Makes successful return to the main line
More than 33 years after it was withdrawn by British Rail, Class 40 D213 Andania (40013) returned to the main line under its own power on August 8.
The preserved Type 4 carried out a test run from Crewe Diesel Depot to Chester, running light locomotive.
The following day, it hauled a loaded test run from Crewe to Telford Central, with Locomotive Services Limited 47805 included as insurance. The ‘40’ completed both trips successfully.
LSL has hired the ‘40’ for three years, with its first main line passenger trip due on August 27 (after this issue of RAIL went to press).
Preserved by Trevor Dean when BR put it up for sale, the ‘40’ changed hands after Dean’s death and was restored to operational condition in 2012. It finally hauled its first passenger trains in May 2016, when it started at the Swanage Railway diesel gala.
Since then it has hauled trains at the East Lancashire Railway. The ‘40’ starred at a recent ELR event marking the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the class by BR.
Andania is the only member of the LSL fleet not owned by the company. It will be used to haul Saphos Trains charters on the main line, and is only the second ‘40’ to return to the national network since the class was withdrawn from squadron service in early 1985.
The pioneer (40122) continued until April 1988. After that it was 2002 before another ‘40’ operated under its own power on the national railway, when Class 40 Preservation Society’s 40145 returned to the main line.
D213 will be used on three trains this year. The first is on August 27, when the ‘40’ will run from Crewe-Carlisle via the SettleCarlisle Line, returning via the West Coast Main Line.
On October 6 it will run from Crewe-Scarborough, and a week later the ‘40’ will haul a train from Crewe-Holyhead.