GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill - British Railways Period Locomotives: gwrbsh1243

British Railways 'Brush Type 4' D1595, later Class 47 No 47469, is seen standing at Platform 7 at the head of an up express service to Paddington on 5th May 1966. The Class 47 history begins in the early 1960s with the stated aim of the British Transport Commission (BTC) to completely remove steam locomotives from British Rail by a target date of 1968. Eventually, 310 locomotives were constructed by Brush in Loughborough, and the remaining 202 at BR's Crewe Works. The first 500 locomotives were numbered sequentially from D1500 to D1999, with the remaining twelve being numbered from D1100 to D1111.

The class worked on passenger and freight duties on all regions of British Railways replacing steam locomotives, especially on express passenger duties. The designation of 47/4 applied to standard locomotives fitted with ETH and therefore used for passenger, mail and parcels use. In total 133 locomotives had been fitted with ETH by the time renumbering occurred, and shortly afterwards the sub-class had settled down to 154 locomotives, numbered from 47401 to 47555, with one gap. Later, further class 47/0s were converted to class 47/4s and renumbered into the series, which eventually reached 47665.

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