Category: High Speed Train

Signal Box Safari – Truro

43087 leads 'The Royal Duchy' past Truro signal box43087 leads ‘The Royal Duchy’ past Truro signal box
4 August 2014

In the early hours of this morning Truro signal box (formerly Truro East) signalled its last train. The semaphore signals will be removed and control of the section will be handed to a panel in Exeter power box.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) type 7a structure dates from 1899 and is fitted with a 54-lever frame that came from Bristol East Depot Main Line signal box in 1971.

43087 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment Royal Logistic Corps and 43042 were in charge of train 1C81, the 12.06 First Great Western service, ‘The Royal Duchy’ from London Paddington to Penzance on the 4 August 2014 and although 43087 was scrapped in December 2022, 43042 (now named Tregenna Castle) can still be found working in Cornwall.

Spotted Yesterday – 43184 at Derby

43184-2022080643184
Derby, 6 August 2022

Last month CrossCountry unveiled one of its High Speed Train power cars in the livery it first carried in the 1980s… 43184 was built in 1981 at Crewe Works and renumbered 43384 when rebuilt with an MTU engine in 2008.

CrossCountry have reinstated not only the original TOPS number but also the the set number ‘253051’ across the power car’s nose.

I had a tip that 43184 was leading train 1E67, the 16.27 service from Plymouth to Leeds so I popped down to Derby hoping to grab a pic in the failing light… and I’m glad I did.

For the record 43303 (the former 43103) was on the rear of the train.

Spotted Yesterday – 43274 and 43102

Spotted yesterday at Nottingham Station, having arrived with train 1D48, the 15.34 (SSuX) East Midlands Railway service from London St Pancras International…

43274-20210430a43274
Nottingham, 30 April 2021

and…

43102 (43302)-20210430a43102 The Journey Shrinker
Nottingham, 30 April 2021

EMR’s High Speed Trains are due for withdrawal in the next couple of weeks so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to photograph the two ‘celebrity-liveried’ power cars on the same train.

43274 (the former 43074, b.1977) is the only power car to wear EMR’s purple livery whilst 43102 (actually 43302, b.1978) has been repainted into the British Rail InterCity ‘Swallow’ livery it carried when it set the world speed record for a diesel train of 148.5mph on 1 November 1987.

43102 (nameplate)-20210430The Journey Shrinker nameplate (43102)
Nottingham, 30 April 2021

43102 and 43274 returned to St Pancras with train 1B69, the 17.45 SSuX service, departing Nottingham to a chorus of camera shutters firing!