50046 'Ajax' large logo Class 50 storms out of Slough on 1F66 - a rush-hour Twyford service
<b>Memories of the fine art of Vac bashing</b>
Between 1983 and 1991 I spent many, many happy hours with my friends riding the rails behind the mighty 'Hoovers' or Class 50s. 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 ;)

One of the finest and loudest Class 50s 'Ajax' is seen accelerating out of Slough on a Paddington-Twyford service. The Twyfords were great for thrash for a number of reasons:

- they often loaded to 12 or 13 Mark 1s so plenty of load
- the driver was usually 'wound up' after waiting for endless doors to be closed
- they always used the slow lines so often got stuck behind DMUs

Note the black roof - a variation as applied to several Laira based Class 50s in the mid-1980s, including 50006 'Neptune', 50014 'Warspite' and 50047 'Swiftsure' amongst others - most had the light grey roofs though. My '50 bashing' friend Llew looks like he's enjoying the thrash!

50046 on 1F66 Paddington - Twyford
<b>PADDINGTON</b>
<b>SLOUGH</b>

<b>18 miles</b>

<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Withdrawn 25-Mar-92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 ended her days in M.C. Metals scrapyard in Glasgow.

Taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL SLR and standard lens.

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>
class50 diesel london slough 50046 station basher flailing locomotive 446 d446