The History of First Generation DMUs

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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.

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Date on DMUs

Vehicle / Set Data

To view details of a particular vehicle or set enter the number below:

Vehicle:

       

Set No:

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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.

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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.

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Updates

October 10th

Two documents on electrical systems have been added to the Training Manual section, one on Auxiliary Circuits (1.5mb PDF), and one on Alternators (3.3mb PDF).

October 3rd

Added to the headcode pages are four more sections from Western Region working timetables.

September 5th

Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: Sheffield - Doncaster; Birmingham New Street - Wolverhampton High Level; Leeds - Barnsley; Glasgow - Hamilton Circle; and Paignton - Exmouth.

August 29th

A look at the Rocket 150 DMU Shuttles for the 1980 event at Rainhill.

August 22nd

Added to the headcode pages are some of those used on the Western Region.

August 15th

Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: March - Wisbech - Kings Lynn; Liverpool - Gateacre; Leeds - Bradford Forster Square; Edinburgh - Dunbar; and West Drayton - Uxbridge.

August 8th

Added to the document archive is a 1964 Scottish Region Fault Finding booklet.

August 1st

Added to the headcode pages are three more summaries of those used on the Eastern Region from September 1962. Also a Leeds Neville Hill destination blind from circa mid-1960s.

July 25th

Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: Peterborough - Spalding; Nottingham - Sheffield; Darlington / Barnard Castle - Middleton-in-Teesdale; Fife Coast; and Brixham - Churston.

July 18th

New in the document archive are the Job Desciptions from Issue 3 of Standard Maintenance Instructions, the 1970s version of maintenance instructions.