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DMU Operations


From their introduction in the mid-1950s to their final withdrawal well into the 21st century DMUs were allocated to five of the six post-nationalisation regions and were not strangers in the sixth (the Southern). From north to south and east to west, DMUs could be found working local branches, feeder, commuter, cross country and inter-city services.

The "DMU types" section looks at the different areas that each type worked, this section is intended to look at the types that worked in each area.

Deliveries

The North Eastern Region were the first to receive what we known call "First Generation" DMUs and were introduced on Leeds to Bradford services in 1954. Almost 10 years and 3,800 vehicle later the last deliveries were for the Western Region, Inter-City DMUs for working between South Wales and the Midlands.

The quantites and types delivered to each region varied greatly. The Eastern Region would get the smallest amount — 180 sets (380 vehicles) of mostly two-car low density stock. The London Midland Region got the largest amount (519 sets, 1275 vehicles) and the biggest variety of types. The North Eastern Region received 293 sets (820 vehicles), and with the exception of the Trans-Pennine sets all were 56ft low-density stock in 2, 3 and 4-car sets. The Scottish Region were delivered 185 new sets (474 vehicles) all low density except the Swindon types. The Western Region was the only region to have only 64ft vehicles and no low-density stock, its 309 sets (861 vehicles) were mainly the high density (suburban) type but also included Cross-Country, Inter-City and parcel vehicles.

ER
LMR
NER
ScR
WR

The full breakdown of the different types is given in the table below showing the number of sets/vehicles. Some vehicle types this website covers — the Blue Pullman and railbuses — are not included in the figures. Note that for the Scottish 79xxx type, the 15 sets is based on them being formed into three-car sets.

Type ER LMR NER ScR WR
Red T Derby L 8/16
Yell D Derby L 26/52 61/121 9/28
BMU 1/2
Met-Camm L 29/58 7/14
Swindon 79xxx 15/46 6/18
50000/56000 1/2
Class 100 11/22 29/58
Class 101 48/114 134/347 63/159
Class 103 20/40
Class 104 66/188 31/114
Class 105 50/100 38/95 31/63 22/44
Class 107 26/78
Class 108 126/252 32/81
Class 109 5/10
Class 110 10/30 20/60
Class 111 4/8 20/60
Class 112/3 50/100
Class 114 49/98
Class 115 41/164
Class 116 108/320
Class 117 42/123
Class 118 15/45
Class 119 28/81
Class 120 7/21 58/173
Class 121 16/26
Class 122 20/29
Class 123 10/40
Class 124 8/51
Class 125 20/60
Class 126 22/66
Class 127 30/120
Class 128 4/4 6/6
Class 129 3/3
Totals: 180/380 519/1275 293/820 185/474 309/861

The Cravens Class 105s was the type that was delivered to the most regions — the only type that was new to four different regions.

While the figures show the delivery locations, vehicles were soon moving about (some even being delivered "on-loan" to other regions). Regional boundary changes — the biggest affecting DMUs being Tyseley depot moving from the Western to the London Midland, line closures and the elimination of the 79xxx series types saw substantial changes to the vehicle bases.