Withdrawn Class 40 40003 seen languishing at Doncaster Works
<b>Sun. 5th June 1983 1Zxx - 'The North Midlander' railtour</b> Another great railtour - this one managed to include scheduled stops at Doncaster Works and Toton TMD open days :)

<b>40003</b> - one of the very first of the pilot batch of Class 40s is seen here languishing amongst the weeds, awaiting the cutter's torch, on a visit to Doncaster Works - at this stage, the loco looks fairly complete [apart from lack of cab windows]. Extreme right is another of the class, also heading for the torch :(
Not sure what all that 'gubbins' is in the foreground! (see Comments section below :)

<b>Locomotive History D203 / 40003</b>
In 1955 British Railways ordered ten type 4 locomotives from English Electric as part of the prototype diesel locomotive evaluation program. Three years later in March 1958, the first locomotive D200 emerged from the English Electric Vulcan Foundry works at Newton-Le-Willows and by September all ten had been delivered. D200 – D206 were allocated to Stratford MPD and employed on Great Eastern duties between London Liverpool Street to Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich. With the introduction of the class 47’s on Great Eastern duties, the class 40’s soon found themselves delegated to secondary passenger duties and eventually settled down to a mix of secondary passenger trains, summer holiday trains, parcel traffic and heavy freight trains. 
By the mid 1970’s 40003 had migrated to the London Midland Region allocated to the Longsight. Class 40 withdrawals had commenced in 1976 although as can be seen classified repairs were still being authorized on the more fortunate members of the class as late as 1980. The classified repair just received by 40003 would keep it in traffic until September 1982 when it was withdrawn from Healey Mills MPD. Following withdrawal it would languish at Stratford (its first depot) for a while before finally reaching Doncaster Works were it was broken up in January 1984. Info. courtesy of: <a href="/photos/pics-by-john/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">John Woolley Photos</a> :)

<b>Detailed Locomotive History D203 / 40003
16/05/58 - Date in traffic, allocated to 30A (Stratford)</b>
01/06/59 - Transferred to 32A (Norwich)
01/11/59 - Transferred to 30A (Stratford)
01/04/66 - Transferred to 32B (Ipswich)
01/08/66 - Transferred to 36A (Doncaster)
01/10/66 - Transferred to 32B (Ipswich)
01/08/67 - Transferred to LMWL (Western Lines D01, D02, D05)
01/12/67 - Transferred to 9A (Longsight)
01/06/68 - Transferred to D09 (Manchester Division)
<b>10/09/68 - Painted into BR Blue</b>
01/05/70 - On Loan to 55B (York)
31/05/70 - Transferred to D09 (Manchester Division)
01/05/73 - Transferred to LO (Longsight)
<b>01/03/74 - Renumbered 40003</b>
01/05/74 - Transferred to SP (Wigan Springs Branch)
01/10/74 - Transferred to LO (Longsight)
01/01/75 - Transferred to SP (Wigan Springs Branch)
01/02/75 - Transferred to LO (Longsight)
01/10/76 - Transferred to KD (Carlisle Kingmoor)
01/03/78 - Transferred to HM (Healey Mills)
01/03/81 - Transferred to TE (Thornaby)
01/05/81 - Transferred to HM (Healey Mills)
<b>12/09/82 - Withdrawn</b>

Cut up at BREL Doncaster works by 28/01/84
Info. courtesy of: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/14749625@N21/">www.flickr.com/groups/14749625@N21/</a>

<b>Locos Used</b>: 45149, 45125
<b>Locos &amp; Route</b>
45149 London St Pancras - (via MML) - Kettering - Corby - Manton Jn - Oakham - Syston East Jn - Syston North Jn - (via MML) - Trent - Toton Centre - Trowell Jn - Pye Bridge Jn - Clay Cross South Jn - Chesterfield - Dronfield - Sheffield - Doncaster [for works visit]
45149 Doncaster -Sheffield - Dronfield - Chesterfield - Clay Cross South Jn - Ambergate Jn - Derby - Spondon - Sheet Stores Jn - Trent - Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre
45149 Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre - Toton Depot [for depot visit]
45125 Toton Depot - Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre
45125 Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre - Trent - (via MML) - London St Pancras Info.courtesy: <a href="https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/830605lc.htm" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/830605lc.htm</a>

<b>Photos that were nearly lost to oblivion!</b>
The original slide was rescued from a box of 'duds' that I could never quite bring myself to throw away - now I am glad that I kept them ;)

Taken with a Zenith TTL SLR camera and standard lens. <b>Scanned from the original slide with minimal digital restoration</b>

You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: <a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/</a>
40003 d203 203 class40 diesel locomotive doncasterworks brel doncaster scrap scrapline