Hornby R30186 Class 47 47803 BR Infrastructure Livery Loco

DCC Status DCC Ready 8 pin socket (NOT DCCfitted)Operator BRDesigner Brush Livery BR Infrastructure Minimum Curve (mm) Radius 2Class Class 47 Product InfoThe British Rail Class 47 is a class of British railwaydiesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. Atotal 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 ofBritish mainline diesel locomotive. They were classified as Type 4s.They werefitted with the Sulzer 12LDA28C twin-bank twelve-cylinder unit producing 2,750bhp (2,050 kW) – though this was later derated to 2,580 bhp (1,920 kW) toimprove reliability – and have been used on both passenger and freight trainson Britain’s railways for over 50 years. Despite the introduction of moremodern types of traction, a significant number are still in use, both on themainline and on heritage railways. As of October 2016, 81 locomotives stillexist as Class 47s, with further examples having been converted to otherclasses; 30 retain "operational status" on the mainline.By 1986, onlyfive of the original 512 locomotives had been withdrawn from service, allbecause of serious accident damage. However, with work for the Class decliningdue to the introduction of new rolling stock and spare parts becoming difficultto source, some inroads started being made.The first locomotives to be targetedwere the non-standard pilot batch of 20, now numbered 47 401-47 420. Threelocomotives were withdrawn as life-expired in February 1986 and the remainderof the batch that had not recently been overhauled followed in the next twoyears. All 20 were withdrawn by 1992.Meanwhile, BR drew up a ‘hit-list’ oflocomotives for early withdrawal, mainly including those with non-standardelectrical equipment, known as series parallel locomotives. In the outset,withdrawals were slow, mainly due to the surplus of spare parts and new flowsof freight traffic which required extra locomotives; only 61 locomotives hadbeen withdrawn by the end of 1992. However, with the introduction of newlocomotives, the rate of withdrawal quickly rose, with 86 more 47s reaching theend of their lives in the next three years. With most of the non-standardlocomotives withdrawn, the reduction of the fleet again proceeded more slowly.The privatisation of British Rail also produced new independent rail companiesneeding available traction until they could order new locomotives. From 1996 to2006, an average of around fifteen locomotives per year were taken out ofservice.