Class 101/2 Metropolitan Cammell 2/3/4-car sets

The first Class 101 cars were ordered early in 1955 before the first Met-Camm 79xxx series units were delivered. Almost identical in external design but with many more variations in vehicle type these units were destined to become the longest serving DMU cars ever built, outlasting British Rail itself.

Met Camm units were allocated far more widely than any other type of unit. Including the 79xxx and Rolls Royce cars, 760 cars were built, 465 were for the ER & NER, 159 for the ScR and 136 for the LMR. They later spread to the Western Region where they gained access into Southern territory.

From local branch lines in East Anglia to the North Wales coast, from Perth to Penzance in the far south-west, these units gave sterling service to all areas for over forty years. On Trans-Pennine services via the Calder Valley, in the north-east to Alston, high in the Pennines, on the Whitby branch from Middlesborough. On almost every railway byway these units were an everyday sight.

When TOPS was introduced the vehicles were split into Class 101 and 102. Class 101 was the AEC engined cars, and 102 for the Leyland variety. Later all became just 101s.

Three vehicles were the testbed for British Rail’s DMU refurbishment scheme in the ‘70s, which led to hundred’s of vehicles given life extensions.

At present few vehicles have made it to preservation, although with the remaining vehicles still in passenger traffic around Glasgow and Manchester due to be withdrawn in the next six months, that is set to change.

Orders
The Lightweights were all delivered by July 1956, when Met-Camm started work on its second DMU order for BR of 339 vehicles. The first lot of vehicles from this order delivered were seven 4-car sets for service between Newcastle and Carlisle, the last vehicle of these being the 100th Met-Camm built. Met-Camm was proud the orders it was getting and placed a series of adverts announcing milestones like this 100th vehicle. The Saltley production line at this time was producing up to four vehicles a week. The order for the 339 vehicles was expected to be completed in the early summer of 1958. The 200th car was delivered in May 1957. The seventh of that month also saw the BTC place a third order with Met-Camm for a further eighty motor cars and eighty driving trailer cars with delivery expected by the end of 1958.

The 250th car was completed on 26th July 1957 (the publicity picture which shows the 250th car shows two power/trailer sets, including 56071 with Newcastle on the blind, but doesn't specify what number the 250th was.

On the 5th May '58 the BTC ordered a further 168 cars. The order comprised forty-six 3-car sets (DMBS/TC/DMC), twenty for the NER and twenty-six for the ScR. The remaining 30 cars were Class 111s.

In the last week of September 1958 Met-Camm completed its 500th vehicle. As deliveries started in Dec 1955 with the first of the Lightweights, it was producing an average of three cars a week. At this time, the vehicles were operating as 2-car units on the ER, 2 & 3-car sets on the LMR, 2, 3 & 4-car sets on the NER, and in 2-car sets on the ScR.

On the 9th March '59 the BTC placed its final order with Met-Camm, seven 3-car sets for the ScR.

The 700th car was delivered in September 1959.

Due to the huge number of vehicles and the corresponding variations and operations I have split the vehicles up into sections, corresponding to the orders, and these are used throughout the rest of these pages. Full details of these sections and complete ordering details can be found here.