But then Privatisation interfered and all orders for new trains were suspended (for a period of several years, as it turned out, during which, starved of orders, almost the entire railway rolling stock industry was killed off in Britain. Another brilliant piece of Government intervention in the market!).
Today, we continue to soldier on with vast numbers of decrepit and life-expired rolling stock, particularly on non-glamorous routes operated by smaller diesel multiple units. At one point the Government had a project to order several thousand DMUs to a brand-new specification drawn up by the civil servants but, thank God, sanity (or, rather, Lord Adonis) prevailed and, instead, the money was earmarked for a massive expansion of electrification.
This electrification would include the Great Western mainline routes, which were the ones that had benefitted from BR's investment in new DMUs; so, after electrification, all the still relatively new trains could be moved to other regions to replace their life-expired DMUs.
It's all thrown up in the air again by the new Government's scaled-back commitment to electrify the GWML only as far as Oxford and Newbury, but this should still release significant numbers of DMUs.
Meanwhile, in saner parts of the railway system, London Overground has also been renewing its mostly EMU-based fleet.
One line, the "Goblin Line" from Gospel Oak to Barking, is not electrified and, as a result of a dispute between London Transport (I refuse to call it "Transport for London") and the Government, money was not found to convert it. Instead, LO has bought a small fleet of brand-new DMUs -- and I think this is the first new DMU fleet (I'm thinking of local DMUs, not long-distance Voyagers or Meridiens, or even the cross-country 170s) since BR days.
The Bombardier Turbostars, Class 172s, have been a very welcome addition to London, replacing wretchedly old and uncomfortable equipment with air-conditioned, quiet and smooth stock. They are by no means luxurious trains, but they are decently-enough laid out.
This model -- the 172/0 -- is being developed into a new variant, the 172/3, and the first of these has now appeared.
These trains are intended for London Midland, with a similar batch following-on to Chiltern Railways.
They are a bit uncomfortable-looking to me, the through-gangway at the front replacing the smooth looks of the London Overground trains, and the rather fussy livery not helping over much. I am also mystified by the ugly-looking new light clusters -- why have they done that?
Still, if they help speed the death of the wretched Pacers (and the not much better Sprinters), they're very welcome.
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