Pictured above are our Class 108 vehicles 53628 and 54223 at Dufftown on the Keith and Dufftown Railway in the North of Scotland. DUPA Ltd has leased these vehicles to the K&DR to allow them to run a service over the line, since they had no serviceable stock previously.

The arrangement was arrived at by negotiation between DUPA Ltd and the Board of the Keith and Dufftown Railway, with initial introduction helped by The Railcar Association.

Much work was completed on these vehicles during several working party weekends prior to their departure from Chappel on 6^th March 2000. They left by road aboard two of Rod Done’s transporter lorries, the negotiation of the turn at the top of the Back Road at Chappel resulting in a trail of mud probably reaching the A12! The vehicles arrived in Scotland at around Midnight on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning of the 7^th/8^th March.

Some mechanical checks and repairs had been completed as necessary during the preparation of these vehicles, but since they had been in use at Chappel, there was little of this kind of work to be done. The main effort was in cleaning up the vehicles to make them more presentable, and also importantly, weathertight due to their extremely northerly destination.

A lot of work has been put into sealing and repainting the roofs and cab roofs, as well as rubbing down, rust- treating, filling and painting the cab ends. A start was made on T-Cutting the bodysides; this work was finished by K&DR volunteers in Scotland, and the end result is an attractive and smart looking unit.

Mark Cornell, Roland Shaw, Peter Thompson and James West travelled to the Keith and Dufftown Railway the weekend after the unit arrived, in order to carry out pre-service checks and then some proof runs along the line. This was quite taxing compared with this unit’s recent workload, since there are some quite heavy gradients on the line, and of course there is considerably more mileage than at Chappel!

Driver training was carried out and all the drivers at the K&DR were trained and all enjoyed it. The operation of our DMU along the line attracted considerable interest from local residents not used to seeing trains run for some years, and even a local Mayor expressed interest in the developments. The K&DR is very pleased with the hardware and the service we have provided them, and Peter Thompson and James West were invited to attend the official opening ceremony on the 8^th July.

Back at Home work has been continuing, mainly focussing on 51568 which has been undergoing cleaning and refurbishment of the interior. This in the most untidy-looking of the DUPA vehicles remaining at Chappel, so it is being given priority. Most of the formica panelling fitted during 1970s refurbishment has been removed to reveal the original panelling. The glue which held the newer formica in place has been removed from the face of the original panelling using Nitromors Paint and Varnish remover, and after polishing this leaves panels in remarkably good condition.

Ceiling panels and carpets have also been receiving attention, as has the cab interior. At a later date work will start on cleaning and treating the areas of rust which have appeared on the steel cab end and vestibule end and these will then be made weathertight and painted. A new livery of Rail Blue is proposed for this vehicle.

Mechanically speaking, this is probably the most sound of the motor vehicles we have, reliability recently having been dramatically improved by the replacement of the ailing BR batteries by new Lorry batteries. When the engines were recently started for the first time in three months, they fired and ran immediately.

It is intended that once funds permit, 50599 and 52053 will also be fitted with new Lorry batteries.

Other news At Chappel, the Sleeping Car is due to be moved out by the end of this week, but the Buffet Car has already gone and therefore there are virtually no catering facilities on site at the moment. Some recent weekend lunches have consisted of only some iced Franzipan cakes, so bringing some food and drink of your own is recommended for the time being.

AGM Don’t forget the AGM is this weekend – Sunday 23^rd July 2000 at 10:00 a.m. in trailer car 56491. Be there to express your views and ideas and hear those of others, plus official presentation of the accounts and election of officers. Hopefully there will also be photographs available to view of 53628 & 54223 in Scotland and of the Keith and Dufftown Railway’s official opening ceremony, taken by some of our members.

© DUPA Ltd. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Diesel Unit Preservation Associates Limited.