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
May 9th
Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: Colchester / Wivenhoe - Brightlingsea; Lancaster - Barrow-in-Furness; Hull - Brough; Edinburgh - Hawick - Carlisle; and Plymouth - Paignton.
May 2nd
Four Class 101 General Arrangement drawings have been added.
April 25th
Added to the headcode pages are five more summaries of those used on the North Eastern Region (Sections G - L) in 1961.
April 18th
Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: Upminster-Tilbury; Buxton - Millers Dale; Leeds - Doncaster; Rutherglen - Possil / Dalmuir; and Cardiff Queen Street - Cardiff Bay.
April 11th
New in the document archive are the Job Descriptions from Issue 2 of Standard Examination, the 1970s version of maintenance instructions.
April 4th
Added to the headcode pages are some summaries of those used on the North Eastern Region. Also a destination blind, this one thought to be from Accrington.
March 28th
Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: Hatfield - Dunstable; Preston - Ormskirk; Leeds - Scarborough; Dundee - Leuchars Jct - St Andrews; and Paddington - Ealing Broadway - Greenford.
March 21st
New in the document archive are the Standard Examination Schedules from Issue 2 of Standard Examination, the 1970s version of maintenance instructions.
March 14th
A new section has been started on headcodes, with some summaries of those used on the Scottish Region.
Latest Images:
An Eastern Region publicity image (negative RX 236) showing a Cravens DMU in Brightlingsea station. British Railways.
A Class 124 DMU on 1E99, the 13:10 Liverpool - Hull, at Lea Green on 11 March 1978. Stuart Mackay Collection.
117 308 (presumably 51371 + 59509 + 51413) departs from Inverkeithing station towards Waverley with what is likely a Fife Circle service, sometimes in the 1993-1999 period. Stuart Mackay Collection.
An Eastern Region Cravens twin, location unknown, circa 1968. There are a number of people lineside, many on the wrong side of the fence, which suggests that maybe a special is due. The junction signal has had the arms removed. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Cravens DMU formed of E51286 + E56444 in Ulceby station with an Immingham Docks service at 8.36am on Tuesday 18 May 1965. Stuart Mackay Collection.
On This Day:
Class 120 set C506 (50715 + 59588 + 50665) set is seen at Nantgarw Coking Ovens on the Railway Corrspondence and Travel Society (RCTS) "Midland Welshman No. 2" railtour from Cardiff to various branch lines on May 13, 1978. Jeremy Chapter.
Pressed Steel Suburban Single Car Class 121 DMU 55033 in Midline livery heads a Dorridge train while Gloucester Class 122 Single Car 55005 arrives with a Leamington train on the adjacent platform at Birmingham Moor Street on 13 May 1987. At the time single cars were being added to 3-car sets to raise the power to weight ratio. Moor St terminus... Chris Morrison.
A Trans-Pennine DMU with 51952 leading on the 14:40 Hull - Liverpool on 13 May 1979 at Hull Paragon, this was one of the final services of these units to Liverpool. David Scott.
Naval Gazing. A six car Metro Cammell dmu provided the shuttle service from Edinburgh to Rosyth Dockyard for the annual “Naval Day” on 13th May 1979, seen here in the dockyard. Murray Liston.
CH372 (M53930 + M59148 + M52056) arrives at New Mills Newtown on the 07:45 Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton on 13-5-89. Kevin Dowd.