Lineside at Yeovil Junction in the 1980s

As the 1980s was drawing to an end, the class 50 locomotives still had another two years left in service and soldiered on with the Waterloo to Exeter services. Their reliability became less and failures began to occur. Some argues that this was down to their unsuitability to the route with its many short distances stopping patterns - a requirement not in alignment with their original express passenger design. Others place the blame on sub-standard maintainence being carried out by their sole depot Laira, though this would be difficult to prove with any certainty. The age of the locomotives was almost certainly a factor however. In this short film taken at Yeovil in 1989, the 50s can be seen working these services alongside a class 47 which saw occaisional use on the route.