Railcar of the Year 2015
Congratulations to the winner of the Railcar of the Year award: Class 108 E50619
The Nominations
Class 100 56301:
This vehicle was nominated for the sterling efforts of a limited restoration team working with limited facilities and resources. 56301 was a static vehicle at County School station, the unconnected northern terminus of the Mid Norfolk Railway which the rails are yet to reach. 56301 stood in the station on a section of track where there was no other stock (other than a single wagon) and no powered stock to move vehicles around. It is believed that this was the first DMU vehicle to enter preservation (in 1969) and it had not operated with another DMU powercar since then! The vehicle spent over a decade on static display at County School from 1999 in BR blue livery where its condition sadly worsened to the point where it was no longer suitable for "display". On top of this, in 2011 the vehicle was declared an asbestos contamination hazard as the lethal material was no longer effectively encapsulated. The owners (MNR Trust) were faced with a choice of scrapping the vehicle or dealing with its condition. 56301 was nominated for the award this year as the trust selected the latter option, and the past four years has seen a dedicated group work around the vehicle section-by-section making cosmetic repairs and repainting the vehicle into BR green with speed whiskers. This improved its appearance greatly and water ingress through the windows became a much lower risk. The interior was also refreshed with the seating removed and now floor coverings fitted. The last section was painted during 2015 so 56301 was very presentable once again to visitors of the restored station. The work was further commendable when 56301's rarity was considered, there being only four Class 100 vehicles left in preservation, none of which are in service at the time of writing.
Class 101 50253: This vehicle was nominated for the successful completion of its restoration at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire. Last used in passenger service at the Midland Railway Butterley in 2009, relocation to the EVR in 2013 was immediately followed by the commencement of a thorough interior and exterior restoration. A new desk was fitted to the cab which also had its components overhauled and the whole area repainted. The passenger saloons were thoroughly cleaned and the seating/ceilings repainted and the 1980's orange Formica panelling was back dated to a more 1950's style wood-grain effect. The guards van was fully repanelled and the ceilings replaced. The exterior saw much welding work, particularly round the cab and guards area, followed by the usual body preparation and full repaint into as-built BR green livery. The front end was returned to original with the reinstatement of the 2-character route indicator box. 50253 was then launched back into passenger service in September 2015 as an all-green Class 101 3-car set, one of only two such examples operating in the country.
Class 107 52029: Perhaps the least conventional nomination was 52029, a Class 107 composite vehicle which had never had a partner in preservation. Preserved in 1993 at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway for conversion into an observation car, a Mark 1 coach was converted instead so 52029 languished for 10 years before moving to the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway in Wales. Sadly however resources of the growing railway were understandably limited and little progress on restoring 52029 was able to be made. By 2015, the vehicle was put up for sale having not carried a passenger for 23 years. With no partner to operate it with, added to the vehicle's poor external appearance, the prospects for 52029 were not good. However 2015 saw the fortunes of the vehicle reversed and it was nominated for the Cotswold Diesel Railcar Limited's purchase of the vehicle and relocation to their base the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The group have a track record of moving projects forward with the successful maintenance of their Class 117 3-car set which operates thousands of miles each year, along with the restorations of two other vehicles, Class 117 51360 and Class 122 55003. The group had the railway's support, particularly the Carriage & Wagon department, which had been a large factor in the recent success of the fleet. 52029's mechanical restoration had already started and it was anticipated that the next few years would see great progress made in the vehicle's return to service, which had previously been dismissed by observers.
Class 108 50619: The second time a Class 108 vehicle from the Dean Forest Railway had been nominated for the awards, 50619 was suffering corrosion issues around the steel cab front, a common problem with the predominantly aluminium-built class. 50619 was nominated for the speed and efficiency of the repair work undertaken by the group in a small restoration tent fitted to the front of the vehicle. Taken out of service at the end of the 2014 running season, over the winter months the old cab front was stripped off and much of the steel framework behind replaced. A new aluminium cab front was then fitted and the complex reassembly process undertaken. The vehicle was back in passenger service during May 2015, the process having been so successful it was being repeated during 2015/2016 with another vehicle in the fleet. 50619 had returned to service with minimal downtime, and was a shining example of how professional and coordinated restoration work can be undertaken.
Voting Pattern
This year proved to be very much a two horse race. On the first day, the Class 100 gained an early lead, but was quickly drawing with the Class 101 on the second day. A surge of votes for the Class 108 on Day 3 put this vehicle very much in the lead, which was maintained easily until the 11th day, when a dramatic increase in votes for the Class 100 closed the gap significantly. However E50619 managed to hold on to a narrow lead, which it kept for the rest of the competition. More votes for the Class 100 than the 108 came in the final three days which made the finale uncertain. In the end, the Class 108 maintained the lead and took the award, with the Class 100 in second place, having missed out by just two votes, making it the narrowest victory in the award's history.
| Place | Vehicle | Number of Votes |
| 1st | Class 108 E50619 | 61 |
| 2nd | Class 100 E56301 | 59 |
| 3rd | Class 107 SC52029 | 20 |
| 4th | Class 101 E50253 | 13 |