The Group was formed in 1972 to promote interest in the modern railway scene. Back then it was known as the Diesel and Electric Group and did various things including producing books and a magazine called ‘Inter-City Express’. The magazine was one of the first to cater for diesel enthusiasts.
The start of the Diesel and Electric Group's move to loco preservation happened aboard the railtour held to commemorate the end of the Hymek locos. The Hymek Swansong’ was booked to run on Saturday 22nd September 1973. The route was London Paddington to Hereford returning via Didcot. This allowed time to visit the steam centres at Hereford and Didcot for any steam enthusiasts in case there weren’t enough Diesel enthusiasts to fill the tour. In any case the tour sold out.
Utilising D7001 and D7028 the day went well. On the train a group of travellers including D +E.G members had the vision to decide that they should save a Hymek. The idea materialised, details and monies being quickly collected. In July 1975 D7017 was purchased and towed to Taunton before being transferred to Minehead on the West Somserset Railway on 25th March 1976. The first train she hauled on the railway was the Quantock Flyer on the 19th March 1977.
In 1979 the Group left Minehead for Williton and the former goods shed was taken over. Work was done to extend the shed to accommodate D7017 and other work was carried out to improve the building.
In 1977 D7018 was offered to the Group. By May the transfer of ownership had taken place and the loco was duly moved to Didcot- the other base of the D + E.G. There was much work to do to D7018 including the engine being removed and repaired. The loco ran for the first time in preservation in August 1985. This meant the Group had locos based in two places- Williton and Didcot.
Class 14-D9526 was the next loco to be acquired by the Group in 1980 from a cement company in Westbury. Much work was done over a four year restoration and the loco entered service on the 14th July 1984. This loco went to Williton.
In 1982 the Group bought the Park Royal Class 103 DMU from the West Somerset Railway the idea being to overhaul it to support the railway. The Group overhauled it and returned it to the company for use on the railway for two years until she was made surplus to requirements.
In 1985 the Didcot team approached Foster Yeoman with a view to returning Western D1010 (the loco was disguised as D1035 Western Yeoman) stored at Merehead on static display, to working condition. Foster Yeoman agreed to a three year management deal which would see the loco returned to working order within this time. Following work to enable the loco to be moved on the mainline she was towed to Didcot where restoration work began. In May 1987 she moved for the first time in preservation under her own power on one engine. The custody agreement was extended and in 1993 the loco was purchased by the Group.
1986 saw the group become formally responsible for Williton Goods shed with security of tenure which allowed the group to invest and develop the site. This made the site ready to receive D7018 and D1010 from Didcot which happened in 1991 following the decision to focus all the resources on the Williton site.
In 1987 the Group changed its name to the Diesel and Electric Preservation Group and in 1988 following changes made to it's constitution it became a registered charity.
In Christmas 1990 D1010 left Didcot for Williton via Cardiff Canton and Merehead. D7018 was soon to follow in June ‘91 arriving at Williton on 18th September ending our residence with the Great Western Society Railway Centre at Didcot. D7018 entered service on the WSR during the spring diesel gala of March ’92.
In August 1995 D7018 suffered a major engine failure in traffic. The loco is presently receiving a major overhaul.
In the mid nineties Group resources were used to construct a purpose built maintenance shed on site which was completed in November 1997. In 1997 a second application was made to the Heritage Lottery Commission to construct an educational visitor centre and help equip the new depot. This bid was successful and following four years of hard work the Heritage Diesel Visitor Centre was completed in 2002.
In 1997 we were donated two Brush Bagnall 0-4-0 Diesel Electric master and slave locos by British Steel, Port Talbot . Cosmetically restored master loco no. 501 is currently on display in the Heritage Diesel Visitor Centre whilst slave no. 512 is stored .
As well as our own locomotives, the Group currently cares for five locomotives that are privately owned. Three of the five are owned by Dr. John Kennedy, a leading railway preservationist, his locomotives being Class 03 DM D2119, Class 08 DE D3462 and Class 25 D7523. The locomotives arrived at Williton in non-operational condition in 1996 and over the last eight years each has been restored to operational condition. All three have seen active service with the West Somerset Railway, currently D3462 serves as the Bishops Lydeard Station pilot and the class 25 provides support to the steam engine fleet and undertakes winter infrastructure duties.
The forth privately owned loco is 33048/D6566 purchased by one of our founder members, Clive Burrows in 1997. The loco is used by the railway being employed on many out of course workings and more recently a lot of the excellent ‘Fish and Chip Specials’. The loco has proved a real winner and is very popular with the operating department.
Finally the most recent loco arrival was DH16- a chain driven sentinel shunter purchased by volunteer/member Colin Girlie. The loco has been restored to an excellent standard from a wreck condition and is now usefully employed as one of the Williton pilots.
In addition the Group also owns a few freight vehicles for use on the railway with a former BR 20 ton brakevan currently under restoration at the depot.
We had many events occur during 2003 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Group,
April saw the return to service of D9526 following an eight year restoration project in which the loco was totally stripped down and then in September on Sunday the 21st we celebrated in style with a special train hauled by D7017. The day before the Western was out hauling an extra long service train. Here’s to the next 30 years!
DEPG Archive News Snippets:
This piece provides some brief snippets of early diesel news from 1978-1986. The second part of this brief history from 1986 onwards will be added soon.
