First Gen DMU's

[stewartingram]

The exteriors always looked nicer than the interiors. I travelled on so many in my youth and they were dreadful. No wonder passenger numbers were declining. Recently I went on a 101 at the NYMR and was transported back to a time of awful seats, filthy interiors and absolutely choking diesel fumes. The only positive was being able to see through the cab windows.

 

Today sitting in a 170 with wide windows, comfortable seats and a generally clean environment it seems a world away from the rubbishy DMUs we put up with for so many years.

 

Ah but don't forget, the 170 replaced a loco hauled & longer distance train. 1st gen units were mostly on local services.

 

Stewart

[Thomas]

 

Class 110 E52069 leading at Cheetham Hill carriage sidings Manchester, with one of its Rolls Royce engines. October 1986.

 

Tom

Edited August 11, 2016 by Thomas

[Jamesb]

A couple of Class 117 shots at Paddington - the first taken sometime in 1977 and the second from February 1989

 

14782514250_e16e6d7fd9_o.jpg

 

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They always looked odd without marker lights. 

[Derekstuart]

Yes, probably- but the heritage railways will still insist on painting them lined maroon.

No doubt one day people will be looking back nostalgically at the 170s and Turbostars and what-have-you....

 

 

Oh go on- cue someone with photoshop "Bienvenido a estación de ferrocarril frontera Gibraltar" ("Welcome to the railway station of the border with Gibraltar") in the background.
 

 

This is clearly a fake - the sun is shining . Seriously, I did a double-take as my first impression was of somewhere hot and sunny like Spain.

For anyone who doesn't see the connection, go look at photos of Gibraltar

[Jamesb]

In lieu of finding anymore first gen pics, I'll post these links to the original training videos, available on youtube. Modern technology, 1950s style! Apologies if anyone has seen them before. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_3KLtQvHkA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5xiM0LYtA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQKvEy6jVs

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WlOOwbiw9M

[Flying Pig]

Ah but don't forget, the 170 replaced a loco hauled & longer distance train. 1st gen units were mostly on local services.

 

Stewart

1st gen units regularly operated all sorts of services, including quite long cross country routes. Two hours or more on one was not unusual and gave plenty of time to savour the rattles and racket as well as the exciting ride at any speed. That's if you weren't kicked out because the oil heater had caught fire again. Oh how we laughed when people started calling them heritage units.

[Derekstuart]

With all respect I really don't understand this almost obsession that people have on the internet for deriding anything of a previous era. No, things weren't as quiet, smooth and advanced as they are now. That is progress for you.

 

They may well not have been as "exciting" as loco+stock that they replaced, but they did the job. How many of them actually caught fire? Out of how many built?

 

MInd you there was someone recently who asked why first generation locos weren't built to the same pattern as the modern locos, after all "they're miles better". Sadly, he wasn't joking and really did not understand why they did not employ 2016 technology in 1962. Sigh, Darwin was right about regression of the species.

 

1st gen units regularly operated all sorts of services, including quite long cross country routes. Two hours or more on one was not unusual and gave plenty of time to savour the rattles and racket as well as the exciting ride at any speed. That's if you weren't kicked out because the oil heater had caught fire again. Oh how we laughed when people started calling them heritage units.

[Jamesb]

With all respect I really don't understand this almost obsession that people have on the internet for deriding anything of a previous era. No, things weren't as quiet, smooth and advanced as they are now. That is progress for you.

 

They may well not have been as "exciting" as loco+stock that they replaced, but they did the job. How many of them actually caught fire? Out of how many built?

 

MInd you there was someone recently who asked why first generation locos weren't built to the same pattern as the modern locos, after all "they're miles better". Sadly, he wasn't joking and really did not understand why they did not employ 2016 technology in 1962. Sigh, Darwin was right about regression of the species.

 

I suspect that there is a world of difference between people who worked on them back in the day and people who rode on them as passengers. In 20 or 30 years time when we are lamenting the loss of the 66's, I will have a different view of them having worked on them! 

[Market65]

Here is a 2 car class 104 arriving in Beverley station in June, 1987. Next stop Cottingham, followed by Hull. The diagram then took it to York via Selby and Church Fenton.

 

 

Regards,

 

Rob.

[45125]

I suspect that there is a world of difference between people who worked on them back in the day and people who rode on them as passengers. In 20 or 30 years time when we are lamenting the loss of the 66's, I will have a different view of them having worked on them! 

 

Having worked on several types of first generation DMUs and some of the second generation ones, I know which ones I prefer to travel and work on.......

[br2975]

Canton was renowned for maintaining the same cars in the same sets for many years, especially the Derby suburban 'bug sets'.

.

In later years the one set that varied was C307, usually composed of two DMBS vehicles and anything that would fit between e.g. a Cl.117 or 118 TCL (downgraded) and also a Cl.101 trailer.

.

Brian R

Edited August 11, 2016 by br2975

[br2975]

The one type of 'bug set' I miss more than any other....................

.

Brian R

[Derekstuart]

James

 

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I think you rather miss the point. I am not advocating returning to 1960s technology anymore than in 2036-2046 people will want to revert to 2016 class 66's.

 

But I see no need to mock previous generations of technology. One could say that my first computer, a Vic 20, was a joke compared to my recent HP laptop and indeed they are beyond comparison of technology, but I would not mock or seek to discredit the Vic 20 as it was a product of its era. The same applies to all technology.

