New Llanelli company buys unique 73
A NEW company has been formed which has purchased a Class 73 electro diesel for use on a South Wales heritage line.
No. 73130 was delivered to the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway on November 4, having been collected from its previous home with the Coulsdon Old Vehicle & Engineering Society (COVES) at Bicester the previous evening.
It has been purchased outright by 73130 Ltd, formed and funded by members of the LMMR and also Class 73 enthusiasts from further afield, and set up expressly for the purpose of owning, restoring, and managing the continued operation of the locomotive.
Member Peter De Lacey, who worked on No. 73130 when it was owned by European Passenger Services, the operator of the cross-channel high-speed rail service, said: “Having worked with this loco for more than 40 years, on and off, it is great to be reacquainted with it. My last contact was when it was one of two rescue locos, along with No. 73118, purchased by European Passenger Services, and I conducted driver training with it for the EPS train crew. We would use both locos to haul a Eurostar set from Waterloo to Dollands Moor.”
The project came together inside months when it was learned that COVES was vacating the Bicester site and disposing of its entire heritage railway collection. LMMR director Mark Thomas said: “Such a versatile and economical locomotive will play a vital role in the continuing development of the railway and in achieving the short, medium, and long-term aims of the project. The LMMR is delighted to be a part of this new organisation, as am I personally.”
No. 73130 will undergo safety checks and essential remedial work during the coming months, with the aim of operating it at Cynheidre during the 2023 season. In the longer term, the team will make it available for hire to other railways on an occasional basis.
Mark added: “We hope that the loco can become a roaming ambassador and represent us around the UK.”
It is the biggest locomotive ever to be based at LMMR since the revivalist project took over the Cynheidre site in 2001.
LMMR director and press officer David Mee said: “It will no doubt prove a huge asset, both as an attraction in its own right and in support of infrastructure projects as we plan to extend the line.”
Initial signs are that the locomotive is not in bad condition. The team intends it to remain in its current condition, with Scharfenberg coupling adaptors used for linking to the original Eurostar sets. It will retain the two-tone grey Eurostar livery with the cast metal tunnel roundels on the bodyside from its time based at the North Pole International depot in West London, the home of Eurostar’s UK fleet from 1994 to 2007. “The loco will be a slice of railway history that represents the very beginnings of international cross-channel rail travel,” said David.
The team will also be looking at replacing the nameplates worn prior to its Eurostar years, when it was named City of Portsmouth between 1988 and 1996. It was named at a ceremony held at Portsmouth & Southsea station on July 2, 1988.
The 73 was scheduled to have taken centre stage at a static open day at Cynheidre on November 26.
Rededication
Elsewhere in the principality, comedian and television presenter Susan Calman has officially named a Class 73 based at Cambrian Heritage Railways.
While filming for a new Channel 5 series of Grand Days Out in Shropshire, she visited the station at Weston Wharf, along with her trademark campervan, affectionally named Helen Mirren. She took time out from filming to rededicate the locomotive City of Winchester.
The 73 was built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows in 1966 and was originally numbered E6036, but it was renumbered 73129 years later. The original number and new nameplates have now been applied.
CHR’s general manager, Andy Green, said: “The locomotive arrived at Oswestry in 2021 and has since become a firm favourite, operating on the newly opened heritage line between Oswestry and Weston Wharf.”
Susan chatted with CHR members and volunteers and after unveiling the name, she took to the controls as filming resumed along the two-mile line.
The line’s Santa trains are due to be operated by the 73 and Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0DE No.11517
Alun Evans.