Cfps.co.uk - Society to preserve Class 40 locomotives
Title
Class 40 Preservation Society CFPS - 40135 and 40145 at ELR
Description
The Class 40 Preservation Society is a group of rail enthusiasts dedicated to preserving and operating working examples of English Electric Type 4 (British Rail Class 40) locomotives for the general public, and to promote their interest and history, being part of our nation's industrial and railway heritage. The CFPS is a non-profit making organisation with charitable status - registered charity number 326323.
In late 1979, with the growing recession and a downturn in freight traffic, a group of enthusiasts decided to try and preserve a Class 40, and the CFPS was formed. The inaugural CFPS meeting took place in February 1980. As plans for the second phase of withdrawals were rumoured, word spread quickly, and Class 40 followers throughout the UK came together, aiming to save at least one working example of these fine and well respected locomotives from the cutter's torch.
A total of seven Class 40's were saved from the scrap lines, of which the Society owns 40135 and 40145. The CFPS locomotives are proudly based at East Lancashire Railway in Bury, Lancashire, where they regularly haul passenger trains in one area of their old operating territory, the north west of England.
