Class 118 BRC&W 3-car sets

While the modernisation plan was underway, orders had to be placed with outside contractors to ensure quick delivery as BR workshops were already fully committed to the DMU building programme. One of these companies was the familiar builder the Birmingham Carriage & Wagon Company which built these 15 sets.

The order from the British Transport Commission was announced in October 1958 as part of the Western Region dieselisation scheme. 168 vehicles were announced, 57 DMBS, 57 DMSs and 54 TCs. BRC&W were to build 45 on them, 15 of each type, forming 15 sets. Pressed Steel in Scotland were to build the remainder, and they would be almost identical. Of the 168, 108 were ordered for suburban services from Paddington, 15 for the Bristol - Taunton area, and 45 for services in Devon and Cornwall, West of Newton Abbott. All were planned to be delivered in 1959.

One vehicle survives in preservation.