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 Derby Lightweight twin in Betws-y-Coed station circa mid-1956. Closest is M79657, presumably working with M79136. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Derby triple set forms the 14:23 Glasgow Central - Wemyss Bay service seen departing from Upper Greenock on 28 January 1967. Stuart Mackay Collection.
Class 116 set (C)313 (50863 and presumably 59371 + 50916) heading away from Barry Island station. Probably circa 1976. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Class 120 parcel unit, 53703 and presumably 53713, in Buxton station sometime in April 1987. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A four-car Met-Camm DMU, with NE vehicle prefixes, circa September 1063. Location unknown, the glimpse of the edge on the signal box name in orange suggests the North Eastern Region. Stuart Mackay Collection.
On This Day:
Seen leaving Falmouth for Truro on 5th June 1984 is a 2 car class 118 unit (P469, presumably 51311 + 51326). Bob Belcher.
SC52021 waits to depart Glasgow Queen Street station as 47 704 arrives with a push-pull service from Edinburgh. Nicholas Youngman.
51575 is at the head of the 'The Coal-ton Flyer' railtour at Coalville during the open day on 5 June 1983. Chris Lings.
Pair of class 127 4-car units await custom at St.Pancras early morning Sunday 5th June 1983. M51616 is on the left, note the blue/grey liveried TSL in the set, several trailers were soon to be transferred for use elsewhere (hence the relivery) when the class ceased operations on the 'BedPan' line. DMBS M51650 leads the unit on the right. Iain Reid.
1978 June 5th – Class 118 DMU set P480 (presumably 51312 + 51327) at Tamerton Foliot on the Gunnislake branch. Keith Miller.