Commonly known as 'Calder Valley' units, the first 20 Class 110s were allocated to Bradford Hammerton Street depot. The second batch were delivered new to Manchester's Newton Heath. The whole class reverted to Bradford in the mid 1970s and, on closure, to Leeds Neville Hill in 1984. Introduction of '2nd Generation' Class 150 DMUs during the mid 1980s saw the 110 sets withdrawn, the last sets surving until 1989.

E51813 and E51842 started their life in preservation at the East Lancashire Railway, arriving in March 1990, first used for passenger traffic on March 2nd 1991. The TSL centre car, 59701, was aquired in 1994, a rare survivor as most of these were withdrawn in 1982. Only one other Class 110 set survives, 57071 and 52077, based at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite.

2003 saw the set relocated to the Wensleydale Railway where it remained until 2016 when an agreement to return to the ELR was reached. Centre car E59701 was first to arrive, in February, followed by both power cars in November.

E59701 was quickly restored to operational condition, being deployed as a centre car with the operational Class 117 unit W51339 & W51382 towards the end of 2016.

Next, the power cars. E51842 was first in the queue and saw considerable attention, especially to the cab area where BRCW units commonly suffer with corrosion from water ingress. The team worked tirelessly, completing '42 by July 2017. E51813 was next into works and again cab rot was high on the list along with general refurbishment.

November 2017 saw both power cars restored and reunited with TSL E59701 ready to take part in the DMU Gala Weekend, 4th and 5th of November.

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