The Railcar website provides information on the British Railways first generation DMUs (a.k.a. diesel multiple units / railcars) introduced in the 1950s.
The six key sections of the website are:
Details of railcars in preservation can be found on The Railcar Association website.
To view details of a particular vehicle or set enter the number below:
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.
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.
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.
July 11th
Added to the headcode pages are some of those used on the Eastern Region.
July 4th
Some new operation/timetable pages have been started: Firsby - Skegness; Crewe - Chester; Middlesbrough - Guisborough; Edinburgh - Bathgate; and Maerdy - Porth.
June 27th
New in the document archive are the Examination Schedules from Issue 3 of Standard Maintenance Instructions, the 1970s version of maintenance instructions.
Class 118 DMU set C480 (presumably 51327 + 59470 + 51312) approaching Barry station with the 11:13 Treherbert - Barry Island service on 16 May 1987. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A Park Royal railbus in Olney station on 13 September 1958 with a Northampton - Bedford Midland Road service. The KDH Archive.
A Met-Camm Lightweight DMU with a van in tow at Haughley Junction circa mid-1960s. E79074 leads, presumably with E79290, the pair were allocated to Stratford at the time. The KDH Archive.
Brackley on the 31st of May 1957 and Standard Class 2 Tank 84002 is on the Auto Train to Bletchley whilst Derbyshire Single Car light unit M79900 is on the service from Banbury. Passenger Interchange between the two is taking place. Image taken by T Rounthwaite. The KDH Archive.
A Class 101 DMU for Darlington in Stockton station, circa early 1980s, alongside a diverted HST. The KDH Archive.
101676 (51803 & 51205) arriving at Roman Bridge on 11th August 2000. Ian Buck.
Pressed Steel class 121 driving trailer W54286 and matching power car arrive at Slough from Windsor & Eton Central on 11 August 1984. Jeremy Chapter.
Derby suburban triple sets at Barry on 11 August 1968. The middle vehicle is recorded as W50123, it and its centre car are gangwayed. Stuart Mackay Collection.
101393 presumably with 53216 closest and 107435 in Stirling station on 11 August 1988. Andrew Malloy.
101676 (51205 & 51803) has just arrived at Roman Bridge on the way to Blaenau Ffestiniog on the 11th August 2000. Ian Buck.
