By Ian Walmsley
Feature
Do 3,000 scrap vehicles signal the death of refurbishment or a new opportunity for the UK rail supply industry?
Pan Up
The greatest scrappage scheme since Victorian times! Well, the end of the broad gauge in 1892 scrapped 4,343 vehicles – but they were mainly wagons. There was the end of steam on British Rail, where many hundreds of steam locos went in the early 1960s, including the 999 built by British Rail (what an annoying number). The removal of slam door stock or asbestos-laden DMUs also boosted the gas axe boys, but all these events had one thing in common – technology change.
