13/09/2026
50049 Defiance and 50007 Hercules are safely back home at Kidderminster after a fantastic couple of days and with taking part in the T***s Express Railtour which meant a great deal, raising awareness and also funds for such a good charity and cause.
We thank our industry partners which especially include GBRf and the Branch Line Society for the running of this tour.
Unfortunately the Railtour yesterday wasn’t without its obstacles. 50007 developed an issue on the outbound leg. The issue was with one of the four turbochargers which looks to have failed in some capacity, so in order to prevent damage to the power unit the decision was made by one of our technical riders to shut the locomotive down. Further assessments will take place to ascertain the root cause of the issue.
50049 was working on the return leg whereby the powerunit wasn’t correctly loading up. After a lot of quick fault finding it was ascertained that it was a fuel starvation issue. After getting the consist back to Wembley, the issue was looked at this morning whereby it was identified that the fuel filters had become blocked, however identifying the root cause of this is going to be difficult to determine by multiple fuel sources having been used.
This issue was swiftly resolved with 50049 leading 50007 back to Kidderminster in her normal spectacular fashion earlier today.
It is an unfortunate thing to have happen, and it’s more unfortunate that others like to often revel in locomotives having issues, however we certainly won’t be deterred. We’ll find the root cause and then strengthen our contingency plans, however carrying a spare turbo on the loco might be a step too far…
Many thanks to all who have supported the charitable cause of this tour, to our supporters, followers, fans and to our magnificent volunteers in keeping these tremendous locomotives working for all to enjoy.
Class 50 Alliance
