Modern Locomotives Illustrated No.207 the First Generation Diesel Multiple Units

[petee19]

Latest edition of Modern Locomotives Illustrated has just been published and features The First Generation DMU's.As usual with this series the magazine is packed full of information,and some superb Black & White,and Colour photographs.

 

Anyone with more than a passing interest in 1st Generation DMU's then this is a must.

[Dave47549]

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[Butler Henderson]

The topics of some early LIs were rerun later, might happen with MLI, certainly you could make smaller groupings of dmus, by maker or by type. One loco class that has seemingly been missed is the 03, that was to feature in the edition with the 08,09 and 13s but that got chopped down in size with the individual loco data available as download with page numbers way beyond those of the published magazine.

[Ogauge83A]

Sometimes with these magazines you have to use what you are given, with the white and blue DMUs (and a lot of the DMUs in general) how many people wanted to 'waste' their film on a standard bog cart esp as this was the 'new' refurbished livery and was thought to last for years... also there cannot of been many repeat pictures (apart from the 1960s ones as they are the only ones available maybe).

To be honest I did think it was a little crammed but thats what the publishers want to do with the magazine.

Antony Christie

['CHARD]

Sometimes with these magazines you have to use what you are given, with the white and blue DMUs (and a lot of the DMUs in general) how many people wanted to 'waste' their film on a standard bog cart esp as this was the 'new' refurbished livery and was thought to last for years... also there cannot of been many repeat pictures (apart from the 1960s ones as they are the only ones available maybe).

To be honest I did think it was a little crammed but thats what the publishers want to do with the magazine.

Antony Christie

 

 

Did you happen to notice any footage of units en route to Amarillo?

[Clive Mortimore]

Contents:

Birth of the DMU – 20 pages (basic details, specs etc)

Driving cabs – pages (internal/external pics including coupling codes)

Intermediate vehicles – 2 pages, including one pic of a Hawksworth CK

‘Photo’ pages:

The green era – 6 pages

Rail Blue – 4 pages

Refurbished white/blue – 2 pages - Gee, thanks!   

Blue/grey – 4 pages

Glasgow orange/black – 1 page

Regional Railways – 4 pages

NSE – 3 pages

Privatised – 1 page

Parcels – 2 pages

Special liveries – 3 pages

Departmental – 5 pages

The BMU – 2 pages

Preserved – 4 pages

 

Fleet listing – one page of basic numbers/types etc

 

Conclusion. An extremely disappointing issue, possibly by far the worst. Let's ignore the inevitable errors / repeat use of pics etc, the criticism is wholly due to what WASN’T included due to cramming the whole of the 1st gen. DMU fleet into a single issue, particularly when other unit types have commanded their own issue. This is compounded by the 8 pages of advertisements out of a total of 84 – & allocating the centre spread for the subscription offer REALLY gets my goat when space is at a premium.

 

Buy if you're collecting the set, avoid if not.

Hi Dave

 

I feel the same, why was this subject not spread over several volumes. It could well have been split into low density units, suburban trains and inter-city with cross country stock.

 

Considering how important these humble self-propelled coaches were in the modernisation of British Railways they deserved a better coverage.

 

Agree about the adverts.

[Dave47549]

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[Legend]

I enjoyed the magazine and as has been said, if you are into first generation dmus , you really have to buy it. However, like others I think there is much too much crammed into one issue, I would have thought a mag dedicated by manufacturer eg Swindon,Derby,Cravens, with another edition sweeping up the others BRCW,Wickham,Gloucester and Park Royal might have been more appropriate. What is a wide topic does seem to have been condensed. By contrast the 198 HST power cars command one issue for BR days and another for post privatisation. There were 4000 odd dmus of several different types, yet only get one edition!

[PhilJ W]

I noticed it for sale on Saturday. I didn't even bother to look inside as I didn't think that there would be any useful information on such a broad subject in a bookazine. 

[dibber25]

When I was Managing Editor of it - in the days when it was Locomotives Illustrated - we had many discussions about what we might do in relation to 'modern traction' as the number of popular steam classes was running out - I seem to recall we actually did a 'Deltic' issue of LI to test the water. There was always a question mark over what to do when all the main loco classes had been covered. Leaving aside that it seems awkward to put DMUs into a series of magazines with 'Locomotive' in the title, I'd have certainly spun it out across several issues - Derby designs, Swindon designs, Independent designs, for instance - would give three separate issues. From memory, there was no shortage of photographs, either - of any of the liveries, and a number of photographers who had/have major collections of DMU pictures. There is, however, a limited number of writers with an interest in and knowledge of first generation DMUs, hence perhaps why errors get repeated over and over.

