The Railcar website provides information on the British Railways first generation DMUs (a.k.a. diesel multiple units / railcars) introduced in the 1950s.
The six key sections of the website are:
Details of railcars in preservation can be found on The Railcar Association website.
To view details of a particular vehicle or set enter the number below:
Do you have photos of First Generation DMUs? The more images we have the better we can tell the DMU story and make it more useful to visitors. Images can be loaded directly onto the site - just register as a user and upload! Alternatively if you have images on flickr or another website I can do the uploads for you - just let me know.
This website contains details about the First Generation DMUs. This includes the 4-wheel diesel railbuses, ACV / BUT railcars, the Battery Multiple Unit (BMU) and Blue Pullmans. It covers the period from their introduction to British Railways in the 1950s till their withdrawal and disposal from main-line use, but NOT preservation.
Because of the vast amount of data that this covers and the amount of information I have still to process I cannot include the DEMUs introduced on the Southern Region in the same era, nor Second Generation or later types.
May 4th
Another log book kept by Llandudno Junction depot staff has been added covering 25 February to 2 May 1989. It is in two parts: 25 February - 30 March (10mb pdf); and 31 March - 2 May (10mb pdf).
April 27th
Self-Changing Gears has been added to the suppliers section, and the BUT Spare Parts catalogue for Self-Changing Gears added.
April 20th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: London - Welwyn Garden City; Newcastle - Darlington via Hartlepool; Glasgow - Barrhead; Lapworth - Wellington; and five new timetables added to Manchester - Buxton.
April 13th
Another log book kept by Llandudno Junction depot staff has been added covering 23 December 1988 to 24 February 1989. It is in two parts: 23 December - 24 January (10mb pdf); 25 January - 24 February (10mb pdf).
April 6th
Some pdfs of Western Region staff booklets have been added: two operating staff instructions, one for DMUs and one for the Diesel Pullmans; also for the Diesel Pullmans are instructions for the Auxiliary Power Units; and issues two and three of BUMF! (Better Understanding of Maintenance Facts, produced by Reading Depot) - can now be found on the Training Manual page.
March 30th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Cleethorpes - New Holland Pier; Shrewsbury - Wolverhampton; Edinburgh Inner Circle; and Plymouth - Gunnislake. Also four Working Timetables for May 1973 have been added to 1 - Darlington - Bishop Auckland; 2 - Darlington - Saltburn and Middlesburgh - Whitby; 3 - Newcastle - Hexham, Newcastle - Carlisle and the Alston Branch; 4 - Newcastle - South Shields and Newcastle - Sunderland.
March 23rd
Another log book kept by Llandudno Junction depot staff has been added covering 23 August to 22 December 1988. It is in four parts: 23 August - 22 September (11mb pdf); 23 September - 24 October (11mb pdf); 25 October - 24 November (11mb pdf); and 25 November - 22 December (11mb pdf).
March 16th
The remaining pages relating the asbestos content for vehicles circa 1984 have been added, these are for: Class 107s, Class 108s, Class 111s, Class 114s, Class 115s, Class 116s, Class 117s, Class 118s, Class 121s, Class 122s, and Class 127s.
March 9th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Ipswich - Lowestoft; Birmingham - Four Oaks; Leeds - Harrogate; Cumbernauld - Springburn; and Swansea - Carmarthen.
Class 101 DMU set L200 (54081 + 51215) in Reading station on 24 September 1991. Keith Miller.
Class 117 DMU set L421 (51401 + 59511 + 51359) in Reading station on 24 September 1991. Keith Miller.
Class 117 DMBS 51379 hides behind 60909 from DEMU set 207010 at Reading on 24 September 1991. Keith Miller.
Class 119 DMU set L596 departs from Reading station with a Guildford service on 24 September 1991. Keith Miller.
Class 119 DMU set L580 departs from Reading station on 24 September 1991. Keith Miller.
A Class 108/104 three-car hybrid DMU, formed of Class 108 cars M53925 & M52039 with blue liveried Class 104 centre car (TSL) M59155 in the middle, was approaching signal PN491 at Irongate whilst running between Lostock Hall and Bamber Bridge with a Stockport to Carlisle 'Dalesrail' service on May 6th 1989. Martyn Hilbert.
After working the 14:34 from Buxton N669 was fueled on Longsight TMD after running ECS from Piccadilly, 6/5/89. Kevin Dowd.
Chocolate & Cream liveried Tyseley class 117 DMU T305 (51410 visible) and class 321 321436 seen on display at the Bescot open day on 6th May 1990. Bob Belcher.
N669 at Eaves Tunnel / Dove Holes on the 13:08 Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton, 6/5/89. Stuart Broome.
N669 at Manchester Piccadilly before headboards and bulling up are applied for the 13:08 departure to Buxton, 6/5/89. Kevin Dowd.