In the mid-1980s, the winds of change were blowing through British Rail
and often not for the good; the pace of withdrawals was picking up, and
forthcoming changes in main works overhauls saw locomotives 47429 and
47529 withdrawn in working order in early 1987, in order to supply a
spares float for the move to Cost Effective Maintenance. North of the
border, steam-heat was finally dispensed with in May 1987. The new
financial year in April 1987 saw BR's assets allocated to business
sectors, with the 47s split between the Freight, Departmental, Parcels,
Provincial and InterCity sectors. One consequence of this would be that
there were far fewer no-heat 47/0s and 47/3s diagrammed to summer
Saturday holiday trains in 1987. Indeed, with many 47/4s allocated to
the Departmental and Parcels sectors even some of these could
potentially become rare on passenger trains. Following on from Class
47s: Inverness to Penzance 1982-85 and Class 47s: Inverness to Dover
Western Docks 1985-86, this highly illustrated volume continues the
story through the winter 1986 and summer 1987 timetables, following the
Class 47s as they worked from Scotland to Cornwall.
