Class 101 Met-Camm 2,3 & 4-car DMUs
Operations: Scottish Region
Class 101s were a standard part of the Scottish DMU scene from 1958 until 2000.
There were many allocation changes, different vehicles and inter-regional changes over the years with the type covering most of the Region. The full list of ScR depots to have allocations were Ayr, Corkerhill, Dundee, Eastfield, Hamilton, Haymarket, Inverness, Kittybrewster, Leith Central and Thornton Junction.
Scotland would receive 159 new Met-Camm vehicles forming 63 sets — around a third of all the new DMUs it would be allocated. 30 power-trailer sets (batch 3a) went to Dundee in May-July 1958, 26 three-car sets (batch 4b) to Thornton Junction and Leith Central in May-September 1959, and a further seven three-car sets (batch 5) to Leith Central in October-December 1959. There were livery differences in all three batches when delivered: the two-cars did not have whiskers; the 4b three-cars were in the lighter Multiple-Unit Green and the order 5 three-cars in the darker Loco Green.
By the end of 1977 all the driving trailer vehicles had been moved south leaving Scotland with just three-car sets. Replacement by second generation sets was almost complete by the end of 1990 but a further batch of vehicles arrived keeping 101s running on the Region for another decade. These were predominately the 6xx series 'facelifted' sets.
Scotland also had a Class 101 DTCL that was converted to an observation saloon that ran on the Kyle Line from 1987 to 1994.
30 new power/trailers sets
These, with DMBSs Sc51224-53 and DTCLs Sc56382-411, formed order 3A (my order/batch definitions). They were delivered to 62B (Dundee) from May to July 1958.
Sets were delivered from Saltley via Preston and Cowlairs eight cars at a time. Noted heading north on the 15th May 1958 were 51230-3/56388-91, on the 29th May 51234-7/56392-5, and 51238-41/56396 on the 12th June.
New sets in Dundee depot circa July 1958. George Bett.
On 4 June 1958 51235/56393 were on display in Inverurie Works open day[1].
From Monday 7 July 1958 51239/56397 replaced the remaining steam passenger services on the Deeside line from Aberdeen to Ballater. It worked opposite the Battery Multiple Unit which had been introduced in April, and the timetable was adjusted to give slightly faster running[2]. The Met-Camm, allocated to Dundee, was based at Kittybrewster for servicing and was maintained at Dundee West mpd.
A picture in the October 1958 Railway Magazine (page 695) of 2x2-car 101s is captioned "The first diesel train to leave Glasgow Buchanan Street in service: the 2.15pm to Aberdeen on July 18th."
The new sets were noted coupled into 8-car sets for long distance specials such as Leven to Heads of Ayr on the 19th July 1958 and Dundee (West) to Stanraer (Harbour) on the 26th July, and Airdrie to Ayr excursions during the Glasgow Fair.
Four sets operated the first 'Six Lochs Land Cruise' on Tuesday 29 July 1958 working a circular tour from Glasgow through Stirling, Callander, Killin, Crianlarch and Helensburgh[3]. The image shows this at Killin. They operated another 'Land Cruise' to Largs and Girvan two days later.
Services begin
The Dundee Met-Camms were introduced to services between Dundee and Edinburgh Waverley and between Dundee and Glasgow Buchanan Street, both via Thornton Jct and via Perth, on the 4th August 1958.
A number of stopping trains between Edinburgh and Dundee switched to the two-car sets from this date, the sets had originally been intended for Dundee local services. The Glasgow workings included three services between Fife and Glasgow and the 16:00 Dundee to Buchanan Street and 20:15 return. One working to Kirkintilloch and one on the Tayport branch was included in the scheme. The latter was expected be more or less entirely diesel worked together with the other Dundee local services from the 15th September.[4]
Around November 1958 — apparently due to complaints of rough riding — the GRC&W sets working the Edinburgh Princes Street - Glasgow Central route were replaced by Swindon Inter-City sets. Subsequently Leith was short of these White Circle vehicles and Met-Camms were loaned from Dundee, and four-car formations began operating most of the Princess St - Central Central services.
When the three-car sets from batch 4B arrived at Dundee in mid-1959 they would replace the two-car sets on routes such as Dundee - Edinburgh allowing some of the two-car sets to move to Leith Central and Hamilton, and others to begin working on Dundee - St Andrews services from 15 June 1959 (timetable scan courtesy of John Paton).
26 new three-car sets
These, with DMBSs Sc51445-70, TCLs Sc59543-68 and DMCLs Sc51515-40 were from order 4B (my order/batch definitions). They were delivered to 62A (Thornton Junction) and 64H (Leith Central) from May to September 1959.
The image shows "the first three-car set to reach Dundee West", SC51447 (and presumably 59545 and 51517) is seen there on the 30th May 1959. The set was delivered that month to 62A (Thornton Junction). George Bett.
