The History of First Generation DMUs
The Railcar website provides information on the British Railways first generation DMUs (a.k.a. diesel multiple units / railcars) introduced in the 1950s.
The content of this website
The six key sections of the website are:
- Types - looks at each type of DMU in detail
- Topics - features articles on different aspects of the vehicles and personal recollections
- Technology - describes the technical details of how they work
- Data - various lists of numerical details
- Images - galleries featuring DMUs
- In Print - details the books and other printed materials made available over the years that have relevance
Details of railcars in preservation can be found on The Railcar Association website.
Date on DMUs
Vehicle / Set Data
To view details of a particular vehicle or set enter the number below:
DMU Images Wanted!
Do you have photos of First Generation DMUs? The more images we have the better we can tell the DMU story and make it more useful to visitors. Images can be loaded directly onto the site - just register as a user and upload! Alternatively if you have images on flickr or another website I can do the uploads for you - just let me know.
Scope
This website contains details about the First Generation DMUs. This includes the 4-wheel diesel railbuses, ACV / BUT railcars, the Battery Multiple Unit (BMU) and Blue Pullmans. It covers the period from their introduction to British Railways in the 1950s till their withdrawal and disposal from main-line use, but NOT preservation.
Because of the vast amount of data that this covers and the amount of information I have still to process I cannot include the DEMUs introduced on the Southern Region in the same era, nor Second Generation or later types.
Updates
April 20th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: London - Welwyn Garden City; Newcastle - Darlington via Hartlepool; Glasgow - Barrhead; Lapworth - Wellington; and five new timetables added to Manchester - Buxton.
April 13th
Another log book kept by Llandudno Junction depot staff has been added covering 23 December 1988 to 24 February 1989. It is in two parts: 23 December - 24 January (10mb pdf); 25 January - 24 February (10mb pdf).
April 6th
Some pdfs of Western Region staff booklets have been added: two operating staff instructions, one for DMUs and one for the Diesel Pullmans; also for the Diesel Pullmans are instructions for the Auxiliary Power Units; and issues two and three of BUMF! (Better Understanding of Maintenance Facts, produced by Reading Depot) - can now be found on the Training Manual page.
March 30th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Cleethorpes - New Holland Pier; Shrewsbury - Wolverhampton; Edinburgh Inner Circle; and Plymouth - Gunnislake. Also four Working Timetables for May 1973 have been added to 1 - Darlington - Bishop Auckland; 2 - Darlington - Saltburn and Middlesburgh - Whitby; 3 - Newcastle - Hexham, Newcastle - Carlisle and the Alston Branch; 4 - Newcastle - South Shields and Newcastle - Sunderland.
March 23rd
Another log book kept by Llandudno Junction depot staff has been added covering 23 August to 22 December 1988. It is in four parts: 23 August - 22 September (11mb pdf); 23 September - 24 October (11mb pdf); 25 October - 24 November (11mb pdf); and 25 November - 22 December (11mb pdf).
March 16th
The remaining pages relating the asbestos content for vehicles circa 1984 have been added, these are for: Class 107s, Class 108s, Class 111s, Class 114s, Class 115s, Class 116s, Class 117s, Class 118s, Class 121s, Class 122s, and Class 127s.
March 9th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Ipswich - Lowestoft; Birmingham - Four Oaks; Leeds - Harrogate; Cumbernauld - Springburn; and Swansea - Carmarthen.
March 2nd
Another log book kept by Llandudno Junction depot staff has been added covering 13 May to 22 August 1988. It is in three parts: 13 May - 13 June (12mb pdf); 14 June - 16 July (11mb pdf); and 17 July - 22 August (12mb pdf). Also BR maintenance records for 50619 and 56492 courtesy of the Dean Forest DMU Group.
February 24th
Some pages relating the asbestos content for vehicles circa 1984 have been added for Class 101s, Class 110s and Class 119s.
Latest Images:
T317 51314+59489+51329 passing the Great Eastern Railway signalbox at Ancaster with a Saturday service for Skegness on 27th June 1992. Ian Hazlehurst.
Vic Berry's yard on 3rd June 1990 had three Met-Camm DMCL stripped and awaiting their fate, one unusually still with Chilcotts exhaust silencers. My memory tells me that there was a vehicle there at this time still with tungsten lighting and was probably un-refurbished, possibly 51510,. If anyone has any further information I'd love to... Ian Hazlehurst.
78959 stripped and awaiting cutting at Vic Berry's on 13th August 1990. Ian Hazlehurst.
On a dull Saturday evening of 11th July 1992 53202 stands at the rear of a four car set in platform 12 at Manchester Victoria, the other vehicles being 52059+53926+54050. Not a particularly good picture but it records one of the Manchester area parliamentary services that operated at this time, this one being the 20:10 Manchester Victoria - Ashburys. Ian Hazlehurst.
Set C821 at Bristol Temple Meads.No formation given but the leading car appears to be 51513 so other vehicles most likely to be 59050 and 51509. 09/10/82 Nicholas Youngman Collection.
On This Day:
31298 was on crew training duties working off Newton Heath Depot at the time which may have been the reason it was hauling this 3-car Class 110 DMU through Manchester Victoria on 24th April 1984. S Gaskell.
Class 101 DMU set P870 (presumably 53200 + 51530) can be seen in Barnstaple Junction on 24 April 1992, a station that has shrunk considerably since its heyday. Alan Grange.
At almost 12:30 on 24 April 1986 the GWR-liveried Class 117 DMU set B430 (51368 + 59520 + 51410) sits in platform 1 of Cardiff Central with a Hereford service. Keith Miller.
A two-car Class 108 in Rail Blue (the DMBS at the rear is M50944), arrives at Ormskirk with a service from Preston on April 24th 1978. There were still a few lineside structures still remaining from the days when this was a double-track through route. The antics of the passenger in the rear trailer car is a lesson in the perils of slam-door stock. Martyn Hilbert.
Evening at Spalding Town. A Cravens diesel multiple unit (the vehicles are thought to be E56439 + E50249) stands at Spalding station on the evening of Saturday 24th April 1976. I would have taken this photo whilst waiting to board the return day excursion train I had travelled on from Bristol. Tom Harper.