43073 was built at Crewe in 1978. It spent all of its life allocated to Neville Hill Depot and worked on the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras. 43073 was withdrawn in 2020 and taken to Long Marston for storage where she was then purchased by 125 Heritage Ltd in 2021. 43073 is in good mechanical order and has been recently been started. Further testing is being carried out but efforts have been concentrated on 43082 and 43071. More updates to follow. The power car will remain in its EMR livery.
43082 was built at Crewe in 1978. It spent most of its life on the Midland Main line. In November 1997 the power car was named Derbyshire First which was removed in late 2004. In 2019 it was named Railway Children – Fighting for street children which it carried until its withdrawal in 2020. The power car will remain in its EMR livery for now. 43082 was the first power car to be started and has proved more reliable over time.
43071 was built at Crewe in 1977. 43071 initially spent her life on the East Coast Main line but was used in her later years on the Paddington to Bristol and South West routes under First Great Western and was allocated to Swansea. This power car is fitted with an MTU engine which differs from 43082 and 43073 which are fitted with VP185’s. 43071 is in need of cosmetic restoration so its expected to be the first vehicle to received a repaint. Suggestions are welcome! 43071 was started in February 2022 and ran without fault after starting up.
40706 Trailer First Buffet was built in 1978-9 at Derby works, part of lot number 30921. The vehicle was first used on the Great Western main line out of Paddington but ended its days on the East Coast main line. The vehicle was stored from December 2019 at Ely and then purchased by 125 Heritage Ltd in May 2021 when it was moved to the Colne Valley Railway. The vehicle retains its full kitchen and bar area and the seating is full leather. The current livery is ex LNER.
44058 Trailer Guard’s Standard was built in 1980 -82 part of lot number 30949. The vehicle was purchased by 125 Heritage Ltd in May 2021 and moved to the Colne Valley Railway.
41088 Trailer First Class Open was built at Derby works 1977-8, part of lot number 30896. The vehicle was used predominately on the East Coast main line and was stored from December 2019 at Ely. The vehicle was purchased by 125 Heritage Ltd in May 2021 and moved to the Colne Valley Railway.
