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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 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.

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 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.

February 17th

Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth; York - Selby - Doncaster; Glasgow - Largs; Slough - Windsor; and new timetables added to Cambridge - Ipswich.

Latest Images:

Class 116 Set TY532 M50079 at Birmingham New Street. June 1978. Nicholas Youngman Collection.

Class 116 Set T420 M53092 seen at Birmingham New Street. October 1991. Nicholas Youngman Collection.

Class 116 Set TS620 53849 at Birmingham New Street on 10th October 1986.The rest of the formation was'nt included but presume were 59606 and 53878. Nicholas Youngman Collection.