A detailed group history is provided in the ‘history’ section however lets just recap the Groups early events on the West Somerset Railway. In July 1975 D7017 was purchased and towed to Taunton before being transferred to Minehead on 25th March 1976. The first train she hauled on the railway was the Quantock Flyer on the 19th March 1977. The other half of the DEPG was based at Didcot, this article covers the Williton division.
1978
On the 7th May a ‘Gala Day’ was held. The group provided D7017 to work one round trip from Minehead-Williton with six coaches. In addition the Railway ran a diesel railcar on the Williton-Stogumber section of the line, the first time a passenger train had traversed this section since BR closed the line. At this time loco hauled operations were limited to the Minehead-Williton section due to lack of run round facilities at Stogumber and the rest of the line from Stogumber-Norton Fitzwarren receiving work to make it ready for passenger operation.
1979
Around June the line from Stogumber-Norton Fitzwarren was passed for passenger operation. D7017 first traversed this section on a passenger train on the 9th June standing in for ‘Vulcan’ on the 1035 from Minehead during a ‘Gala Weekend’. The following day saw D7017 work the 09:40 Bishops Lydeard-Minehead as part of it’s diagram. The Group left Minehead for a new base of Williton this year.
1980
Saw the Group acquire Class 14 D9526.
1980 also saw the arrival of a Class 07 D2994. This locomotive was used regularly on the railway for a range of mixed traffic duties. This unusual locomotive had a 275 bhp Paxman 6RPH V6 engine in it.
1981
Work was carried out on D7017’s engine to improve performance over the Winter whilst work continued on stripping down D9526 during overhaul. Early June saw ‘Railway Power Services’ purchase Class 14 D9551 From BSC Corby for immediate use on the railway. It’s first solo return trip from Minehead-Bishops Lydeard was on the 7th June with three coaches in tow. The loco was owned by a consortium of DEPG and WSR members who formed RPS. The loco was put on standby duties for Steam and DMU trains on the railway. The ‘Quantock Pullman’ first class dining train (forerunner to todays Quantock Belle service) was often Class 14 hauled on a Saturday during the Winter of 81/82.
October the 10th saw a diesel day with Hymek and Class 14 hauled trains. In addition the Class 07 was used for shunting demonstrations.
1982
January saw the Group celebrate its 10th birthday.
The Group launched a preservation fund to save a Park Royal DMU for use by the railway following restoration work.
February 20th saw one of the heaviest service trains to date run. The train was nine coaches in length and was Hymek hauled.
May saw privately owned Class 04 diesel shunter D2271 move onto the railway from Butterley.
In July D7017 underwent general repairs following the discovery of a fractured transmission heat exchanger. Frost was to blame. Work was also undertaken on D9551 to carry out minor repairs to a defective exhauster and repaint the loco in green.
1983
Class 14 D9551 re-entered service on the 26th March and worked the railways ‘shareholders special’ for the benefit of those attending the annual general meeting. In addition the locomotive took part in the ‘Easter Fair and Transport Rally’ held on the railway, the first special event for three years. The Class 07 was also in use.
The Park Royal DMU was repainted restoring its worn green livery this year. Much work including engine replacement would be required to get the unit running again.
Work continued on D9526 and repairs to D7017.
Class 04 D2271 carried out a trial run in October from Williton-Stogumber. The locomotive received much work by the owner at Williton to make it ready for traffic.
October work week saw repairs to D7017’s control circuits.
1984
During the previous season Class 14 D9551 clocked up 1816 miles partly through working twelve ‘Qauntock Belle’ dining trains. The locomotive continued to see regular use for the railway throughout the season working permanent way or engineering trains.
During spring work week in Spring 1984 D9526 was given test runs in preperation for re-launch during a Diesel Weekend held on the 14th/15th July that year. D7017 was also in action over this weekend carrying out three round trips. The Sunday of the Diesel Weekend saw Class 14 D9551 pair up with sister loco D9526 for a double headed working on the 18:10 Minehead-Bishops Lydeard. Class 04 D2271 and Class 07 D2994 were paired up also over this weekend to work Minehead-Dunster shuttle trips using the Park Royal DMU as the stock for this train. October the 7th saw D9526 and D9551 work a special train that traversed the Bishops Lydeard-Norton Fitzwarren section of the line. This was the first loco hauled working over this section since a Hymek hauled a Butlins charter train in 1970.
1985
By Spring the Park Royal DMUs engines were nearly ready for installation back into the unit. The Class 07 D2994 was given a repaint and overhaul this year following five years continuous use. On Sunday 28th July the Park Royal DMU moved for the first time under its own power for four and half years. The unit carried out a ‘faultless’ test run from Williton-Bishops Lydeard.
Over in Didcot on the 24th August Hymek D7018 was started up for the first time following a major engine overhaul. Summer ‘85’s Journal reports Hymek D7018 as having had a full re-paint prior to an appearance at the Great Western Railways 150th Anniversary celebrations in Swindon. D9526 also attended the event. In October of this year a Sentinel Diesel Hydraulic Shunter was purchased by a band of Williton volunteers from Stanton Iron Works in the Midlands. The locomotive was based at Williton and following restoration was used on works trains and as a yard pilot.
During December Class 14 D9551 failed while working a Santa Special train.
1986
During early January an old aircraft hanger was offered to the group at Doniford Holiday Camp. The condition of having the hanger was that the Group had to dismantle the building and move it to Williton. This was done over many weeks but the components stored back on site at Williton.