The British Rail Class 41 were two powercars built in 1972 by

British Rail Engineering Limited British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail. Established in 1970, the maintenance arm was split as British Rail Maintenance Limited in 1987, and the design and building of trains was pr ...

Crewe Works Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lot ...

to operate with the prototype

High Speed Train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

(HST) with

Mark 3 Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with scribes and a meeting of Jesus with h ...

carriages.

History

Two power cars were built in 1972 by

, numbered 41001 and 41002. They initially conducted tests on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

with the set based at

Neville Hill TMD Neville Hill is a railway train maintenance depot in Osmondthorpe, Leeds, England on the Leeds to Selby Line. The depot is situated to the east of Leeds railway station on the north side of the line. The TOPS depot code is NL. History In ...

.Evolution trials of HST ''The Railway Magazine'' issue 880 August 1974 page 379 Having accumulated more than , including setting a diesel train speed record of between

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...

and

Thirsk Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England known for its racecourse; quirky yarnbomber displays, and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby. History Archeological fin ...

in June 1973, they moved to the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...

in 1974. On 5 May 1975, both entered revenue service on Great Western services between

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...

and

Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

. After the Class 252 re-classification they were renumbered into the carriage numbering range as 43000 and 43001. After being replaced by production Class 43 HST powercars in the early 1980s, both were allocated to the

Railway Technical Centre The Railway Technical Centre (RTC) in London Road, Derby, England, was the technical headquarters of the British Railways Board, and was built in the early 1960s. British Rail described it as the largest railway research complex in the world. T ...

and used in various high speed trials associated with the

Advanced Passenger Train The Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was a tilting high speed train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s, for use on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). The WCML contained many curves, and the APT pioneered the concept of activ ...

and InterCity 225 projects. In December 1990, 41002 was scrapped by

CF Booth C F Booth Ltd is a family-owned scrap metal and recycling business based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Operations Clarence Frederick Booth founded the business in 1920, as a metal purchaser and trader. Over the company's history, t ...

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, while 41001 was restored cosmetically and donated to the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

. In 2011, the National Railway Museum agreed a lease with the 125 Group that resulted in 41001 moving from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

to Neville Hill TMD in March 2012 to be restored to operational condition. As part of this move, it was re-registered on

TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...

as Class 43/9 locomotive 43000. Upon completion it was based at the

Great Central Railway (Nottingham) The Nottingham Heritage Railway (formerly known as Great Central Railway (Nottingham) and Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre) is a heritage railway and transport museum on the south side of the village of Ruddington in Nottinghamshire. The ...

. In November 2014, 41001 hauled its first passenger train since 1976, a special named the ''Screaming Valenta'', using a short-formed

East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains (EMT) was a British train operating company owned by the transport group Stagecoach, which operated the East Midlands franchise between November 2007 and August 2019. Following the Department for Transport (DfT) award ...

HST set with a Class 43 on the other end. After suffering engine problems at the

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is a heritage railway line in the Worth Valley, West Yorkshire, England, which runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the National Rail network at Keighley railway station. History Inception an ...

in May 2019, it was moved to Neville Hill TMD for repairs. In October 2019, the National Railway Museum announced it had terminated the loan agreement, citing serious contract breaches. Although that was disputed by the 125 Group, 41001 was returned to the museum in November 2019.

References

External links

Testing the prototype HST
{{British Rail Locomotives 41 2 BREL locomotives Bo-Bo locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1972 Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain Diesel-electric locomotives of Great Britain

History

References

Further reading

External links