Power and glory at Cheddington on March 8, 2021.

On this day the weather was cold and lousy, but given the chance to see a Class 40 at full speed working a passenger charter on the mainline was something I wasn’t going to miss! I would have gone out at midnight just to witness this once more.

40145 in BR blue, complete with its headcode on display, approaches Cheddington. Given the honour of running on the up fast en-route to Euston, it wasn’t hanging about, having to be carefully pathed between Pendolino services. You could hear the locomotive thrashing away as far back as Leighton Buzzard and it sounded magnificent.