Wensleydale Railway has revealed the new livery of its class 47 diesel locomotive during their annual weekend model railway show at Leeming Bar on 10 and 11 May.

They chose to paint the locomotive, number 47714, in Rail Express Systems (RES) red livery. RES was a sector of British Rail that launched in 1991 and was principally responsible for transporting mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains. It also took over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Royal Train.

The railway purchased the locomotive from The Harry Needle Railroad Company in Derbyshire, in 2024. It arrived at Leeming Bar in November 2024 and work began to repair the bodywork and then repaint it earlier this year.

Visitors to the model railway show had the opportunity to see the locomotive up close and personal inside the engine shed, where it was surrounded by model railway layouts and trade stalls from around the region. Adrian Monks, one of the volunteers who worked on the restoration work, gave visitors an overview of the repairs done and the locomotive’s history. Lots of people also took the opportunity to climb up into the cab, have a look inside the engine room and sit in the driver’s seat! Adrian is a member of the Northallerton Railway Circle, a local railway society that donated £200 towards the restoration work.

The repair and repainting project was led by Robert Cooper-Williamson, the railway’s Engineering and Operations Manager, and he was supported by a small team of volunteers. Rob said: “we decided to put the loco in a livery that it carried during its life on the national network and was fitting for our region. It is currently the only operational class 47 locomotive in preservation that carries the RES livery. I would like to thank all the volunteers who supported this work. They put a huge amount of time and effort into this project, and it’s great to hear that the result of the team’s hard work is being so well-received by railway enthusiasts.”

Nick Keegan, Marketing and Fundraising Manager at Wensleydale Railway said: “we made the announcement on social media at 8am on Saturday and the news was overwhelmingly welcomed by railway enthusiasts. We have received close to 300 comments just on our Facebook post, and it has been shared 100 times. One message that we received from a supporter read - “My husband came today with my step-son and son. Was lovely to see photos of my little one in the seat of the loco his daddy used to sit in and drive! Brilliant job everyone! Looks fab!””

He added: “we invited visitors to bring along their own class 47 models and have them photographed next to the real thing. One of our model show exhibitors, ‘Penna Lane TMD’ from the Shildon Model Railway Club in County Durham, specially re-numbered their RES liveried class 47 model to match our one! The layout is

owned by father and son Colin and Ray Batchelor. Colin did the renumbering late on Friday evening, right before the show opened to the public on Saturday morning.”

The railway is planning to have 47714 running at the end of May during its home fleet diesel gala. This event will take place on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, 24-26 May. More information on this event will follow shortly. This will be the first time that 714 has operated passenger services at Wensleydale Railway in its new livery.