THE REPAINTING of preserved HST power car 43159 by the 125 Group was reaching the finishing stages at the Midland Railway – Butterley as this issue of Railways Illustrated went to press.
As reported in our last issue, the 125 Group decided to repaint the preserved record-breaking HST power car into the later style of Midland Mainline ocean blue livery, as carried when it was one of the HST power cars used on Project Rio services between Manchester and London that operated between May 2003 and September 2004.
Project Rio was the name given to National Express franchise Midland Mainline services between London St Pancras and Manchester Piccadilly, operating over the Midland Main Line, Erewash Valley Line and the Hope Valley Line at the request of the Strategic Rail Authority while work on the West Coast Main Line upgrade was carried out.
The HST power cars used were mainly former Virgin CrossCountry Class 43s, which were repainted into Midland Mainline livery and given a name with a Rio theme. They also received the letter ‘R’ just above the fleet number to denote the services they were provided for. 43159 was named Rio Warrior.
In a statement, the 125 Group said: “It was clear that this power car had the worst condition paintwork [of the
