The History of First Generation DMUs
The Railcar website provides information on the British Railways first generation DMUs (a.k.a. diesel multiple units / railcars) introduced in the 1950s.
The content of this website
The six key sections of the website are:
- Types - looks at each type of DMU in detail
- Topics - features articles on different aspects of the vehicles and personal recollections
- Technology - describes the technical details of how they work
- Data - various lists of numerical details
- Images - galleries featuring DMUs
- In Print - details the books and other printed materials made available over the years that have relevance
Details of railcars in preservation can be found on The Railcar Association website.
Date on DMUs
Vehicle / Set Data
To view details of a particular vehicle or set enter the number below:
DMU Images Wanted!
Do you have photos of First Generation DMUs? The more images we have the better we can tell the DMU story and make it more useful to visitors. Images can be loaded directly onto the site - just register as a user and upload! Alternatively if you have images on flickr or another website I can do the uploads for you - just let me know.
Scope
This website contains details about the First Generation DMUs. This includes the 4-wheel diesel railbuses, ACV / BUT railcars, the Battery Multiple Unit (BMU) and Blue Pullmans. It covers the period from their introduction to British Railways in the 1950s till their withdrawal and disposal from main-line use, but NOT preservation.
Because of the vast amount of data that this covers and the amount of information I have still to process I cannot include the DEMUs introduced on the Southern Region in the same era, nor Second Generation or later types.
Updates
April 19th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Ely - March - Peterborough; Manchester - Llandudno; Leeds - Micklefield; Elgin - Keith Junction and Cairnie Junction; and Birmingham - Great Malvern.
April 12th
Three more fault finding booklets have been added: Eastern Region, 1967 (3mb PDF), Scottish Region, 1967 (1.1mb PDF), and Western Region, 1967 (4.9mb PDF).
April 5th
Added is an article by Alan N Walker "DMU Travels & Headcodes" detailing the units he travelled on in the 1967-1970 period.
March 29th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Lowestoft - Yarmouth; Birmingham - Barnt Green; Leeds - Castleford; Lanark - Muirkirk; and Birmingham - Bewdley/Stourport/Hartlebury.
March 22nd
Added is a BR booklet listing all the brakework items along with part and drawing numbers, for Birmingham built diesel railcars. Dated 1959, this only covers the Class 104s. Download PDF (11mb pdf).
March 15th
A page has been created for fault finding booklets, with the first three added from the Eastern Region, 1966 (2.5mb PDF), Scottish Region, 1960 (1.2mb PDF), and Southern Region, 1968 (1.3mb PDF).
March 8th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Witham - Braintree; Wrexham - Chester - New Brighton; York - Scarborough; Corstorphine - Edinburgh; and Reading - Bedwyn.
March 1st
Added to the cyclic diagrams page is another Southern Region Carriage Working Notice for Diesel Trains on the South Western Division, for Summer 1965 (12mb PDF).
February 22nd
Added are a DMU training manual (4mb pdf), courtesy of the Dean Forest DMU Group, and a British United Traction brochure from circa 1953 (3.2mb pdf).
Latest Images:
A Cravens in in Hornea station on a foggy day circa 1964. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Derby Heavyweight with a Met-Camm on the rear arrives into Leeds City station circa 1967. Stuart Mackay Collection.
Class 117 DMU set L400 in Shiplake station in July 1975. Stuart Mackay Collection.
Met-Camm DMU set 101312 (presumably 50175 + 59088 + 51237) in Perth station on 3 February 1981. Stuart Mackay Collection.
The front end from a power car from Class 116 set C319, likely 53918, in the process of being added to Class 117 DMS 51396, at Doncaster Works on 3 October 1987. Stuart Mackay Collection.
On This Day:
TDB 975540 (L102 route learning DMU), stands "under the wall" at Hereford, 26th April 1980. Paul James.
The 16:25 Hull - Bridlington service leaves Cottingham on 26th April 1983. E56369 is the leading vehicle of a pair of two-car Class 101s, presumably with 51230. The vehicles on the right are parked on the site of the former goods yard. Fortunately the actual goods shed survives and is still in use with a local timber company. Syd Young.
Intending passengers head towards Class 104 Motor Brake Second M53451, stood at Burscough Bridge with a Southport to Manchester Victoria service on April 26th 1986. On the very same day the World had woken up to the news that in the former Soviet Union (Now part of Ukraine), the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster was unfolding that would... Martyn Hilbert.
A Derby suburban triple DMU (set TY530 50831 and presumably 59339 + 50884) in Spring Road station on 26 April 1969. John Horne Collection.
Four coach DMU sets were relatively unusual at Stratford-upon-Avon but on 26 April 1991 set T420 (presumably 51892 + 59032 + 59607 + 53092) visited the terminus with an afternoon arrival from Birmingham Moor Street. The white and red lights on the front of the unit shows that it was about to shunt into platform 2 to allow a Leamington Spa service to use platform 1. Peter Tandy.