Almost every vehicle changed allocation several weeks after delivery, none would remain at Thornton Junction — these were the only first generation DMUs ever allocated there. Some ended up at Leith Central, some at Ayr, but the majority would move to Dundee.
At Dundee one route the new three-car sets would operate was the Dundee-Edinburgh services, releasing some of the two-car sets to move to Hamilton.
The Edinburgh - Fife diesel scheme, postponed from 6 March, began on 4 April 1960 alongside improvements to the Edinburgh - Aberdeen services (worked by pairs of Class 26s).
7 new three-car sets
These, with DMBSs Sc51795-801, TCLs Sc59686-92 and DMCLs Sc51802-8 were from order 5 (my order/batch definitions). They were delivered to 64H (Leith Central) from October to December 1959.
These were the final new Met-Camm sets for the region and would share the duties with the other Edinburgh-allocated three-car sets. They were noted as appearing on Edinburgh Princes St - Glasgow Central services in December 1959[5], standing out from the earlier three-cars in their darker green.
1965
A three-car set enters Port Glasgow with a Gourock service in 1965. Steve Davies Collection.
At 1965[6] the two-car sets 51224/5/38-46/8-53 with 56382/3/7/96-404/6-8/10/1 were allocated to 62B (Dundee) for workings from Dundee to St. Andrews, Tayport and Arbroath. 51226/8-35 with 56384/6/8-93/409 were allocated to 66C (Hamilton) for South Clyde locals from Glasgow Central. 51227/36/7 with 56385/94/5 were allocated to 64H (Leith Central) for Edinburgh Waverley to North Berwick services. 51247 with 56405 was at 61A (Kittybrewster) for Elgin to Keith Town services and the Lossiemouth Branch.
For the three-car batch 4B vehicles: 51445-51/5/6 & 51515-21/5/6 & 59543-9/53/4 were allocated to 62B (Dundee) and working from Dundee to Edinburgh and Glasgow. 51452-4/7-67 & 51522-4/7-37 & 59550-2/5-65 were allocated to 64H (Leith Central) and working from Edinburgh to Dundee, Stirling and Dunblane. 51468-70 & 51538-40 & 59566-8 were allocated to 66C (Hamilton) and were working South Clyde locals from Glasgow Central.
All the three-car batch 5 vehicles were still allocated to 64H (Leith Central) and were working from Edinburgh to Dundee, Stirling and Dunblane.
Three-car batch 4B sets in the late 1960s and 1970s
In February 1967 TCL 59543 was transferred from Hamilton to the Western Region at Reading to work in Class 117 sets replacing the Hawksworth coaches.
One set would be one of only a handful of Met-Camm vehicles ever to be allocated to Inverness depot when 51464 + 59562 + 51534 were transferred from Hamilton in August 1968 to help cover for a shortage of Class 120 power cars[7]. The GNRSA website has an image of the set — power cars in green, centre car in blue — working as part of a nine-car formation. They remained there until March 1970 when the set moved to Leith Central.
The electrification of the Hamilton Circle and the Lanark branch on 6 May 1974 drastically reduced the need for DMUs at Hamilton. In w/e 25/5/74 five Hamilton three-cars moved south to Plymouth Laira depot giving the Western Region its first Met-Camm sets.
Prototype Refurbishment
Another set released from Hamilton the month before — 51451 + 59545 + 51518 — went to Doncaster and became the trial refurbishment set. After spending some time being assessed by other Regions they returned to the ScR in April 1975 allocated to Eastfield where it was scheduled to work the 10:35 Glasgow Queen Street - Oban and return from May 26th till October 4th. The set was then transferred to Dundee depot.
Easily identified by their narrower than normal blue stripe, the prototype refurbished Class 101 cars 51518, 59545 and 51451 are seen in the image about to enter Inverkeithing from the Edinburgh direction in August 1976. The branch on the left went to Rosyth Dockyard, which had a service for employees. Alan Rintoul.
In these early days the asbestos was not removed from the vehicles, so they were destined for early withdrawals. Centre car 59545 was first to go in September 1987. The set had been split up in the early 1980s after becoming Eastfield set 326 but the two power cars were reunited (running with 59557) for their last few months before withdrawal. Their last noted working was on the 1st October 1987, operating an Edinburgh to Stirling return service before being put in store at Thornton Yard. They headed south via Millerhill on the 25th November with other redundant stock. They were not cannabilised in any way before going into the Mayer Newman firing tunnel at Snailwell on the 30th November 1987.
Refurbished Sets
Following the prototype refurbished set the region would begin to get further sets with this treatment from July 1976 with the work being done at Glasgow Works.
