It is a shame that the CIG won't make it, I too would have liked to have seen a 'Slammer' return to the mainline, and am a little sad at how this whole, massively significant generation of trains now seems to have dissapeared and been forgotten about. The few surviving sets languishing on preserved lines don't appear to be doing a great deal, and understandably the lack of required infrastructure to run them properly points to a future as loco hauled stock. Considering that those in use to the end were already fitted to mainline standards, and the huge availability of surplus vehicles, one might have expected a better outlook. To have had at least one remaining in proper use would have been the least they deserved, but it seems rather unlikely now. Whilst the 5-BEL is undoubtedly a worthy preservation project, it's always a shame to see the stuff that did the hard work in it's day being sidelined.
