The Class 170 were refurbished in 2008 with the three-carriage units repainted at Marcroft Engineering, Stoke on Trent, the two-carriage units at EWS' Toton depot and the interiors done by Transys Projects, Clacton-on-Sea including the fitting of first class seating to the Class 170/5s and 170/6s.
The same individual purchased three more of the class from EWS, but they acquired new owners; 31107 (scrapped by C F Booth at Rotherham in May 2009, following a crash with a Renault Espace on a level crossing during Top Gear Series 9, Episode 5 in 2006), 31289 (preserved at the Northampton & Lamport Railway), and 31301 (in store).
There is a large freight yard operated by EWS, which mostly sees Class 60 locomotives, as a change from that company's more ubiquitous Class 66s.
Deutsche Bahn has expanded considerably in the rail freight market, with the purchase of the freight section of the Dutch railway company NS (now DB Schenker Rail Nederland), EWS (UK), and DSB goods (Denmark) amongst others.
In 2010, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions was awarded an 11-million-dollar contract to develop LaWS in support of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) for the U.S. Navy’s Directed Energy and Electric Weapon Systems (DE&EWS) program.
Thomson went on to serve on the British Railways Board, Scottish Committee, from 1989–94; as a consultant to British Railways Railfreight Distribution from 1994–96; and consultant to the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) from 1997–98; and to Freightliner, Scotland, in 1999, being also a Director, from 2001-02.
Channel 25 became the primary channel for the station and changed its call sign to WONS-LP (Olean's News Source) on March 8, 1999, gaining the shared UPN affiliation with Buffalo, New York station WNGS.