OO Gauge
Hornby - RailRoad Plus
Hornby R30186 Class 47 47803 BR Infrastructure Livery Loco
Brand new item direct from our new Yorkshire model railway shop.
DCC Status DCC Ready 8 pin socket (NOT DCC
fitted)
Operator BR
Designer Brush
Livery BR Infrastructure
Minimum Curve (mm) Radius 2
Class Class 47
Product Info
The British Rail Class 47 is a class of British railway
diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A
total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works,
Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous Class of
British mainline diesel locomotive. They were classified as Type 4s.They were
fitted with the Sulzer 12LDA28C twin-bank twelve-cylinder unit producing 2,750
bhp (2,050 kW) - though this was later derated to 2,580 bhp (1,920 kW) to
improve reliability - and have been used on both passenger and freight trains
on Britain's railways for over 50 years. Despite the introduction of more
modern types of traction, a significant number are still in use, both on the
mainline and on heritage railways. As of October 2016, 81 locomotives still
exist as Class 47s, with further examples having been converted to other
classes; 30 retain "operational status" on the mainline.By 1986, only
five of the original 512 locomotives had been withdrawn from service, all
because of serious accident damage. However, with work for the Class declining
due to the introduction of new rolling stock and spare parts becoming difficult
to source, some inroads started being made.The first locomotives to be targeted
were the non-standard pilot batch of 20, now numbered 47 401-47 420. Three
locomotives were withdrawn as life-expired in February 1986 and the remainder
of the batch that had not recently been overhauled followed in the next two
years. All 20 were withdrawn by 1992.Meanwhile, BR drew up a 'hit-list' of
locomotives for early withdrawal, mainly including those with non-standard
electrical equipment, known as series parallel locomotives. In the outset,
withdrawals were slow, mainly due to the surplus of spare parts and new flows
of freight traffic which required extra locomotives; only 61 locomotives had
been withdrawn by the end of 1992. However, with the introduction of new
locomotives, the rate of withdrawal quickly rose, with 86 more 47s reaching the
end of their lives in the next three years. With most of the non-standard
locomotives withdrawn, the reduction of the fleet again proceeded more slowly.
The privatisation of British Rail also produced new independent rail companies
needing available traction until they could order new locomotives. From 1996 to
2006, an average of around fifteen locomotives per year were taken out of
service.