Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a highly successful 14 mile heritage line which runs between Cheltenham (Racecourse) and Broadway. The route includes six stations and extensive engineering facilities at Toddington and Winchcombe.

The railway has two chapters to its DMU operations. The first started in the 1990’s when the initial fleet of a Class 108 power twin set and a Class 101 trailer car (converted into an observation saloon by BR) were acquired for the line. Whilst the 101 was put in storage in poor condition and later sold on, the Class 108 ran for many years operating off-peak services on the growing line.

However the line later shifted in favour of diesel locomotive haulage and the 108 was stored out of service (and was eventualy also moved on in 2012). Several years after the initial reduction in DMU operations, the second chapter of DMU operation began following the unfortunate severing of the railway into two halves by a landslip. For the 2011 and 2012 seasons onwards, the northern section was operated by DMU sets, two of which were loaned to the railway in the “hour of need” and later returned to their respective homes.

Additionally, individuals at the railway itself also purchased a Class 122 single unit and Class 117 3-car set during this time.

A new DMU group formed during the line's rebuilding period and continued to grow throughout the 2010's, increasing the fleet with the addition of more Class 117 vehicles and a Class 107, although the latter was eventually sold on allowing the group to focus solely on the suburban vehicles.

The aftermath of the Covid pandemic brought harder times for the DMU group who lost many of their volunteers, the result being the fleet of seven vehicles becoming unmanageable. A downsizing operation was undertaken in the mid 2020's to bring responsibilities sensibly back in check.

Today, the group continue to operate the Class 122 single unit supported by a second Class 117 powercar which offers mechanical backup and extra capacity for busier diagrams.