Monday 16th March was a momentous day for the PWRS in that our Class 108 Diesel Multiple Unit finally arrived at our site in Thornton, and around a dozen Society members were present to see the two carriages arrive on Reids Haulage low loaders.
When we purchased the Class 108 just over four years ago, we arranged for some of the heavier and more technical work to be carried out, on our behalf, at the Midland Railway Centre, Butterley, but it was always our intention to move the DMU to Thornton so that our own members could carry out a significant portion of the restoration work themselves.
The Society's Executive Committee agreed late in 2019 that the time was right to bring the DMU to Thornton, bearing in mind that it was becoming difficult to fit work into the schedules at Butterley and now we had some newer members who had worked on railway rolling stock, along with experience of vacuum systems and diesel engines.
The Midland Railway Centre were part way through the required M Examation, but one or two issues had arisen which required further investigations. These will now be picked up by our own members along with the already planned internal refurbishment and exterior painting.
We have formed a DMU sub-committee which is drawing up a schedule of work to be carried out by our members over the next couple of years or so. We hope to start working on the unit once the Coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
Further articles about our plans for the Class 108 restoration will hopefully follow during the coming weeks.
In the meantime you can watch the Delivery of our DMU in action on this site.
Nigel Kirkpatrick