A battered looking Class 50 50046 'Ajax' seen at Waterloo station in the Big Freeze of Feb 1991
<b>Memories of the fine art of Vac bashing</b>
Between 1983 and 1991 I spent many happy hours with my friends riding the rails behind the mighty 'Hoovers' or Class 50s on the Paddington-Oxford and Waterloo-Exeter routes, with many a ride and a drink or two in Oxford, regular forays down to Exeter, and on occasion into deepest Cornwall. 

My interest in the railways waned permanently around 1990-91 with the demise of the Class 50s, initially from the Paddington-Oxford route in 1990, and finally when they retired from the Waterloo-Exeter services in 1992.

As well as enjoying the thrash, I managed to record many of the trips and railway scenes encountered on film for posterity. Those days are now long gone, but happily the photos remain for me to reminisce over and share ;)

50046 'Ajax' is seen here about to depart from Waterloo with 1V11 to Exeter St Davids. 4-CEP 1569 can be seen in the background. Not sure what the 4-CEP was doing at Waterloo, as they usually worked the Kent coast trains out of Victoria. Probably there because of the disruption to services.

<b>A day in the life...</b>
According to my trusty log books, I managed to get a couple of rides behind 50046 that icy day:
1V11 from Waterloo to Exeter St Davids throughout
2OO4 from Yeovil to Waterloo

<b>The Big Freeze - London, February 1991</b>
At the beginning of February 1991, a bitterly cold spell of weather brought heavy snow to eastern and central England. Temperatures remained below zero in these areas continuously between the 6th and 9th of February and maximum temperatures were between -3 and -5C. During the night of the 7th the snow became heavy and persistent in London, bringing 20 cm in central London and 25cm in boroughs such as Croydon and Bromley, the deepest snow since the winter of 1962-1963.

This brought the rail network into chaos, Heathrow was forced to cancel flights and Gatwick and Birmingham airports were closed. On the 8th of February, the snow was lighter and started to ease. However, the cold spell and the snow lasted for several days. More information here: 
<a href="http://www.weathercast.co.uk/nc/weather-news/news/article/heavy_snow_in_england_25_years_ago.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.weathercast.co.uk/nc/weather-news/news/article/heavy_...</a>

and here: <a href="http://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/34026-winter-1990-91-the-gr.." rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/34026-winter-1990-91-the-gr..</a>.

<b>Locomotive History</b>
D446 entered service 05-Oct-68
Renumbered 50046 in 1974
Named 'Ajax' 11-Oct-78
Withdrawn 25-Mar-92
Ajax was one of the last Class 50s to remain in service into 1992, but was sadly not preserved. The locomotive was one of only five Class 50s to make their way over the border to M C Metals in Glasgow for scrapping - the others were 50003 'Temeraire', 50018 'Resolution', 50037 'Illustrious' and 50048 'Dauntless'. RIP

Taken with a Nikon F-501 SLR camera.

You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: <a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/</a>
snow london weather diesel waterloo ajax 446 class50 1569 50046 emu nse 4cep class411 station locomotive d446