 

Apologies for the mini hijack. I'm now off to classic car forum to laugh about Austins and ask why they didn't just make a 2016 spec car in 1976.

 

I suspect that there is a world of difference between people who worked on them back in the day and people who rode on them as passengers. In 20 or 30 years time when we are lamenting the loss of the 66's, I will have a different view of them having worked on them! 

[bingley hall]

In the 70s for us southerners the twenty 2-car DMUs of Class 103 built by Park Royal were rare birds and I ever only managed a couple of photographs. They were mainly allocated to Chester depot where this one was snapped on 7 September 1972. 

 

I always found these a bit of a novelty in my spotting days so was delighted to find a pair of GRC&W Class 128 parcels units lead by W55991 sitting at the buffer stops in Paddington on 13 March 1989. 

 

 

[Rivercider]

Here are some more DMU photos from Weston showing some of the different classes that worked there.

 

Class 101

I think this was one of the later class 101 sets transferred to Bristol, W51462 is on the rear of a Bristol to Taunton service, 31/12/79

 

Class 118, probably the sets I most often rode on when commuting to Bristol,

One of the Bristol class 118 suburban sets B472 arrives at Weston on what my notes say was the 10.22 service from Bristol Temple Meads,  though the tail lights already seem to have been changed, 5/4/80

 

Class 119

Cardiff allocated cross-country class 119 set C593 (51085, 59431, 51072) arrives at Weston on the 15.03 Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton service. The dogfish hoppers seen behind the DMU in the up sidings in this picture and the previous one were an unusual occurence by this date, and were either for weekend engineering work or crippled wagons waiting repair, 12/1/80

 

cheers

Edited August 12, 2016 by Rivercider

[The Stationmaster]

The one type of 'bug set' I miss more than any other....................

.

Brian R

 

Sitting at Didcot on the Up Relief presumably about to head to Oxford.

 

They had their mechanical and reliability problems but they were really comfortable to travel on - on our branch's 'through Londons' they were quite acceptable as replacements for loco hauled stock because they were just as comfy, even in commuter working and young Mr Karau and I used them daily when he was working in 'the smoke'.

[br2975]

 

CR218.jpg

In the 70s for us southerners the twenty 2-car DMUs of Class 103 built by Park Royal were rare birds and I ever only managed a couple of photographs.

 

 

Then imagine what it was like for me, in early 1970, I was schmoozing up to a prospective girlfriend at her garden gate, very close to the South Wales Main Line just west of Cardiff when a power twin Park Royal set spluttered past, heading for Cardiff.

.

My credibility was destroyed in an instant, and she ended up with a mate.

.

Two sets had been transferred to Canton for use in the dying days of the Bridgend - Cymmer Afan line, the resident Cl.121 bubble cars had been seconded to the newly introduced Cardiff - Crewe 'North & West Route' DMU services as additional power cars, to increase the power to weight ratio..

.

The Park Royal sets were underpowered for the Cymmer Afan service and reformed into a power twin unit, and the trailers stored.

.

After a few weeks the service was withdrawn and the two Park Royal units began a grand tour of the Western Region, taking in Laira and Reading, but never finding a permanent home.

.

As for my schmoozing........I'd love to know where Janet and her attributes are now ?

.

Brian R

[The Stationmaster]

The Park Royal units were - unfortunately - used on our branch where even its gradients prevented them from running punctually in the Down direction.  Appalling things and I could never understand why they lasted so long?

[Rivercider]

 

In the 70s for us southerners the twenty 2-car DMUs of Class 103 built by Park Royal were rare birds and I ever only managed a couple of photographs. They were mainly allocated to Chester depot where this one was snapped on 7 September 1972. 

 

 

I do not remember seeing these units often, but from my 1982 spotting book I see I had recorded all the survivors bar one.

I pictured a 2 car set on the Helsby - Rock Ferry working in March 1982, here is another view

50399 and 56159 call at Ellesmere Port on a Rock Ferry - Helsby working, 23/3/82

 

cheers 

Edited August 12, 2016 by Rivercider

[Market65]

A 2 car, power - trailer class 101 leaves Beverley for Hull in the summer of '85.

 

 

Regards,

 

Rob.

[bingley hall]

A 3-car class 110 DMU featuring 3 different liveries forms part of a 7-car consist on a Scarborough to Leeds services near York in May 1981.

 

A class 110/101 DMU hybrid forming a Leeds-Morecombe service about to depart a boarded up Hellifield station during March 1989.

[edin_bry2x]

Hi, Thomas. The first 3 car set has a class 104 TSL. You can tell from the higher positioning of the windows on the body sides, and the body profile. Also the roof is a bit different from the class 108 cars.

 

Regards,

 

Rob.

Is it not the lone 107 centre car that was allocated south of the Border for a while?

 

Bry

[Dan Griffin]

some really nice shots of mundane and well used, perhaps a little unloved, units.

[drjcontroller]

 

Cravens 105 (53369 + 54416) sit at Upminster with the Barking shuttle on 30 April 1984.

[br2975]

Mid-70s  and a "3 Day Railrover" lands me at Manchester Piccadilly, waiting for a train to Reddish North .................................(for some reason that now escapes me, perhaps someone can jog my memory !!).

.

Brian R