2008 Minehead & West Somerset Railway

50044 Exeter (as D444) and 50049 Defiance were used for the Minehead & The West Somerset Railway tour run by Rail-Blue Charters. The locomotives worked from Manchester to Minehead via Shrewsbury and Severn Tunnel, a total of 466 miles for the one day trip. Locomotive 57601, supplied by West Coast Railways, was used as tail-gunner throughout the tour for electric train supply (ETS) and stock positioning purposes.

The destination for the tour was Minehead, which was reached by running over the preserved-line tracks of the West Somerset Railway.

This was the first mainline run for 50044 since 1999, following fitment of the mandatory electronic equipment to allow for its operation on the national mainline.

Date: 2008-10-18