10^th NATIONAL DMU CONVENTION - 2005
16 &17th July 2005 Llangollen Railway                              Words by Tony Fox & Evan Green-Hughes, pictures Paul Moxon & Stuart Mackay

Introduction
The Railcar Association’s Tenth National DMU Convention, organised by Evan Green-Hughes, was held this year at the Llangollen Railway on 16/17 July 2005.  The old lags will recall that The Railcar Association came into being at our 3rd Convention in 1998, also in Llangollen.

A smaller than usual number of about twenty delegates attended the formal annual meeting on the afternoon of the first day, there being competition from events at other railways that weekend.  The external activities were very successful and an intensive railcar service operated alongside steam trains on both days.

A special attraction was the Wickham railbus, brought down from the Middleton Railway in Leeds for the event, running alongside its Class 109 big brother/sister.

Railcar operation – both days
All of Llangollen’s operational fleet was in evidence over the weekend, the highlight being the eight-car 19:00 departure on the Saturday evening.  The Wickham railbus performed admirably up the gradients, giving the 104 a run for its money as regards sound effects through Berwyn Tunnel!  The Wickham set of course is an excellent example of what can be achieved in preservation and positively sparkled in the sunlight.

	The Wickham /Class 108 sheds its trainload of passengers at Carrog.
	Also at Carrog, the 104, 127/105 and 108.
	On board the railbus, which always seemed to be well loaded!

Formal meeting
Evan Green-Hughes opened the meeting, held in the Bridge End Hotel, with a welcome to those who’d prised themselves away from the trains and sunshine. 

Tony Fox then reviewed events since the last Convention in July 2004 at the Severn Valley Railway.  Principal achievement has been that all rescuable Class 101 and 117 vehicles are now safely in preservationists’ hands, the remaining 101s being regarded (not least by Serco) as ‘basket cases’!  Several new railways began railcar operation during the year and that bodes well for the future.  Porterbrook honoured their promise to donate ‘Thumper’ units to good homes and disposed of their whole fleet in a few short months.  Quite a different scene from the long painful exercise of preserving the last railcars.

Final numbers show that Class 117 will be the most numerous class in preservation (58 vehicles) followed by Class 108 (54) and Class 101 (44), now in third place.  Twenty two vehicles remain in service or in storage with main-line companies.  Altogether over 300 first generation DMUs are still in existence.

Evan then took the floor again to review railcar operation at the Llangollen Railway.  Increasingly the railcar group is regarded by LR management to be a key player.  Parallels with BR’s experience were drawn – railcars are economic in operation and well received by passengers, given the scenic beauty of the area.  The railcar service is now sold positively in its own right, rather than apologetically as a stand-in for steam operation.  Lessons here for other railways, of course, but it has taken several years to get to this stage at Llangollen, and elsewhere there will still be much ‘missionary work’ to do…

Given the low attendance, Evan passed over his planned discussion on the development of national training guidelines and maintenance standards for the benefit of railcar groups.  A few comments were however offered from the floor on the topic.  Firstly, the VMI is a good starting point when establishing a maintenance regime, but it is far too detailed for the preservation environment and requires a great deal of appropriate dilution to be workable and effective.  Secondly, it will soon become absolutely essential to develop maintenance, training and other records to standards acceptable to HMRI, for routine inspection and also following investigable incidents.  Thirdly, TRA itself has no central resources, so constituent groups must be prepared to share their systems (as ‘best-of-breed’ examples) with others to help them reach required standards quickly.

Stuart Mackay gave some details about Arriva Trains Wales's plans for using first generation units, both on tourist trains and the bubble car for the Cardiff Bay / Queen Street shuttle. The reason's behind the choice of units was discussed, and why certain type's cannot return to Network Rail use.

It was confirmed that the 2006 Convention will take place at the Battlefield Railway, Shackerstone.  The Churnet Valley Railway duly volunteered to host the 2007 event.

With no further AOB, the meeting closed with an impromptu performance by Stuart Mackay at the keyboard.  Stuart has built up a phenomenal collection of scanned images from photographs, documents, plans, books, etc. over the years and was able to show dozens of these items on request from the audience. Absolutely riveting, and hopefully a regular feature of future Conventions.

The 8-car set

	Left: awaiting departure at Llangollen. Right: taken from the Class 127, the second-most rear vehicle.
	Two views departing from Carrog.

Later on Saturday evening, a barbecue was organised by Elizabeth and Evan, assisted by Sue and Gwen from the Llangollen Railway on the station platform overlooking the River Dee.  An excellent finish to a good day.

Driving Experience
The driver experience sessions took place on Saturday evening on the Class 108 power-trailer set, from Llangollen to Glyndyfrdwy outer home and back.  One of the trips was raffled off as a prize.

Sunday
Sunday kicked off with the 104 running a one-way trip to Carrog with a 12T van as a tail-load, much as was done in the early days of DMU Operation. This had been a last minute substitution as the Wickham was taken ill, but was well enough to follow the 104 on the 10:15 departure.

The rest of the services were operated by four-car sets with three of the resident units in operation. The Wickham railbus managed a few short trips out to the Goods Junction Signal Box but finished the day with a Deeside and back special – complete with special headboard!

Although attendance by TRA delegates was poor the Railway was happy with the number of ordinary punters who made the trip to enjoy the weekend. Rumour has it that the Railcar Group might be let out to play another day………

The group's website is at www.llangollenrailcars.com

To view details of previous galas:

9th 2004 Railcar50 Severn Valley Railway
8th 2003 Chasewater Railway
7th 2002 Swanage Railway
6th 2001 Mid-Norfolk Railway
5th 2000 East Lancs Railway
4th 1999 West Somerset Railway
3rd 1998 Llangollen Railway
2nd 1997 Midland Railway Centre
1st 1996 Dean Forest Railway