Off-lease GWR power cars and coaches on the move

OFF-LEASE ex-Great Western Railway High Speed Train power cars and coaches have been moved across the UK in recent weeks.

Former GWR Class 43 cars are bound for ScotRail, while some stock that had been stored at Ely, having been replaced at GWR by Intercity Express Trains, has moved north to Scotland.

It is planned that as many as ten ‘classic’ HSTs will be used by ScotRail in lieu of refurbished sets, in order to meet the operator’s December timetable. ScotRail expects to have a second refurbished set in traffic for the start of the timetable. Its first set entered traffic on October 15 ( RAIL 864).

On October 19, refurbished power cars 43026 and 43128 took Trailer First (TF) 41010, Trailer Standards 42012/013 and Trailer Guards Standard (TGS) 44004 from Ely to Haymarket. Both ‘43s’ have been refurbished.

A week earlier (October 12), a rake of Mk 3s was taken from Ely to Scotland, this time to Dundee. Power cars 43125 and 43141 (the former one of those refurbished for SR) took TF 41144 TS 42295/296 and TGS 44039 north.

The day before (October 11), refurbished 43026 and 43141 were released from Loughborough on October 11, and ran straight to Ely. That same day, 43124/175, took TF 41124, 42255/256 and TGS 44029 to Perth.

On October 10, ex-GWR 43176/177, arrived with off-lease TF 41010 (which has since moved to Scotland). These power cars left the following day (October 11), running to Loughborough for refurbishment.

On October 9, off-lease ex-GWR 43124/175 arrived at Ely with TF 41117/137. GWR has removed the GWR 175th Anniversary nameplates from 43175.

This now means that the unrefurbished power cars in Scotland are 43003/021/035/037, 43124/126/132/133/136/142/175/ 179, while refurbished 43012/026/ 032/033/036, 43125/128/134/135/ 140/143/146/148/163/168/169/ 183 are north of the border.

Refurbished 43149 remains at Laira. All the unrefurbished examples will be sent to Loughborough in the future.

Additionally, refurbished 43141 are at Ely along with unrefurbished 43138/182, while 43031, 43130/ 139/150-152/164/176/177 are at Loughborough.

Still to be returned by GWR are 43015/030/034, 43131/137/144/ 147/181. All refurbished SR HSTs will be in used by December 2019.

On October 24, Trailer Standard Micro-Buffets (TSMB) 40102/104/ 107/109/112/114/117/119 were taken to Landore, also for storage.

On October 17, GWR 43093 and 43180 took Trailer Kitchen Buffet First (TFKB) 40807/810/811 and Trailer Buffet First (TFB) 40900-904 from Laira to the Welsh depot.

These are the first non-Angel Trains vehicles removed from traffic, with the TFKBs owned by Porterbrook and the entire TFB fleet owned by FirstGroup.

Even though GWR is retaining ‘Castle’ HSTs for use on various routes, these will be short-formed sets with no catering vehicles.

MARTIN TURNER. Great Western Railway 43180 leads off-lease catering vehicles 40901/903/904/900/902, 40811/810/807 through Cardiff Central on October 17, with the 0905 Laira-Landore stock move. The Mk 3 coaches have been made redundant following the cascade and storage of High Speed Trains.

DARREN WETHERALL. Off-lease ex-Great Western Railway 43177 leads former GWR Trailer First 41010 and 43176 through Langham Junction (near Oakham) on October 10, running from Bristol Temple Meads-Ely Papworth. The ‘43s’ ran to Brush Traction, Loughborough, the following day for refurbishment for ScotRail, while the TF was taken to Haymarket nine days later with other unrefurbished Mk 3s.