Class 104 BRC&W 2, 3 & 4-car DMUs

Decline

50440 was seriously damaged in a fire at Doncaster Works on the 15th June 1982 and was considered beyond economic repair.

The first major withdrawals to take place amongst the class came with the opening of the Tyne & Wear Metro system in August 1980. Most South Gosforth vehicles were reallocated to Darlington, from where most had departed by March 1981, a few lingering to February 1982. Eight vehicles went to Newton Heath, nine to Neville Hill and eleven were withdrawn.

The image shows E50568 at Thornaby on February 1, 1981. Transferred from South Gosforth to Darlington in October 1980 and withdrawn the following month, it has missing windows and underframe components. John Carter.

The LMR vehicles never saw any form of 'mass withdrawals', being taken out of service at a steady rate from the early 1980s. Those vehicles which did not go through works for overhaul and asbestos removal were the first to go. Doncaster, Derby, Swindon and Glasgow Works were responsible for these overhauls, which ran through until 1987 for the LMR vehicles.

Saturday May 6, 1989 saw the last official booked run of a 104 on the 'Spa Line' when N669 M53454 + M59187 + M53528 worked the 'Buxton 104 Farewell', an express run from Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton and return. Even after 'Sprinterisation' of the line on May 15, 1989, 104s still managed to work to Buxton on odd occasions - deputising for non available 'Sprinters'. The last occasion was on May 4, 1990 when CH610 M53447 + M53531 worked the 16:07 Manchester Piccadilly - Buxton and the 17:08 return to Bolton.

In the image set CH616 (M53516 + M53442) sits inside Longsight TMD's 14X road on 6-12-89 after another hard days work. Kevin Dowd.

By the start of the summer 1989 timetable there were around fifty vehicles still in service. Those vehicles still to survive at Newton Heath were reallocated to Chester, where there were already some Class 104 trailers working between Class 108 power cars which came from Buxton. With the continued introduction of second generation DMUs, the surviving Class 104s at Chester were withdrawn at an increasing pace towards the end of 1989. The move of several Class 101s from Scotland to Chester drove more nails into the coffin for the Class 104s, although the surviving vehicles still managed to work as far afield as Birmingham New Street, Derby, Holyhead, Leicester, Rugby, Sheffield, Skegness and Stafford, to name but a few.

The last two sets allocated to Chester were CH610 M53447 + M53531 and CH611 M53451 + M53529 which saw out there final days on Chester to Helsby services during June 1990, the month they were taken out of service. The image shows CH611 departing Chester 20 minutes late (both cars required water!) with the 14:19 to Helsby, 31-5-90. Kevin Dowd.

This left just the ten vehicles on Network SouthEast still in service. Of these, the two trailers were the first to be withdrawn, 59206 on October 1, 1990 and 59163 (due to fire damage) on October 22, 1990.

The withdrawal of the DMBS vehicles started with 53437 and 53479 on January 18, 1992. Two days later, Class 115 DMUs replaced the 104s on the Barking to Gospel Oak services and the remaining six vehicles were transferred to Thames Line duties, often paired with Class 108 driver trailers.

The image shows set L263 (53540 + 54495) at Reading with the 16:00 to Didcot on 5/11/92. Hamish Stevenson.

During the rest of 1992 five of the six vehicles fell victim to the continued introduction of new Class 165 Thames Turbo units to Thames Line services. 53540 was the last vehicle in service into 1993 and the only vehicle to be properly fitted with a high density halogen headlamp (the "Mexican Bean's" was fitted on the roof domes). It was withdrawn in October 1993.