Class 40 D345 returns to Bury following the end of LSL hire

AFTER IT was revealed that the agreement between Locomotive Services Ltd (LSL) and the Class 40 Preservation Society for the hire of main line-registered Class 40 D345 had ended by mutual agreement (Railways Illustrated, issue 229), the immaculate BR green-liveried locomotive left LSL’S base at Crewe Diesel Depot on January 24 to return to its home railway on the East Lancashire Railway in Bury.

The Class 40 had spent the last 18 months on hire to LSL, where it worked a number of tours for the operator and was also returned to original BR green with small yellow warning panels while it was based at Crewe.

CFPS chairman John Stephens had previously told Railways Illustrated he was hopeful that the agreement to hire the locomotive to LSL might have been extended beyond the original February 2022 date, but comments online about the agreement between the two organisations appear to have been the basis for the contract being terminated early and the locomotive being returned to the CFPS.

Tim Moran Main line-registered Class 40 D345 heads light engine through Hartford station on January 24, working 0Z40, the 10.53 Crewe Holding Sidings to Castleton Heywood Ground Frame on its way back from Locomotive Services Limited to the Class 40 Preservation Society at Bury, on the East Lancashire Railway.