2-HAP EMU sale involves move to Nottinghamshire

PREVIOUSLY part of Andrew Briddon’s collection at Darley Dale (Peak Rail), 2-HAP EMU No. 4311 has been sold to the Thompson Locomotive Collection.

The third-rail unit is due to move to its new owner’s yard at Clipstone (near Mansfield) at some point in the future. In advance of this, restoration work is being carried out on the unit, and in late January a start was made on tidying up the cab and stripping of a compartment of rotten panelling which will be replaced.

Withdrawn in 1995, No. 4311 entered preservation in 1999 and was part of the Electric Railway Museum collection until the closure of its Coventry site in 2017. It arrived at Darley Dale the following year.

The set is one of two such units to survive, the other being the National Railway Museum’s No. 4308 which has undergone an extensive restoration at Shildon in recent years.

The Thompson Locomotive Collection also owns three Ruston & Hornsby 165DE shunters located at Darley Dale, along with a Yorkshire Engine Company loco (No. 2679) which is undergoing an engine overhaul.