Faulty trains made in Leeds go straight into storage
Leeds, Hunslet, February 3, 1993: Multi-million pound electric trains were being towed from a Leeds factory production line straight into storage because of mechanical faults.
The futuristic new Class 323 trains were destined for rail electrification schemes in two major cities. But gearbox and high speed vibration problems meant they could not be used and they were being stockpiled at a vandal proof Ministry of Defence railway yard 200 miles away in Oxfordshire.
Train builder Hunslet TPL, in Jack Lane, Hunslet, was completing 43 of the trains at a cost of around £2.2m each. The order was worth more than £90m. The Hunslet Engine Company was founded in 1864 on the old Railway Foundry Workshops site and by the 1930s covered seven acres.