Bluebell Railway celebrates restoration of Class 73 loco

Electro-diesel locomotive 73133, also known as E6040 has been renamed "The Bluebell Railway" ahead of its introduction at the Sussex heritage railway.

The locomotive has been restored at Eastleigh Works, near Southampton, where it has been given a new lick of paint and nameplate.

Bluebell Railway Preservation Society vice president Roy Watts was at the depot to ceremonially rename the locomotive on Wednesday, April 5 ahead of its introduction at the Bluebell Railway, which runs between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead.

Representatives from the Bluebell Railway and other organisations gathered to celebrate the renaming (Image: Bluebell Railway)

The train is set to enter passenger operation "shortly" and will help out during high fire risk periods and further services alongside the route's extensive steam engine roster.

Roy said: "The Bluebell Railway continues to move with the times, and we’ve now had diesels for many years, starting with diesels operating the tip trains as part of us getting to East Grinstead more than ten years ago.

"I’m delighted E6040 is coming to the Bluebell Railway as it will be a highly versatile and economical locomotive allowing us to enhance our timetable alongside steam locos, I’m confident it’ll find a number of uses, including giving us the option to keep operating during high fire risk periods”.

73133 in action near Gatwick Airport in 1984 (Image: Paul Richards / Wikimedia Commons)

The train was designed by British Rail southern region engineers, who built a prototype batch of six electro-diesel locomotives at Eastleigh Carriage and Wagon Works between 1961 and 1962.

They proved successful in testing, and resulted in a further order of 43 locomotives - including 73133, which was built at Vulcan Foundry in Merseyside.

The class 73 locomotives can still be found in mainline operation today, with Southern Rail owning class 73202 "Graham Stenning" as part of its engineering fleet.

In 1980, the Brighton Evening Argus had a Class 73 named after the newspaper.

The Brighton Evening Argus

Events are being planned to celebrate the introduction of the locomotive at its new home and project leader Paul Auckland is calling for members of the public to get involved.

A spokesman for the Bluebell Railway said: "If you’d like to get involved in the group doing practical work to support the operation of the locomotive then contact the project leader, Paul at paulchillout@aol.com.

"Basing the locomotive and operating it at the Bluebell Railway now allows us to move as a project to further goals of establishing a group to work on the loco to ensure it continues to be reliable and in good condition as well as fundraising for the inevitable work that will be needed going forward."