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the pace of withdrawals was picking up, and forthcoming changes in main works overhauls saw locomotives 47429 and 47529 withdrawn in working order in early 1987, in order to supply a spares float for the move to Cost Effective Maintenance.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.
