Class 118 BRC&W 3-car DMUs

Introduced: 1960
Coupling code: Blue Square
Underframe: 64ft 6in
Engines: Leyland 150hp
Transmission: Mechanical

While the modernisation plan was underway, orders had to be placed with outside contractors to ensure quick delivery as BR workshops were already fully committed to the DMU building programme. One of these companies was the Birmingham Carriage & Wagon Company which constructed these 15 sets.

The order from the British Transport Commission was announced in October 1958 as part of the Western Region dieselisation scheme. 168 vehicles were announced, 57 DMBS, 57 DMSs and 54 TCs. BRC&W were to build 45 of them, 15 of each vehicle type, forming 15 sets Pressed Steel in Scotland were to build the remainder (the almost identical Class 117s). The fifteen three car sets were delivered to Plymouth Laira for services in Devon and Cornwall, West of Newton Abbott and Bristol for the Bristol - Taunton area.

Over the years the sets were also based at Reading, Cardiff and Birmingham.

One set achieved fame being painted yellow as an advertisement for British Telecom in the late 1980s.

The last vehicles were withdrawn in 1994, two vehicles saw sandite use and one vehicle entered preservation.