Class 122 DMU Operating areas

[highpeakman]

Sorry if this has already been discussed but I have searched but cannot find a clear statement to help me. I would like to operate a class 122 (I will modify a 121) on my Midland (specifically Derbyshire) layout set in the early 1960s.

 

Now I know all the Pressed Steel 121s operated only on the Western (in the early days) but Wikipedia states that the Gloucester RCW 122s were built for use on the Midland and Scottish regions (I also know that 3 were later converted for use as parcels units in Scotland). However I cannot find anything that confirms use on the Midland region - if anything I can only find suggestions that they only operated on the Western region. Did any 122s operate on the Midland (early 60s only) and did they have a "M" prefix? (I don't think so but would love to be corrected).

 

I have Kevin Robertson's First Generation DMUs book which also states that they were intended for use on the Midland but all the pictures are on the Western region.

 

I even dug out my old ABC guides but unfortunately the latest date i have is 1961 and the 122s are not listed at that point.

 

If anyone can clarify I would be grateful please. Thanks.

[Flood]

The Cheona book "A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units" states, and the 1962-1963 ABC Combined confirms, that the Class 122 units were all delivered to the Western Region.

[highpeakman]

The Cheona book "A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units" states, and the 1962-1963 ABC Combined confirms, that the Class 122 units were all delivered to the Western Region.

 

Thanks for your help. I guess that confirms my suspicions . I wonder why Wikipedia makes that statement?

 

So it leaves me operating wrong stock which is not a disaster but it would have been nice to get it approximately right or find an excuse somewhere.

 

My layout is loosely based on Wirksworth which was also a test track for Derby Works so it could have been on trials - Yes I know passenger operations had long ceased by that time but I did say loosely based.

 

Thanks again.

[highpeakman]

I may now have found what I am looking for. I always had the idea that I had seen something about "single" units on the Midland but had not been able to identify them.

 

There was a two car Derby Lightweight unit converted to two single DMBS units in the late 50s. Numbers 79900 & 79901. One of these later became Test Coach "Iris" and is now preserved and used by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway on the Wirksworth Branch.

 

In view of what I said above this would be a good solution I think.

[Pennine MC]

The Cheona book "A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units" states, and the 1962-1963 ABC Combined confirms, that the Class 122 units were all delivered to the Western Region.

 

Thanks for your help. I guess that confirms my suspicions . I wonder why Wikipedia makes that statement?

 

 

Wikipedia is a great 'first stop' on many subjects, but its info is only as good as the person providing it.

 

As Flood says, all the 122s (and 121s, and the trailers that went with them) were ordered by - and for - the WR; I'd say the concept was pretty much driven by that Region and they might well have been seen as natural replacements for the GW railcars. Where the Wiki author may be confused is that some of the cars allocated to GW lines in the Birmingham area acquired M prefixes when Regional boundary changes c1962 transferred those lines to the LMR. The ScR cars were rather later transfers, c1967

 

The Derby cars you mention were actually altered from a twin unit during construction. Their usual run was the LNW Banbury - Buckingham - Bletchley route; when that line closed, they were used on the Bletchley - Cambridge route for a while

[thunderer08]

there was a two car Derby Lightweight unit converted to two single DMBS units in the late 50s. Numbers 79900 & 79901. One of these later became Test Coach "Iris" and is now preserved and used by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway on the Wirksworth Branch.

 

 

79900 and 79901 were built as single cars.

[Pennine MC]

 

79900 and 79901 were built as single cars.

 

Reposted, not in invisible ink this time

 

 

The Derby cars you mention were actually altered from a twin unit during construction.

 

[SRman]

Pennine MC has beaten me to it but I was going to suggest that if you model around the Birmingham area you can mix the LMR and WR stock to some degree as the boundaries did change during the earlier life of the units. Even with W prefixes it would not be too hard to imagine the GRCW units running on LMR services in that area.

[dibber25]

The 122s went first to the WR mainly to the London area in 1958, then in 1960 when the 121s came to London the 122s got bounced westwards to the West Country branches and the West Midlands. When part of the latter came under LMR control the units were prefixed M. Later (during the rail blue era) a few were transferred to SCotland but they mainly ended up as parcels cars, shabby and with their windows plated over.

The two Derby lightweight cars 79900/1 were mainly employed in the Buckingham/Banbury Merton Street area. These two differed slightly, one being converted from a motor brake second and the other from a motor second.

CHRIS LEIGH

[multiprinter]

Nine cars went new to Tyseley and eleven to Southall. Most of the Southall cars went west. When the services which they were used for were withdrawn, several of the Tyseley cars went to Scotland but this was 1967 or later. The cars remaining at Tyseley were used for Stourbridge Jct - Town branch.

[highpeakman]

Thank you everybody for the interesting updates about these vehicles. All of the information is really appreciated.

 

I appreciate the comment about Birmingham but am set on the Midland Peak District area of operation and not too many "foreign" units made it there.

 

Thanks to Chris for the comment about some of the units being used in the West Midlands being prefixed with "M" as that may also explain why I had originally thought some of these were so marked but had begun to doubt my memory (I doubt it a lot these days but often with good reason!).

 

I think I have now decided to model the Derby Lightweight conversions rather than the 121/122s as I have a Hornby 110 and there are kits available to modify it. Of course that always leaves the problem of the two trailer cars from the Hornby set but perhaps I should convert both driving units to make both 79900 and 79901.

 

I know now that they were only used on the Buckingham Branch which is not the area I model but I will use a bit of licence and, as i mentioned earlier, Wirksworth Branch was used as a test track for Derby Lightweights when built and IRIS ended up there anyway in it's original form so there is a connection.

 

Thanks again.