CFPS to mark D345 anniversary

IT is 20 years since the Class 40 Preservation Society’s No. D345 first returned to main line activity and to celebrate the anniversary, the CFPS intends to run a commemorative tour. The society is in discussion with Pathfinder Tours to run a charter at the end of this year and is to canvas its members imminently as to what they would like to see.

The CFPS had also got in mind a special excursion this summer, but the RMT strikes have meant a change of plan. It told members: “We had hoped to announce a trip to the seaside with Pathfinder at the end of August, but unfortunately due to the RMT dispute, these plans have had to be put on hold for the time being. The industry is only getting 14 days’ notice for industrial action and the disruption and costs like hotels, that passengers may not have been able to recover, were too big a risk.”

It seems like a long time ago when a packed 1Z45 ‘Christmas Cracker 1V’ left Crewe for Holyhead on November 30, 2002 behind the CFPS’ ‘Whistler’ which lived up to its appellation. The return was 1Z40. Number one in the British charts that day was Dirrty, by Christina Aguilera, Labour’s Tony Blair was Prime Minister, and Arsenal won the FA Cup that year (at Cardiff).