50007 Hercules, Now's Your Chance!

Hi all,
The Class 40 Appeal have launched a brand new appeal aimed at 50007, with the view to painting the loco blue if the money can be raised. Below is the official statement from CFA Chairman Paul Hill:

The official page can be found at: home

 

Any idea of how long this repaint will last? Personally I would prefer 50007 to stay in GWR Green as all the others preserved (bar 1 or 2) carry blue or Large Logo so 007 would lose her celebrity status and become "just another 50".

Let's not forget Laira took parts from Ajax to return Sir Edward to working order, would they have done that for Hercules? Probably not which would have meant the end for 007 so this livery did save the loco from scrap.

 

Agreed this engines history lies in its livery not in its achievements.
sadly diesel preservationists tend to ignore that factor all to often and tend to diss those wanting to preserve a diesel due to its history because it was due to colour... ( a form of railway racism perhaps ?)

The future will judge them...

However it's the owners choice.

 

Considering the level of paint froth you get in steam preservation, I don't think it fair to denigrate this offer to gricers everywhere.

 

I thought the Class 40 appeal were already running a fund for the fractured bogies on D212 on a similar basis of "if you fund the repairs, we'll let the loco back out to other lines and galas".

Is this earlier project still alive and therefore running simultaneously with the 50 repaint? Last time I checked the target figure for the former had been reached, so was looking forward to some progress reports.

Not intended to be criticism - just interested in the various activities!

 

Chris,
D212 is currently in line waiting for the jacks at Swanwick MPD, unfortunately however, 31271 is ahead of it in the queue. We're as anxious to get her back out to play as the next man!
Thanks for your interest.

 

BR Blue to diesel enthusiasts is what BR Black is to steam...

Personally agree with the comments to keep her Green. It was makes her so special and is one of the reasons she is preserved. Apart from 007 (Green) 027 (NSE) and 135 (Loadhaul) all others are Blue are they not?

 

Thanks for the update, as always there is a reason for everything. I am a little biased towards D212, as in my (irrelevant) opinion it's the finest machine in the CFA fleet by a fair way!

 

50017 is NSE now (I think).

 

One big difference between diesels and steam is livery history. The number of one off liveries applied to the class 47 fleet is probably higher than all one off steam loco liveries in British history.

On another thread people complain of 14 black 5's in the near same livery..And people love it. Yet in diesel preservation buying an engine due to its livery is seen silly outcast thing to do (or something to purposely scrap or disfigure), just because better condition clones exist.

 

Funny that a loco carrying an unusual livery is being called to be put into the 'boring norm'. I am reminded of 46233 Duchess of Sutherland, the story of which bears similarities.

Personally, I don't give a monkey's, they can paint it whatever colour they like - it's a 50, so it'll still break down!

 

Where's the appeal fund for NOT changing the colour to blue?

 

Mr Blobby livery anybody???/
Coat's on, taxi on its way

 

I've a model of a hornby class 37 painted like that... It was once a serious possibility of happening for real.

 

Haha! There was an almost famous triang 31 going round in blobby livery, ended up in sleepers models in Erdington 10 odd years ago. God knows where it is now!