars I could see the numbers of locos passing through the station. 

[eastwestdivide]

50050 withdrawal was 1994 according to https://www.englishelectric.org.uk/50050, from which:

Quote

After its withdrawal, 50050 was purchased by a private individual and was based at the former British Rail depot at St Leonards in Sussex.

Could your sighting have been that, on its way to St Leonards??

[brushman47544]

I lived commuted past Hither Green depot during the 90s and popped in regularly at weekends and never once saw a Class 50 on shed. I think it’s highly unlikely. If they needed repairs after arriving at Waterloo, they would have gone to Stewart’s Lane, Eastleigh or even Old Oak as those depots carried out regular maintenance on them so would have had spares in stock.

[Metr0Land]

Hertfordshire Railtours ran the Malt and Hops railtour with 50.026+50.032 29Oct 1988.  Myself and my late wife were on it.

 

https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/881029hr.htm

[Davexoc]

3 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

I lived commuted past Hither Green depot during the 90s and popped in regularly at weekends and never once saw a Class 50 on shed. I think it’s highly unlikely. If they needed repairs after arriving at Waterloo, they would have gone to Stewart’s Lane, Eastleigh or even Old Oak as those depots carried out regular maintenance on them so would have had spares in stock.

 

I don't think Stewart's Lane did much apart from ship them back to Old Oak Common. Biggest problem in winter was they wouldn't leave them running in Waterloo due to the smokey nature of the EE engines, and if stop/started too many times it would flatten the batteries.

[Pandora]

I did see a 50 at Hither Green, the locomotive was one of a convoy of diesels on route to an exhibition, the date would be about 1993 or 1994

Edited May 2, 2021 by Pandora

[Claude_Dreyfus]

3 hours ago, Pandora said:

I did see a 50 at Hither Green, the locomotive was one of a convoy of diesels on route to an exhibition, the date would be about 1993 or 1994

 

50031 was displayed at the Chart Leacon open day in June 1992. That could have been the one you saw.