Reflections of 'Courageous' - my second favourite 'Vac' 50032 rests at Old Oak Common towards the end of its life
<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 ;)

Here is one of a set of photos I took on one of my last visits to Old Oak Common in 1990 - with Class 50 <b>50032 'Courageous'</b> in reflective mood after a 22 career on British Rail. One of the ex-ScotRail 'Duffs' that replaced the 'Vacs' on the Oxfords can be seen lurking in the background.

50032 always stood out from the crowd in NSE livery because of the unique blue nameplate. The loco was a particular favourite of mine, and I was disappointed that she escaped preservation. 

<b>Locomotive History</b>
D432 entered service 13-Jul-68
Renumbered 50032 in 1974
Named 'Courageous' 17-Jul-78
Withdrawn 15-Oct-90
After surviving in service until October 1990, the locomotive was stripped of useful parts at Old Oak Common and then cut up on site by Coopers Metals, along with my least favourite machine 50034 'Furious'. 50032 never carried the later version of NSE livery.

Taken with a Nikon F-501 SLR camera and 75-200mm zoom 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 locomotive oldoakcommon shed depots depot london d432 432 50032 reflection