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 31st
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Norwich - Dereham - Wells; Machynlleth - Pwllheli; Whitby - Malton; Kilmarnock - Ayr; and Reading - Gatwick Airport.
May 24th
Some more fault finding documents have been added: Eastern Region, 1968 (3mb PDF); Scottish Region sheets from 1973 (0.6mb PDF) and circa late 1970s (0.6mb PDF); from unknown origins are a double-sided sheet from the 1980s (0.5mb PDF), and a sheet dealing with blown 6 & 7 fuses.
April 26th
Added is a BR booklet dated 1959 listing all the brakework items along with part and drawing numbers, for Craven built diesel railcars. Download PDF (11mb pdf).
April 19th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Ely - March - Peterborough; Manchester - Llandudno; Leeds - Micklefield; Elgin - Keith Junction and Cairnie Junction; and Birmingham - Great Malvern.
April 12th
Three more fault finding booklets have been added: Eastern Region, 1967 (3mb PDF), Scottish Region, 1967 (1.1mb PDF), and Western Region, 1967 (4.9mb PDF).
April 5th
Added is an article by Alan N Walker "DMU Travels & Headcodes" detailing the units he travelled on in the 1967-1970 period.
Latest Images:
A Birmingham Snow Hill - Cardiff service in Stratford-upon-Avon, thought to be taken in 1959. The six-car formation has a Swindon Cross-Country set at the front led by W50707. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Met-Camm DMU (the rear car still in green, with revised lining) with a Corstorphine - North Berwick service in Pinkhill station on Saturday 30 December 1967. This was the last day of services on the Corstorphine branch. The station sign notes "Alight here for Zoological Park". Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Class 105 power twin with vehicles M50787 + M50754 arrives at Oxenholme on 28 April 1976, with what seems to be a Windermere - Preston service. Stuart Mackay Collection.
The Hertfordshire Railtours "Fenbasher" is seen at Kings Lynn Docks Gates on 4 July 1981. Closest is Class 115 DMBS M51661. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A two-car Class 104 DMU at Carnforth, sometime in 1986. Stuart Mackay Collection.
On This Day:
Class 105 set NH135, believed to be DMCL M50815 closest, with DMBS M50782, taken at Bury Bolton St on the last day of services on the Rossendale line before it closed - 3/6/1972. This set had been a regular on the line during the final week. Robert Chilton.
L840 (53322 + 53311) lurks at Chester, 3/6/97. Chris Moxon.
53930 stabled at Buxton on June 3rd, 1987, presumably with 59148 behind. Hamish Stevenson.
DMUs at Doncaster on 3 June 1991, right to left are 975540 (ex 55016), 53268, 59079, 59080, 595x9, 59093, 51509 and 53321. Keith Miller.
Having completed its 11 minute 5 mile journey from Stratford with one intermediate stop at Lea Bridge 2H09 the 16.00 ex Stratford is seen at Tottenham Hale 03/06/85 where it will stand in the down platform before returning back south to Stratford as service 2H14 at 16.26. The origins of this short service go back to the days when the train would... Adrian Nicholls.