Class 119 Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU)
The S&CR is now home to three Class 119 cars, numbered W51073, W51074, and W51104 all built by the Gloucester Rail Carriage and Wagon Works. Class 119 DMUs were originally 3-car formations but no centre cars survived into preservation. As at April 2025, W51073 and, W51074 are running as a 2-car set in BR Blue.
Class 119, 51073 came to S&CR in December 2024 from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. It was built in 1959 and was initially sent to Cardiff when new. During its main-line life it moved frequently between operating sheds, and saw service based at Tyseley, Chester, Laira and Reading until it was withdrawn in June 1995. In 1980 whilst at Cardiff, it was paired with 51104 – another class 119 which is now resident at the S&CR and ran as Set No L594 with a centre car to form the usual 3 car set.
The long-term aim is to reunite 51073 with 51104 and run them again as Set No L594 – albeit without a centre car.
Class 119, 51074 has been at the S&CR for more than 20 years and was, until the end of 2024, running in BR Green. Now painted in BR Blue with a letter-box style warning panel in yellow, it is to be seen running regularly with 51073 (also a Driving Motor Brake Composite) to form a 2-car set.
The long-term aim is to pair 51074 with the Class 114 car E56047 and run it as Set L595 sporting a BR Green livery.
Class 119, 51104 was built towards the end of 1958, preserved in 1991, and initially housed at the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway. It came to the S&CR in 2001 where its restoration continued for more than 20 years. By the end of 2024, it had been running with a green livery.
51104 is currently out of service as it requires some welding work, internal lights fitting, and the heater reinstated. The long term aim is for it to be paired with 51073, and be repainted in a Western DMU green.
Class 114 Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU)
One of only five surviving cars from the Class 114 DMUs, E56047 came to the S&CR in January 2025 from the Strathspey Railway. As a Driving Trailer it has no engines but can be run as a two-car unit when connected to a power car.
Built by BR in Derby in 1957, E56047 spent its working life based in Lincolnshire until 1987. After a brief period working from Tyseley, it was withdrawn from mainline service in 1989 and sold to the Strathspey Railway. Although it was partially refurbished in 1996 it went into storage in 2000 for 25 years before arriving at the S&CR.
56074 has an identical front end to the Class 119 DMUs and although it has deeper side windows the overall appearance is similar to a Class 119. It is now undergoing restoration with the intention of forming a hybrid DMU set. It will eventually be connected to 51074 and run as Set No (L)595.
Want to know more? This article by the Gloucester Railcar Trust which owns all four DMU cars gives you the full background.
Other Diesel Locomotives
D2152 is regularly used to haul our passenger service but was originally intended as a light duty shunter. Built at Swindon in 1960, it was modified in 1974 when its cab was cut-down to enable it to pass under the low bridges on the Gwendraeth Valley Line in South Wales, where is was used to pull coal trains.
'Fowler 0-4-0 DH shunter 4220031 was built in 1964, and came to the Railway from the Slough & Windsor Railway Society. It was subsequently purchased by its present owner, and has undergone a complete mechanical overhaul plus bodywork repairs. Modern additions include LED marker lights, high intensity headlights, through vacuum pipe with setter (brake operating valve) and twin air horns.
Fowler 0‑4‑0 diesel mechanical Woodbine. Built in Leeds, works number 21442 of 1936. This little locomotive which has a 2 speed manual gearbox was used at the W.D. & H.O. Wills cigarette factory in Swindon until the factory closed down in 1980. It was presented to us in November 1980. It was registered by the GWR to run on its lines in Swindon Transfer Yard and also made trips to the works for overhaul.
'Fowler 0-4-0 DM shunter FB7342was built in 1958, and worked at Swindon’s Pressed Steel car body plant. In 1980 it came to the Swindon & Cricklade railway on loan, and was subsequently purchased by members. It is now an invaluable shunter and ‘works train’ locomotive.
BR Class 08 Diesel Electric D3261 seen here at the railway’s October 2010 Diesel Gala. Something of a surprise, as the loco was in the final stages of restoration. The Gala appearance was its first duty on a passenger train since arriving at the railway from Brighton in 1996. It is now available for regular service.
0-6-0 Diesel Electric PWM651. Built by Rushton and Hornsby in 1959. This loco was supplied new to British Rail (WR) Civil Engineers Department at Radyr (Cardiff). At the end of BR service it moved to the Northampton & Lamport Railway in November 1988 and then to the Strathspey Railway, Aviemore, Scotland in May 2008. It came to the S&CR in August 2015.
03022 BR Class 03 0-6-0 Diesel Shunter. This powerful locomotive was built in Swindon in 1958 and is the oldest of around three dozen preserved examples. It worked for British Rail in Lincolnshire and then in the North East. It was purchased and brought to Blunsdon in 1983. The loco was then leased to Coopers (a local scrap dealer) where it stayed until 1996 when it returned to Blunsdon. Now owned by the S&CR, it has recently been restored and is currently based at the S&CR.