Colas HST power cars move to Severn Valley Railway

AS REVEALED in the last issue of Railways Illustrated, five HST power cars destined for use with Colas Railfreight moved from their storage locations to the Severn Valley Railway in late July. The five power cars – 43251/257/ 272/274/277 – have been leased by Colas from Porterbrook and are due to have work carried out prior to entering service with the operator. All five are fitted with MTU4000 engines, the same as the Network Rail power car fleet, also operated by Colas. They were all in service with LNER until the operator ceased HST operation in December 2019. 43251/257/272 and 43274 were cascaded to East Midlands Railway, which also ceased operating HSTS on its services in May.

43277 was not taken on by EMR (despite having EMR branding applied to its bodysides) and has been stored at Barrow Hill and

Nemesis Rail, Burton, since coming off-lease with LNER.

The five power cars are now located in the station yard at Arley for temporary storage, with the comparatively modern power cars contrasting with the quiet countryside heritage railway station surroundings.

It is understood the power cars are being stored on the SVR until they can have modification works carried out. Colas plans to use them on infrastructure monitoring trains.

The movement of 43251/257/274 also saw preserved 43044 hitch a lift from Neville Hill to Kidderminster. After being turned on the SVRS turntable, 43044 was quickly loaded onto a low loader for road movement to Ruddington on the Great Central Railway (Nottingham), where it has joined recently-delivered 43159, which was donated to the 125 Group in June by Porterbrook.

Steve Donald Colas 37057 Barbara Arbon hauls 43251, 43257, 43044 and 43274 pass Milford with 5Z21, the 07:24 Neville Hill to Kidderminster SVR working on July 22, 2021. Upon arrival at Kidderminster 43044 continued its journey into preservation by road transport, whilst the three power cars were moved to Arley for storage.

Kevin Delaney RIGHT: Looking somewhat incongruous in the countryside surroundings of Arley station yard on the Severn Valley Railway, HST power cars 43251/257/272/ 274/277 are currently stored on behalf of Colas Railfreight. 43257 contrasts with the GWR colours of the signalbox on July 29, 2021.

Kevin Delaney HST power car 43277 stands on the left at Arley on July 29, 2021, while 43251 stands in front of 43257/274/272 on the adjacent siding. All carry Virgin East Coast (later LNER and EMR) red colours, with the exception of 43274 which was re-liveried into EMR aubergine for its final few weeks in service.