Class 119 GRC&W Cross-Country 3-car DMUs

Introduced: 1958
Coupling code: Blue Square
Underframe: 64ft 6in
Engines: AEC 150hp as new, later Leyland 150hp
Transmission: Mechanical

This was a Cross-Country design built by a private builder due to build capacity limitations at British Railway's own workshops. It had the same body layout as the Swindon Class 120s which had first appeared late in 1957, but with a Derby design cab. Unlike the 120s all the 119s were built with buffets.

In total here were 81 vehicles, but not an equal spread of vehicle types. There were 28 Driving Motor Brake Composites (DMBCs) and 28 Driving Motor Seconds (DMSLs) but just 25 Trailer Buffet Seconds (TBSLs). This meant that there were two-car sets operating in the early days.

Their use was widespread throughout the Western Region, including into the Midlands as some were based at Tyseley. In the green era some four-car sets were formed with the addition of a Hawksworth composite adapted to run as DMU trailers. The 1960s saw them also allocated to Chester and Inverness.

In the 1980s the buffets on some sets were converted to luggage space, which along with further space in the large brake van made them suited to the Reading - Gatwick airport service.

They were one on the more succesful first generation types with no notable withdrawals until the mid/late-1980s. In the final years some vehicles left the WR for Tyseley and Heaton depots. The last vehicles were withdrawn in 1995.

Three power cars survived into preservation.