In the 1980s, expiry of other DMUs facilitated moves for some units from the Western Region to Birmingham, as below, and Scotland, prior to the delivery of new units to replace them. They were given refurbishments. The first shake up in ownership occurred in the late 1980s, when the Scottish, Welsh, Cornish and Birmingham based units were transferred to Provincial Services, later
Regional Railways, in the sectorisation of
British Rail, while the Southall-based units transferred to
Network SouthEast. They were replaced on the lines out of when the units came into service by 28 November 1992. They soldiered on in the former Western Region until replaced by and DMUs by 21 May 1993, although the type could be found running Penzance - Looe services until 1997. An attempt was made to remove them from Cornish work using "Skipper/Pacer" railcars, but these fixed wheelbase units proved to be a liability on the tight Cornish branchline curves, increasing rail and wheel wear, and were transferred to the North of England instead. The 117s were finally replaced with the advent of more Class 150s and Class 153s freed up from other areas. The type was used in Scotland between Edinburgh - Perth, Cowdenbeath and Markinch using the
Forth Bridge and continued to work in Scotland until 12 January 1998, where they were replaced with In 2000, units replaced the Class 117 units on
Silverlink, finally bringing to an end decades of service on Britain's rail network in front line service. ==Preservation==