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September 2007
Operation Clear Out Completed.
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The last vehicle to leave the Coventry site as a result of the planned clear out of redundant, surplus and unwanted items left on September the 7th.
Class 419 Motor Luggage Van number 68008 departed down the M1 for a new life at the East Kent Railway. There it will join two other class mates that have been
restored to operational condition. The movement brought to a close the clear out after nearly 18 months of activity which resulted in 14 items leaving the site and only items required
for the core SERA collection plus supported private items at the site. The movement of the MLV required the laying of a 90 foot extension to the headshunt which now means track
goes further down the site than ever before.
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April 2007
More Departures from the Coventry site.
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4-CEP Trailer Brake Composite Corridor coach 70345 (pictured left) departed the Coventry site on the 10th of April, destined for Suttons Bridge in Cambridgeshire where it will be
a rather impressive peice of garden furniture at the former railway site there which is now a private residence. The same buyer is also taking the shell of City & South
London vehicle No. 163 which has been gifted by the SERA as it is unrestorable but too important to dispose of, Movement of that fragile item will take place in the summer.
Another departure is buffet car 69339 which has at last moved to the Great Central railway at Loughborough to be formed into 4-CIG 1393 and return it to a 4-BIG. The movement
took place from Coventry on April 21st and everyone at the SERA wishes the GCR team the best of good fortune with the 4-BIG for the future.
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October 2006
501 Project Gets Second Vehicle
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The Driving Motor Brake coach of the class 501 unit has been delivered to the Coventry site, bringing to a close the eight and a half year project to
secure vehicles of this class. DMBSO 61183 was unloaded on Friday October 27th at 13:30 after making the journey from Immingham where it had
been in store for several years. It joins driving trailer 75186 and thus will make a two car unit of this class. The restoration of the driving trailer is to begin
in November. The two vehicles were purchased and moved to Coventry with funds raised by a share sceme which was sucessfull in covering all costs of the project.
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June 2006
Another Vehicle Leaves The Site !
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As part of the ongoing clearout of unwanted vehicles from the Coventry Electric Railway Centre, the class 103 DMBS, 50347,
that had been a resident since 1999 has left for a new life in South Wales, departing on Monday June 12th. The vehicle has had three
owners during its time at Coventry all of whom have been either unable or unwilling to make any realistic progress with the long term
restoration needs of the vehicle. Hopefully this will change with the removal to the new guardians at the Aman Valley Railway. All of
the team at Coventry wish them every sucess with the project. There are now only four more items of stock scheduled to leave the site;
two MLVs, one BIG buffet car and a fireless loco. All of these are to be gone by the end of the summer 2006.
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April 2006
The Class 501 Arrives !
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Class 501 driving trailer brake, 75186, was safely delivered to the Coventry Electric Railway Centre on the morning of Tuesday 18th of April. The vehicle had been
collected from the Marchwood Millitary Railway on Thursday of the previous week and had spent the Easter holiday in Alleleys yard. The 501 preservation project was
established by SERA nearly nine years ago to preserve the last unit and this is the first member of the class to enter preservation, 21 years after the last examples
ran in passenger traffic. The 501 TSO which was sold from Marchwood at the same time was moved the same day to a metals recycler in the Andover area. The new owner
claims the vehicle is for re-use and not scrap. SERA did bid for this vehicle too but at a scrap price which reflected the severe underframe damage that it has suffered. The bid was
bettered by the new owner and the SERA felt the vehicles poor mechanical condition could not justify major outlay.
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March 2006
The Coventry Exodus Begins!
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The clear out of vehicles from the Coventry Electric Railway Centre is
well under way. In the last week of March four items have left, including Mark 1 TSO 3924 (pictured left on
Rowley Road) which departed on March 28th for a new life at Torrington station in North Devon which has been
converted to a pub. The coach will put a new attraction into the old platform as a reminder of the site's former use.
Other items to have left are ex MOD 25t brake van, 2310, to the Chasewater Railway and the remains of two Ruston
and Hornsby 48DS locos, 235515 and 349048, which were taken away for scrap. It should be noted that all of the
vehicles to leave are private projects and the SERA core fleet is not affected.
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