West Somserset Railway

The West Somerset is one of the oldest established railways for DMU operation. The railway is the longest standard gauge steam line in the UK and boasts eleven stations.

Their opening trains in the 1970’s were operated by two Class 103 sets which formed the beginning of a varied fleet which was acquired to provide cheap and reliable traction for the 21 mile line. The Class 103 sets operated an hourly service six days a week.

During the 1980’s the fleet was boosted by a Class 105 set and two Class 100 sets.

With three very different types, the maintenance became a nightmare and the 1990’s saw the railway decide to standardise on a single type of unit, all five of their older sets being disposed of. Sadly two rare sets were scrapped, unable to find new homes, asbestos contamination being a strong reason reason for the disposals and the major changes in the railway's DMU fleet.

The second era of DMU operation for the railway centred on a strategy of operating Class 115 and 117 suburban units, with trailer cars in particular being able to be mixed between sets. Enough Class 115 vehicles were purchased to run two sets, up to four coaches long each, with at least one other vehicle for spare parts. For a period of time a Class 117 set was hired but later departed.

Despite the large number of Class 115, in reality for the majority of the time the railway has maintained one set, most commonly operating as a 3-car set, running high mileages each year.

Over the years several of the original fleet have been dopped out of service into storage and then either sold on, stripped for spares or scrapped. At least two attempts to rebuild spare powercars to then swap into the operating 3-car set have been partially completed and then aborted. Consequently, for the past ten years at least the operational 3-car set has been formed of the same three vehicles, which continue to be maintained in a good operating condition.

51354 Class 117 DMBS

51663 Class 115 DMBS (Underframe Only)