Vehicle 50144 / 53144
Class 101
Builder: Met-Camm
Layout: Low-Density
Length: 57ft
Coupling Code: Blue Square
Coupling Type: Screw
Gangway Type: LMS
Engines: AEC 150 hp / Leyland 150hp
Transmission: Mechanical
Lot Number: 30249
Diagram: 618
Allocations
| 09/11/56 | New to | South Gosforth | |
| Feb-64 | Depot code change | 52J | |
| 4w/e 27/02/71 | Transferred to | 51A (Darlington) | |
| May-73 | Depot code change | DN | |
| 17/04/78 | Transferred to | DE (Dundee) | |
| 01/03/82 | Transferred to | ED (Eastfield) | |
| circa Aug-82 | Transferred to | HA (Haymarket) | |
| Jul-87 | Withdrawn from | HA (Haymarket) |
Notes
26th October 1982 - Seen still carrying lamp above destination blind
The vehicle carried the following numbers:
50144 - original number
53144 - from Aug-83 (53xxx / 54xxx change)
Refurbished
At Glasgow Works dated 17/03/1979 released in blue/grey liveryDisposal
Scrapped by Mayer Newman, Snailwell
Some sample formations the vehicle has been noted in:
| 50144 | 59045 | 59052 | 50145 | As delivered to South Gosforth - 9th November 1956 | |||||
| 50144 | 51205 | Noted 11/09/1971 - at Ruswarp1 | |||||||
| 51205 | 59042 | 50144 | Noted 09/06/73 - at Darlington2 | ||||||
| 51205 | 50144 | Noted 09/07/1976 - Seen at Glaisdale3 | |||||||
| 50144 | 59042 | 59083 | 50170 | Noted 07/06/77 - on 13.20 Darlington – Saltburn4 | |||||
| 199 | 50254 | 59303 | 50144 | Noted 26/08/1979 - BLS Tayside Railtour | |||||
| 301 | 50254 | 59305 | 50144 | Listed at DE - 01/02/81 | |||||
| 101301 | 50254 | 59305 | 50144 | Listed at ED - 13/06/82 | |||||
| 101363 | 53144 | 59049 | 53746 | Noted 15/04/84 | |||||
| 101363 | 53144 | 59049 | 53746 | Noted 23/05/84 | |||||
| 101301 | 53254 | 59305 | 53144 | Listed at HA - 17/06/84 | |||||
| 101301 | 53254 | 59305 | 53144 | Listed at HA - 25/03/85 | |||||
| 101309 | 51233 | 59060 | 53144 | Noted circa 02/19863 | |||||
| 101301 | 53254 | 59305 | 53144 | Listed at HA - Summer 1986 | |||||
| 53144 | Listed at HA - August 1986 - Operating vehicle not on official list | ||||||||
| 53144 | Noted 12/10/1986 - at Haymarket Depot3 | ||||||||
| 101301 | 53254 | 59305 | 53144 | Listed at HA - 23/03/87 |
Formation Sources
1: Jeremy Goodyear
2: Gerald Brown
3: Eddie Knorn
4: Phil Shatford
Images:
5th September 1974
A Class 101 power twin, E50144 leading, departing from Whitby with a Middlesbrough service on 5 September 1974. Michael Mensing.
8th September 1974
Blue DMU days at Whitby Town. 50144, a 1956 Metropolitan-Cammell unit, is waiting to return to Middlesborough from Whitby Town on 08/09/1974. The orange enamel signs are still in place as is the big square wooden post signal. On the hill the Abbey ruin stands guard over the town. The vehicle was allocated to Darlington at the time and seems to have a shed plate on the solebar under the BR logo. Geoff Dowling.
July 1979
Set number: 199
Met-Camm set 199 arrives in the Fife station of Kinghorn in July 1979. 50144 leads, presumably with 59303 + 50254. Alan Rintoul.
