345 at Rawtenstall - 14 February 2015

The Class 40 Preservation Society was formed in 1980 and are the proud owners of two English Electric Type 4, Class 40 locomotives, D335 (40135) & 345 (40145). Both locomotives are based at Bury on the East Lancs Railway. D335 is currently painted in its original 1961 British Railways green Livery, whilst 345 is running in BR Blue. We also own the cab of 40088.

Our two locos were part of a 200 strong class of mixed traffic locos introduced between 1958 & 1962. Each loco was fitted with a single 2,000 hp engine, which made them a Type 4 under the British Railways diesel classification. In the early 1970’s the locos became part of Class 40 under BR's computerised TOPS classification system. Both of our locos were bought from BR upon withdrawal, D345/40145 in February 1984, D335/40135 in May 1988.

They perform regularly at the East Lancs Railway. A major milestone for the society occurred in October 2002, when D345 was certified to run on the national rail network. Since then the loco has worked many railtours to places the length and breadth of Britain. On the pages of this website you can find out about the history of the class, find the latest class 40 news, download booking forms for 345's railtours, take a browse through our sales items and lots more.