THE Heritage Electric Trains Trust (HETT) has announced that two of its three surviving Wirral Class 503 EMU cars are set to be scrapped.
All three cars were built for the LMS and formerly resided at the now-closed Electric Railway Museum on the edge of Coventry.The unit comprises: driving trailer second open (DTSO) No. 29289, built in 1937 by BRCW; trailer second open (TSO) centre car No. 29720, constructed by Metro Cammell in 1938; and driving motor brake second open (DMBSO) No. 28690 built by Metro Cammell in 1938.
Both the driving trailer and centre trailer cars will be sent for scrap after useful components have been recovered in the next couple of months. They are in very poor condition and would require extensive renovation to be brought up to display standard.
It is estimated that each vehicle will cost in the region of £60-80k to cosmetically restore – although the figure for the DMBSO could be slightly less as it is more complete. These are costs for professional work which includes bodywork and manufacturing replacement parts from scratch as no spare or replacement components exist.
Citing an example of the costs and scale of the work required on the driving trailer, HETT chairman Graeme Gleaves said:“The window frames are completely rotten through years of rainwater exposure.
