GCR’S Class 153 takes to the rails
the Great Central Railway’s Easter on the Rails mixed traction event on March 30 had the opportunity to travel on one of the two Class 153 railcars bought by the GCR, with 153371 making its preservation debut.
Former West Midlands Trains 153371 and ex-east Midlands Railway 153308 were bought by the GCR from former owner Angel Trains and arrived at their new home at the end of last year.
The two units were purchased to support driver and staff training carried on the GCR on behalf of main line train operators, which hire the railway’s facilities to enable training to be carried out under controlled conditions that can be difficult to arrange on Network Rail infrastructure. It is also possible that the two units could be used for trialling new technologies and innovations planned for train fleets currently in service on the national network. At the time of their delivery to the railway, it was said that while it was not planned that the Class 153s would be used in normal service on the GCR, they may be occasionally used at diesel events and also on driver experience courses.
The event saw two of the railway’s steam locomotives in service, along with 50017 Royal Oak on the main service trains between Loughborough Central and Leicester North, while 153371, Derby Lightweight railcar Iris and the North Eastern Railway Autocar were used on shuttle services and on the Mountsorrel branch.