First was 51453 + 59552 + 51807 (with refurbished dates of 3 and 10/7/76) allocated to Eastfield, a new set at the depot created using its own TCL and new transfers from Hamilton (the DMBS) and Dundee (the DMCL). The DMCL was noted in Glasgow works on 5 June 1976 being painted into the white livery and 59568 had been gutted[8] - it would be part of the second set. The vehicles from the first set had been in Glasgow Works for five months by the time they emerged, noted on Eastfield depot on 22 July and working on Glasgow - Falkirk/Stirling services the following day. A few days later on the 27th fire bells sounding on the set saw it taken off the 08:19 Queen Street-Falkirk Grahamston service.[9]
A refurbished three-car set arriving at Perth station on 27 May 1977. George Woods.
The second set was also for Eastfield, formed 51466 + 59568 + 50186, the latter a transfer from Haymarket and the refurbished dates were 3 and 4/9/76.
Following is a list of the vehicles released in the white/blue stripe livery, the depot they were first allocated, set number if given/known, and the refurbishment dates. Where only one date is given all three vehicles had the same date. Some of these have been grouped using dates - and not all sets seem to be complete.
Glasgow Works refurbishments 51453 + 59552 + 51807 ED 10/07/76 03/07/76 03/07/76 51466 + 59568 + 50186 ED 04/09/76 04/09/76 03/09/76 51457 + 59689 + 51802 DE 30/10/76 51448 + 59558 + 51528 DE 13/11/76 51458 + 59687 + 51806 DE 04/12/76 51470 + 59553 + 51527 HN 25/12/76 51461 + 59565 + 50187 HN 05/02/77 51454 + 59692 + 51804 HN 26/02/77 51467 + 59562 + 51524 ED 18/03/77 09/04/77 09/04/77 51464 + 59556 + 51525 ED 188 14/05/77 51447 + 59690 + 51516 ED 15/05/77 17/09/77 02/07/77 (dates spread) 51465 + 59563 + 51526 DE 20/08/77 51795 + 59686 + 51529 HN 176 19/09/77 19/09/77 10/12/77 (dates spread) 51468 ( to replace 51447 after fire) - 19/11/77 51460 + 59564 + 51534 DE 197 20/11/77 28/10/77 19/11/77 51797 + 59691 + 51539 ED 177 10/12/77 10/12/77 23/12/77 ? + 59560 + 50175 HA - 10/01/78 08/01/78 51796 + ? + 51537 170 14/10/77 - 14/01/77 DE->ED->DE->AY 51469 + 59557 + 51536 AY 172 18/02/77 23/02/78 17/02/77 51798 + 59554 + 51532 HN 178 25/03/78 18/03/78 31/03/78 51456 + 59555 + 51520 AY 173 05/05/78 13/05/78 13/05/78 51459 + 59541 + 51802 HN 179 03/06/78 51235 + 59060 + 50174 HA 202 01/07/78 30/06/78 01/07/78 51237 + 59088 + ? HA 08/09/78 08/09/78 Next would be the first Blue/Grey set 51248 + 59046 + 50749 01/12/78 17/11/78 c12/78
One refurbished car - Sc51447 with a refurbished date of 15 July 1977 would catch fire at Cowlairs Carriage Sidings a few weeks later on 4 September resulting in its withdrawal. Sc51468 would be refurbished as a replacement. The image shows the fire damaged vehicle in Glasgow Works on 2 April 1978. Bob Woolnough.
The Southern Migration of the DTCLs
The Scottish Region would standardise on three-car sets and would gradually phase out the DTCLs which moved south, sometimes in exchange for other types. An example is 56386/4/6/7/8 moving from HA to GF in exchange for TSLs 59046/7/71/86/90 in December 1977. The same month South Gosforth also took 56403 from Eastfield in exchange for TCL 59530.
While the process of transferring vehicles was underway three-cars could be found using a driver trailer as a centre car as seen in the set the image passing through Princes Street Gardens circa 1977. S Saunders.
1990 Phase Out
After the electrification of the Ayr line in 1986 the next big reduction in the ScR DMU fleet would be the introduction of the second generation units. The Region favoured its Class 107 fleet over the 101s and the introduction of the Winter timetable in October 1990 nearly marked the end for the Met-Camms in service in Scotland. Just one vehicle (51803) remained running in a Class 107 set (107730) allocated to Eastfield.
At the start of 1991 Eastfield was the only ScR depot with a first generation allocation - the 107s, and two Met-Camm vehicle 51803 and stored 51468. Its DMU allocation was transferred to Haymarket in July 1991, at this time the depot also received a three-car Met Camm set (53180 + 59688 + 53305) from Norwich which was soon noted running as a two-car, meaning a Class 101 DMU set was back in use after on the Region about a nine-month gap.
107730 would be reformed in September 1991 releasing 51803. It was transferred to Longsight - its first allocation outside Scotland - and would be facelifted becoming part of set 101676. The ex-Norwich power cars would move to Laira in February 1992, around the time Haymarket would receive its first facelifted set marking the start of the last chapter of the ScR Class 101 story.
