I think it is a great shame that we ( this generation ) have not had the forethought to preserve
some of the first generation EMUs, in 50 yrs time people will look on this stuff as we now think
about the Chesham set, and a lot of the carriages in preservation
I blame the NRM for not taking an example of many post steam locos I am sure they could be stored in a shed some ware to be re-cond when they became of interest look at the new builds,10000 the baby Deltic recreating what was lost
I think it is sad that no 1960s 25kv units are preserved complete, I remember a trip to Southend for a meeting in about 1984 on 302-214 ex works in green with original seats, I thought it was refurbed
for preservation ..sadly lost, and the 309s just a few odd coaches left they should have saved a 4 car set
It is feasible to make one 309 a 4 car again. There is a ex 309 carraige at West coast. But it is down to money and wether West coast want to sell.
The big problem with EMU is a similar problem to most preservation. Where do you store said item. The closest i would say anything comes to a equivlent EMU is the Quad arts at North Norfolk. They had to go under very heavy restoration and need a under cover building to store them. What makes it more difficult with EMUs is compatability. As EMU's are air braked where as most preserved lines run vacuum. It is feasible to haul a EMU on preserved line, but how many want to do that is a different question (listed earlier in the thread who does).
Sure you could preseve a front carraige (i say front as some are motored, some are not) but is that representivite? A good case of the is policy is the NRM what with the 4COR, Oekrilon, 3SUB Augmented etc. I know on the list of preservation is the front coach of the 442 which has been designated to be preserved. But i seem to recall it has been offered around quite a bit.
Then the opposite end of the end of the arugment you have the 2HAP, 2BIL and Class 306 at the NRM/Outposts. These take up ALOT of room compared to a standard size train. Eg your standard coach takes up roughly 60ft (Varies from builder/railway/era etc). Where as two of the EMUs listed is at least 120ft and the 306 being over 175ft.
Under cover storage is not cheap. Hence why the 4SUB and 503 have the ongoing appeal of £750 a month (See -
https://www.hett.org.uk/support-us)
Intersting point on the above about being preserved by private individuals and organisations (yorksrob). I did some reasearch into this a few years ago. It is not commonly known which EMU was the first preserved. I did managed to work this out. The 1st one was the Oekrilon (by the NRM). The next preserved was the 4DD by private initiative (3DD techincally as it was two outer ends and one centre coach). I will see if i can find my research some where.