CHRIS LEIGH

[dj_crisp]

I really think this one should have been over several issues. I admit to having more than a passing interest in DMU s and think they're as important as a locomotive. I would have preferred the 66s over one issue and this one over several... still one of my favourite magazines though

[walrus]

I enjoyed the issue and I found it a useful summary / overview / introduction to the subject. Yes there is considerable scope to drill down to much more specific detail but surely this is more an area for a book or perhaps personal research?

 

MLI is a magazine and to provide definitive coverage of such a broad topic would need several issues - as previous posters have already pointed out. For a bi-monthly magazine this would take a very long period of time - especially if interspersed with other topics. And what about the potential sales for such esoteric topics?

[Catkins]

MLI is a magazine and to provide definitive coverage of such a broad topic would need several issues - as previous posters have already pointed out. For a bi-monthly magazine this would take a very long period of time - especially if interspersed with other topics. And what about the potential sales for such esoteric topics?

I buy LI on occasions when they cover a loco that I'm interested in, but unfortunately by cramming all the first gen DMUs into one issue, I flicked through it and decided that it was not for me. Had they have covered them in three separate issues;- Parcels & Prototypes, Suburban, Intercity & Cross-Country - then I would have brought a copy or two.

I suspect that the newer editorial team don't quite have e full understanding of the depth that could be covered with some subjects.

[Oldddudders]

When I saw the topic heading, I wondered whether this might be for me, but the analysis of content quickly indicated not.

 

My preference would have been a split of eras, not types. Thus a magazine including only pics before the wretched yellow paint on the ends, let alone blue, would seem a much more interesting proposition.

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi Ian

 

The problem is not how to sub divide the DMUs of the modernisation period (I hate calling them first generation DMUs) but trying ram all of them in one volume. A while back there was a volume just about the various ER overhead Mk1 EMUs. Why didn't Mr Marsden sub divide the DMUs in any format he liked. They are far too important to just be in one volume.

['CHARD]

I really think this one should have been over several issues. I admit to having more than a passing interest in DMU s and think they're as important as a locomotive. I would have preferred the 66s over one issue and this one over several... still one of my favourite magazines though

 

Class 66 has had an issue dedicated to it?  I didn't know MLI was covering agricultural equipment these days.  The editorial team really must be scratching round for subjects.

[(The) Youth]

Class 66 has had an issue dedicated to it?  I didn't know MLI was covering agricultural equipment these days.  The editorial team really must be scratching round for subjects.

No it had 2.

[Catkins]

Hi Ian

 

The problem is not how to sub divide the DMUs of the modernisation period (I hate calling them first generation DMUs) but trying ram all of them in one volume. A while back there was a volume just about the various ER overhead Mk1 EMUs. Why didn't Mr Marsden sub divide the DMUs in any format he liked. They are far too important to just be in one volume.

As far as I know Mr Marsden is no longer on the editorial team.

And I didn't know that the Mk1 EMUs had been covered - I'll try to look that one up.

[cheesysmith]

It was only the GE EMU from Liverpool st that was covered.

[Ogauge83A]

As far as I know Mr Marsden is no longer on the editorial team.

And I didn't know that the Mk1 EMUs had been covered - I'll try to look that one up.

Mr Marsden is still editing it, via Key Publishing and not Ian Allen. The issue on Great Eastern EMUs was issue 183

Antony 

[Ogauge83A]

Class 66 has had an issue dedicated to it?  I didn't know MLI was covering agricultural equipment these days.  The editorial team really must be scratching round for subjects.

The magazines on Class 66s had some of the best sales on all of the series!

['CHARD]

The magazines on Class 66s had some of the best sales on all of the series!

 

Words fail me.  So this will have to do: 

[Clive Mortimore]

The magazines on Class 66s had some of the best sales on all of the series!

Hi Antony

 

I think you might have stumbled on the reason why so much was squeezed into one issue......the fear that old DMUs would not sell as they are not as sexy as locos and were hated by the steam generation.

[Dave47549]

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[Gilbert]

Well - I've bought one - just need to open it up now....

Chris