This was filmed on 26/09/23
Time is officially up for the CrossCountry (XC) Class 43. Partnered with Branch Line Society (BLS), Porterbrook and Swanage Railway; CrossCountry runs a charity railtour running from Leeds towards Swanage under the headcode of 1Z43 under the 'Pines Express' headboard title. This was later followed on doing the 'Bournemouth Belle' from Swanage to Bournemouth and return. Afterwards it did it's final journey on 1Z44 towards Leeds.
43007 in its Intercity 125 livery alongside with 43008 in its Intercity Swallow livery does the honours to run the railtour with a full 2+8 set configuration. These powercars were recently painted (or perhaps wrapped I believe) in their new livery although I was expecting 43184 to be on the set considering I wanted to get a better shot of the powercars.
The Class 43 nicknamed the High Speed Train (HST) and Intercity 125 were built in 1975 by BREL in Crewe Works were designed to replace the loco hauled express trains across the national rail network. The PC is considered to be the fastest diesel locomotive in the world which achieved the maximum speed of 148.5mph but for regular service can achieve the speed of 125mph. Only 197 of these locomotives were built with the assistance of the Class 41 powercars which were the prototypes for the construction of Class 43. Previously, all of the PCs had Paxman Valenta 12RP200L engines which were indeed very loud and screamed like as if it was a jet with the cooling fans roaring down on the railway lines. The Paxman Valenta engines got swapped with the MTU 16V4000 R41R engines for LNER, GWR and Great Central I believe whilst East Midlands Trains (EMT) had their engines fitted with Paxman VP185s. The design of the body of the HST was constructed by an industrial designer Sir Kenneth Henry Grange who designed the nosecone of the HSTs.
For now, these XC sets have served there purpose.
We bid them a grand farewell for their excellent service.
CrossCountry Class 43 HSTs
1976 - 2023
47 years of excellent service
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Негізгі бет Cross Country HST Farewell Tour 26/09/23
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