THE 125 Group is repainting its MTU-engined power car, No. 43159, into Midland Mainline’s ocean blue livery, as originally applied when it joined the ‘Project Rio’ fleet in 2003.
The repaint comes 20 years after the launch of the short-lived service which ran between Manchester Piccadilly and London St Pancras from May 2003 until September 2004, providing additional services between the two cities while upgrade work was carried out on the West Coast Main Line.
Following luggage van roof repairs, the repaint began at Butterley in April. While the colour scheme was not exclusive to ‘Project Rio’ vehicles, being applied to all High Speed Trains in the Midland Mainline fleet at the time, power cars which were dedicated to the Manchester services, of which No. 43159 was one, were denoted by the letter ‘R’ next to the number. At a future date, it is intended to restore No. 43159 into InterCity Executive colours, as carried on its record-breaking speed run in November 1987.
The 125 Group expects No. 43159.uk for confirmed details.
