Tuesday, 21 September 2021

Crewe Heritage Centre Has Successfully Acquired the 8,000th Locomotive To Be Built At Crewe Works.

Thanks to a generous donation by Porterbrook, Crewe Heritage Centre has been able to secure a second HST Power Car (43 081) as a permanent exhibit at the museum. 
43 081 was built a short distance away from the Heritage Centre in March 1978 and is officially considered to be the 8,000 locomotive to be constructed at Crewe Locomotive Works.




43 081 arrived at the Heritage Centre on Monday 13th September, and team at the Heritage Centre say that they "really excited about our plans to restore this very special locomotive".

Its arrival also marks 45 years to the day (13 September 1976) that British Rail officially introduced the first High Speed Train into service (Source: BBC Archive).



Since entering service the HST’s have become a common sight throughout the country. The HST was originally developed as a low-cost stopgap whilst the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was still in development. However the HST proved itself to be far more than a stopgap, successfully running for 45 years with numerous members of the fleet still in service today.

The HST's are still operated on frontline services by Cross Country, ScotRail and GWR as well as specialist companies such as Rail Charter Services.

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