The sad scene in the Melt Shop at Crewe Works Open Day in 1984 - the remains of Class 40 40153 in the foreground with 40084 half stripped behind
<b>Sat. 2nd June 1984 1Z38 - 'The Midland Executive' railtour</b>
A rather excellent railtour that managed to include scheduled stops at Derby and Crewe for the two works open days :)

A sad view of the remains of English Electric Type 4 D353 / 40153 lying scattered on the floor of the Melt Shop at Crewe. The locomotive was taken out of service in Aug 1983, and withdrawn the following month. She sat in the yard at Crewe Works for another eight months before finally entering the Melt Shop in May 1984. Another fabulous member of the class 40084 (one-time Royal Train loco) awaits the same fate behind. Note she still carries the Gateshead crest above the number.

<b>Locomotive History</b>
<b>D353 / 40153</b> was built by The Vulcan Foundry Limited at Newton-le-Willows for the English Electric Company Limited in July 1961 for British Railways as number D353. It was first allocated to 50A York and spent most of its working life on the Eastern Region. It was renumbered 40153 on 1st Feb 1974, and after years at Healey Mills, York, Gateshead and Thornaby, it was transferred to LO Loongsight on the Midland Region on 31st Jan 1982. Final transfer was to KD Carlisle Kingmoor with fire damage on 1st Jul 1983. It was withdrawn just a month later and moved to Crewe Works, arriving on 3rd Aug 1983. On 12th Sep she was withdrawn from service. She remained at Crewe awaiting cutting up until May 1984 when she succumbed in the infamous Melt Shop - my view taken 2nd Jun 1984.

Known Workings can be found at:
<a href="http://www.class40motherlist.com/40153.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.class40motherlist.com/40153.html</a>

Taken with a Zenith TTL SLR camera and standard lens, using a slow shutter speed so thankfully not blurred :) <b>Scanned from the original negative with no 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>
d353 353 40153 class40 diesel locomotive creweworks crewe railtour themidlandexecutive d284 284 40084 scrap scrapped