Is it a fair point? Whilst not attracting the hatred of duffs at the time, peaks were never that popular among enthusiasts, who seemed mostly to be able to take them or leave them. And I am definitely old enough to be allowed a point of view on this by Old Timer!
From my own experience of many years of studying these things, no loco, unit or train of any kind has ever been responsible for so much upset, disappointment and downright anguish to enthusiasts as the class 47. Personally they still leave me cold and I'll never forgive them for all the ruined trips of the past. This of course has nothing to do with their utility as a locomotive, before the duff-apologists start bleating. In the perverse world of diesel cranking, the more non-standard, unreliable and generally useless a loco is operationally, the more beloved it becomes.
Having said that, I would always have taken a duff-hauled train over an HST on the NESW route for example (a good example of a route where a class 45/1 turning up would be a definite bonus!). HSTs have crept up in my affections while 47s haven't, to the point where I'd now rather go on a tram than behind a duff. I think this is because HSTs were predictable: you knew a train was going to be a tram, and if you wanted to avoid it, you could. 47s turned up nearly everywhere, often when you'd gone a long way expecting rateable traction. All the way from York to Edinburgh on a freezing winter's day to do the 27s on the Dundees? Sounds like a great day. To be confronted by a duff in the bays at Edinburgh, even a steam heat duff, was almost more than one could bear. This used to happen on the Glasgow > Carlisle via Dumfries too often as well.
I'd happily see every one consigned to the cutter's torch, and I know plenty of others who feel the same. It's funny how a mere machine can arouse so much dislike among otherwise rational people!
