More Class 43 HST power cars break cover
43 HST power car which has recently been repainted into Intercity Swallow livery at Neville Hill left the Leeds depot on November 10, light engine, heading for its home base at the Locomotive Services Ltd Crewe diesel depot.
43049 Neville Hill has been at the West Yorkshire depot for the past three months, where it was repainted into the iconic livery, unveiled at a special handover ceremony on October 11 (Railways Illustrated,
December 2021). Prior to its purchase by Locomotive Services Ltd subsidiary Locomotive Intercity, 43049 had spent much of its working life based at its namesake depot.
It is one of seven Class 43s owned by the company but is the first to be repainted into Intercity Swallow colours.
Also in the LIL fleet are 43046 Geoff Dury 1930-1999 and 43055, which are dedicated to the Midland Pullman luxury dining services, along with 43058 and 43059, which are dedicated to Rail Charter Services. 43047 and 43083 remain in obsolete East Midlands Trains livery, although it is expected that 43047 will be repainted in the near future. 43083 is at Eastleigh Works, where it has been used as a spares donor. Additionally, another two of the HST power cars recently leased by Colas Rail for use on Network Rail trains have returned to main line use. Both 43251 and 43257 have entered service on test trains, having left their temporary storage location at Arley on the Severn Valley Railway in mid-october. After being prepared by Loram at Derby, the pair have joined 43272/274 in working Network Rail services, alongside their fleet of 43013/014/062 (although these power cars are undergoing modifications at the time of writing) and 43290/299.
These are on a short-term lease to Network Rail for use on the New Measurement Train while overhauls and modifications are carried out on their three power cars.
Colas still has one power car, 43277, in store on the SVR awaiting movement to Derby for reactivation.