Edinburgh and Glasgow: the 6xx sets 1992-2000
The 'Facelifted' sets which would be allocated to Haymarket and Corkerhill.
101 692 soon after transfer to Scotland heading south at Dalmeny on 27/06/92. John Horne.
Haymarket
It was noted in June 1991 that Scotland would receive four three-car Class 101s in Regional Railways livery to replace Class 107s.[10]
The four sets — which carried 'Scotrail' branding in the Regional Railways style — arrived at Haymarket in early/mid 1992.
101 691 51253 + 59536 + 53171 101 692 53253 + 59303 + 53170 101 693 51192 + 59302 + 53266 101 694 51188 + 59539 + 53268
They would work on services from Edinburgh such as to Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Perth.
The arrival of Class 117s from Tyseley in summer 1993 allowed the four sets to move to Corkerhill without their centre cars (101 692 returned for a few more months at HA). Haymarket by now also had a few other Class 101 vehicles (51208 51221 51226 51246 51499 53305) which lasted another year, these blue/grey vehicles would work with the Regional Railways centre cars left behind.
One set (51226 + 59570 + 51499) was in NSE livery as former Reading set L832. Withdrawn from HA in March 1993 the power cars would be reinstated to the depot in November and facelifted as set 101695. As the other Class 101 power cars had now moved away it was the last Class 101 set to operate from Haymerket depot. It would be transferred to Corkerhill in October 1994 leaving just two stored centre cars there.
Corkerhill
The south Glasgow depot — which last had a first generation DMU allocation in 1972 — would receive a number of facelifted power-twins in Strathclyde livery, the refurbishments financed by Strathclyde PTE.
Set 101684 (51187 + 51509) was the first to arrive in September 1992, its inaugural role being on Glasgow Central - Paisley Canal services where the opening of a new passing loop between Mosspark and Crookston allowed the frequency to double to half-hourly.
By the end of 1992 Corkerhill also had 101686 (51231 + 51500) and 101687 (51247 + 51512). Other sets destined for the depot would first operate from Tyseley in their Strathclyde Red (Orange) livery but without the Strathclyde branding.
Set 101686 in Glasgow Central with a Paisley Canal service in 1993. John Law.
By the end of 1993 there were nine power-twins operating from CK, including three ex-Haymarket triples repainted from their RR livery into Strathclyde colours.
101684 51187 51509 101686 51231 51500 101687 51247 51512 101688 51431 51501 101689 51185 51511 101690 51435 53177 101691 51253 53171 101693 51192 53266 101694 51188 53268
In 1994 two more sets arrived from Haymarket 101692 (53253 + 53170) in February and 101695 (51226 + 51499) in October 1994. The Corkerhill allocation would remain the same with these eleven sets for the next five years.
The sets would normally work the services from Glasgow Central to Barrhead, East Kilbride, Paisley Canal and Whifflet. They would also operate Motherwell - Cumbernauld services for which set 101692 would be repainted into a "Caledonian" blue livery in mid-1996.
The image shows 101690 (53177 + 51435) arriving into Cumbernauld with a service from Motherwell on July 2, 1998. Stuart Mackay.
One notable event was on 17/11/99 when 101688 caught fire in Mossend Yard destroying both vehicles. It was coupled to set 101695 and 51226 would receive some light damage to the cab, once back in traffic the repainted cab stood out from the others as it lost the black mask and black top on the cab front.
Once newer units were found to take over the Glasgow services in 2000 the Corkerhill sets were transferred to Longsight.
Four sets made the move under their own power on Sunday 30 July, moving from Corkerhill depot to Glasgow Central and then heading south.
The image shows the eight-car formation arriving into Glasgow Central on Sunday 30 July 2000 for a short layover. The vehicles were 53170 + 53253 (101692), 53266 + 51192 (101693), 51512 + 51247 (101687) and 51187 + 51509 (101684). John Miller.
Another four sets moved south a week later on the evening of 6 August but this time they were loco-hauled by two Class 37s. The image shows them passing Polmadie. Stuart Mackay.
References
- ⋏ p248 August 1958 Railway Observer
- ⋏ August 1958 p250 Railway Observer
- ⋏ "Visitors see Scottish scenery by Diesel Land Cruises", p216 August 1958 ScR edition British Railways Magazine
- ⋏ p282 September 1958 Railway Observer
- ⋏ p60 February 1960 Railway Observer
- ⋏ October 1965 p338 Railway Observer
- ⋏ "Motive power miscellany" p526 November 1968 Railway World (Ian Allan)
- ⋏ p274 August 1976 Railway Observer
- ⋏ p310 September 1976 Railway Observer
- ⋏ p17 12 June 1991 'Rail' magazine
The Railway Observer is the journal of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society