The builders of railcars produced sets of drawings showing the construction of vehicles in great detail. There would be general arrangement drawings showing the whole vehicle, then arrangement drawings showing particular areas or systems, and detail drawings showing the details of these.

Works drawings are of no great benefit of preservationists, unless major restorations are being carried out such as the Wickham or Class 126 where there is no existing interiors to work from.

They can show original features however, features that may have been removed or altered during the vehicles life although often the drawings were altered to show this.

All surviving Works drawings are in the custody of Serco Raildata in Derwent House, rtc Business Park, London Road, DERBY DE14 8UP. The drawing required must first be identified by its number. This is found by referencing the vehicles 'build specification', hefty volumes listing every item required to build a vehicle. These can also be bought.

Works and depots used to have copies of some drawings for maintenance purposes, and some of these have found there way into the hands of preservationists. Some groups have donated them to The Railcar Association for open access to all DMU groups. If you can help with others please contact us.

Most of the Private builder drawings were redrawn into the Derby series, so there are two main series: Derby and Swindon