26th August 1979
Set number: 199
Met-Camm DMU 50144 + 59303 + 50254 at Brechin with the Branch Line Society 'Tayside Railtour' on August 26, 1979. Jeremy Chapter.
26th August 1979
Set number: 199
The BLS ran the Tayside Railtour a last journey along the branch from Kinnaber Junction to Brechin which started from Dundee on a Sunday morning, 26 August 1979. Here the Class 101 DMU (50144 + 59303 + 50254) sits at the platform awaiting the return journey. The station is now part of the Caledonian Railway Preservation Society. Alistair Ness.
29th November 1980
Set number: 199
Weak winter sun barely lights Met Camm set 199 (50144 leads) as it departs from Cupar forming 2L36 1125 Edinburgh to Dundee on 29th November 1980. The goods yard is still intact at this point complete with provender goods shed and a couple of 12t vans. The town was formerly the county town of Fife and the agricultural nature of the surrounding district, together with the nearby sugar beet factory, would have brought much freight traffic to the station. As with much of the network, the freight facility has given way to the inevitable carpark although at least the signal box and it's semaphores still control the station. Bruce Galloway.
5th May 1983
Set number: 101361
The 06:45 Kirkcaldy to Inverkeithing service on 5 May 1983, which continued unadvertised as a workers’ service to Rosyth Dockyard. DMS Sc50144 leads car, the remainder are three further Metro Cammell vehicles (one still in blue) and two bubble cars. Taken at Naval Base Junction on what was once the North Queensferry Branch. This was where the line into Rosyth Dockyard diverged from the North Queensferry Branch. The line to North Queensferry fell into disuse in 1954 but the box remained to control the convergence of the double line from Inverkeithing South Junction which became single line beyond here and to provide access to both Caldwell’s Paper Mill and Ward’s Shipbreaking Yard (via the line in the foreground, which also gave access to Cruicks Quarry which dispatched ballast by rail until the early/mid 1980s). Naval Base Junction signal box closed in 1964, replaced by a ground frame, when the double track between here and Inverkeithing South was singled. Brian McDevitt.
15th April 1984
Set number: 101363
Class 101 units on Dundee depot on the 15th April 1984. Nearest the camera is set 101363 consisting of Sc53144 + Sc59049 + Sc53746. Kevin Law.
23rd May 1984
Set number: 101363
Set 101363 at Stirling on 23/05/1984. Car numbers are 53144 + 59049 + 53746. The leading car unusually retains the central marker lights (top and bottom) and the top one even looks like it might be switched on, though there is no glass lens - both these central lights were usually removed upon refurbishment. The full length uninterrupted cantrail rain strip suggests the vehicle has been refurbished. Graeme Phillips Collection.
1st July 1990
Set number: 101301
SC53144 at Snailwell on 1st July 1990. Nicholas Youngman.
The vehicle is mentioned in the following images:
Date: 26th August 1979
Set number: 199
Class 101 (50254 + 59303 + 50144) at Brechin on 26 August 1979. The BLS ran the Tayside Railtour a last journey along the branch from Kinnaber Junction to Brechin which started from Dundee on a Sunday morning. Here we are at the buffers of what is now become Caledonian Railway Preservation Society's nicely restored station. Alistair Ness.
Date: 26th August 1979
Set number: 199
On 26 August 1979 the Branch Line Society ran a tour from Dundee to Brechin. This line closed to passengers in 1952 and eventually to all traffic in 1981. In 1993 a small section of the line at the Brechin end opened as a preserved railway. I believe the formation of the train to have been 50254 + 59303 + 50144. Jeremy Chapter.
Date: 25th April 1983
Set number: 101301
27017 rolls into Haymarket platform 2 with 2L40, the 12.17 Edinburgh to Dundee, as Met-Camm 3 car unit 101301 (presumably 50254 + 59305 + 53144), forming 2G17 11.38 Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh, waits to leave. 25th April 1983. Bruce Galloway.