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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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New Street station
Birmingham New Street Station: lnwrbns_br4326
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A pair of Derby Lightweight Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs),
Driving Motor Brake Second (DMBS) M79146 and Driving Trailer Composite with
lavatory (DTCL) M79666, pass No 1 Signal Cabin as they enter the station with a
local service from Sutton Coldfield circa 1957. They were the first such trains
to be built en-masse for British Railways. The units were built at BR's Derby
Works from 1954 to 1955. The units were built in various formations, including
12 power-twin 2-car units, 84 power-trailer 2-car units, and four 4-car units.
The two single car units were originally built as a two-car unit and then split
two years later when demand for such a configuration arose. The first units
were introduced on services around the West Riding of Yorkshire, namely Leeds
to Bradford and Harrogate services from 14 June 1954. Subsequent units were
introduced onto services in West Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Newcastle to
Middlesbrough, Edinburgh to Glasgow and, later, Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield,
Bletchley to Buckingham and Banbury, and East London lines services.
These units were an outstanding success, helping to reduce
the operating costs of branchlines. Initially they also attracted many more
passengers. Between February and October 1956 on the London Midland, they
carried 800,000 more passengers than steam in the same period of 1955. The
largest increase was 434% (4,772 passengers) on the Buckingham-Banbury line
(from 13th August), followed by Birmingham-Lichfield 178% (from 5th March),
Bury-Bacup 152% (from 6th February), Llandudno-Blaenau Ffestiniog 39% (from 5th
March) and Manchester-Buxton 38% (from 8th October). As such, British Railways
ordered many more DMU vehicles from various builders over the next decade, thus
helping to eliminate steam locomotives. However, as these units were
non-standard compared to other later DMU vehicles, they were subject to early
retirement. The last units were withdrawn from normal traffic in 1969.
Photograph courtesy of John Turner
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