Half of Class 317 EMU preserved

Saved trailers go to separate locations, as the other vehicles are sent for scrap.

A CLASS 317 driving car has been secured by the East Anglian Railway Museum for static display at Chappel & Wakes Colne. DTSO No. 77092 from No. 317345 arrived from Ely Papworth, where it had been stored since

March 5, on October 16.

The acquisition of the ‘317’ vehicle will enable the EARM to explain the story of the development of railways in Anglia into the 1980s.

While four-car No. 317345 was built for use on ‘BedPan’ services out of St Pancras, it became part of the Great Northern fleet (later WAGN and First Capital Connect) at Hornsey in 1988, moving to Ilford as a Greater Anglia set in 2017, before being retired earlier this year.

As a static exhibit, No. 77092 will be fitted with displays explaining the story of the Class 317, electrification in East Anglia and the science behind electric trains, and will fill a gap left by the departure of the National Railway Museum’s No. 306017, which was based at the EARM between 2011 and 2017.

■ Another car from No. 317345, TC

No. 71621, has also been acquired for static use and moved to The Depot at Caxton, 10 miles or so west of Cambridge. The other two cars from the set have been scrapped.

Steve Knight/Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0) Class 317 No. 317345, with DTSO No. 77092 trailing, rushes over Twyford Lane level crossing on October 9 last year as Stadler ‘FLIRT’ No. 745101 heads the opposite way.