Class 117

Welcome to scot-rail.co.uk, Scotland's online railway community. The group is for any rail enthusiast interested in the railways and trains of Scotland. It not only consists of the wiki that you're reading now, but a busy online forum and mailing list, which was accessible to registered users. From April 2024 the forum has closed, with a replacement started on Groups.io.
The Class 117 DMUs were built by Pressed Steel of Linwood, and introduced to the Western Region of British Rail in 1960.
They were very similar in design to the Class 116 units, but had a headcode box on the cab roof, and the centre car had toilets.

In the early 1990s some of the class, by now based at Tyseley (Birmingham), were refurbished and painted in Regional Railways livery.
These units were later sent north to Haymarket Depot, releasing four Class 101 units for Strathclyde duties, and allowing others to be scrapped.

The Class 117 units operated mostly peak services from Edinburgh over the Forth Bridge to Cowdenbeath, Markinch, Perth and Fife Circle services.

They were also used on a regular driver training trip taking them to Eastfield and Stirling.

Set No. DMBS TSL DMS To Haymarket Remarks
117 301 51353 59505 51395 Jul.1993
117 306 51369 59521 51411 Jul.1993
117 308 51371 59509 51413 Jul.1993 stored by 1997
117 310 51373 59486 51381 Mar.1994
117 311 51352 59500 51376 Mar.1994
117 313 51339 59492 51382 Mar.1994
117 314 51334 59489 51394 Jul.1993 stored by 1997

At the end of September 1999 the centre cars (TSL) were removed and the remaining units ran paired as 2x2-car sets so as to able to run to faster timings.

They were eventually withdrawn once the first batch of Class 170s had been introduced onto the Edinburgh - Glasgow route allowing Class 158s to take over Fife services.

The last day of 117s in service with ScotRail was 27th November 1999.

The units were then stored at Perth Carriage Shed until being moved south in March 2000 to be stored at MoD Shoeburyness.

117301 arrives at Perth on the 1727 from Edinburgh via Dunfermline on 29 March 1999. Photo by 6089Gardener


Preservation


Several Class 117 units survive in preservation, including many of those based at Haymarket in the 1990s.

A two-car unit moved to the Strathspey Railway in 2005. This is in original BR Green livery and is used on off-peak services. A centre car (TCL) was moved to Boat of Garten in 2007 and is currently under restoration.

51367 Class 117 DMBS

51402 Class 117 DMS

59511 Class 117 TCL - under restoration


See Also

Scot-Rail.co.uk Links

External Links