59389 Class 108 Trailer Lavatory (Scrapped)

Last Location

Great Central Railway (North)

Location History

Cholsey & Wallingford Railway Aug 95-Dec 97

Current Status

Scrapped at Great Central Railway (North) Mar 98

Great Central Railway (North) Dec 97-Mar 98

Last Livery

BR Blue & Grey

Partner Vehicle(s)

None

Record Last Updated

22 September 2025

Preservation Modifications
None

Preservation Information
59389 was latterly a departmental vehicle and internal user at Tyseley (024949) before being bought for preservation, located first at the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway and later moved to the Great Central Railway (North).

The vehicle was bought as a grounded body. All the underframe equipment had already been burned off so the vehicle was never a viable restoration project and was always intended to provide spare parts. It was stripped of the remaining useful parts and dismantled at the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, Ruddington.

The "rare" corridor end of the vehicle (that would have been the cab end had it been a driving trailer) was removed and saved in storage, for the future option of turning DMCL 52060 into a MCL. This was intended to then form the centre car of a "super-power" 3-car Class 108 set (with 50926 & 50645) with 450 horsepower! Alas, the destruction (arson) of 52060 in 2004 rendered this interesting proposal no longer viable and the corridor end from 59389, the last remaining major component of the vehicle to linger on, was itself scrapped.

Although the Class 108 is one of the most common type of DMU in preservation, 59389 was one of only two Trailer Second's to see "preservation", so its departure left 59387 as a unique example. However it should be stressed that the extremely poor and incomplete condition of the vehicle inevitably meant that spares recovery was the only viable option, indeed its very purchase was on that basis.

The surviving remains of 59389 at Ruddington, 20/7/01. Stuart Mackay

Although not a preservation image so strictly speaking inappropriate for these galleries, it has been included to illustrate the vehicle's condition upon entry into "preservation", and depicts 59387 as a stripped internal user vehicle at Tyseley. This has been included in the absence of any known images of the vehicle at the GCR(N) before cutting up, 27/5/95. David McGuire