Class 117 Pressed Steel 3-car DMUs

Orders

These vehicles, along with the Class 118s, were originally planned to be build at Derby as a further batch of Class 116s. An urgent need arose for higher-powered quad sets, and as full sets of drawings were available for the 116s the 116 order was offered to contractors. That allowed Derby to build the quad sets, developing the design as it went along.

On the 16th October 1958 the British Transport Commission (BTC) placed orders for 168 high density vehicles - 57 Driving Motor Brake Seconds, 57 Driving Motor Seconds and 54 Trailer Composites for the Western Region. The Pressed Steel Company was to build 123 of these at their Linwood Plant (near Paisley) and BRC&W to build the other 45 (which would become the Class 118s).

At the time 108 were for suburban services from Paddington, 15 for the Bristol-Taunton area, and 45 for services in Devon & Cornwall, west of Newton Abbott.

Delivery commenced in November 1959, with the final Pressed Steel set delivered a year later on the 5/11/60.