European Railroad Discussion > A DMU is not just for Christmas

On Boxing Day I spent daylight hours on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire heritage operation, based at Toddington in Gloucestershire, about 100 miles west of London. They own almost 13 miles of the former Great Western Railway mainline from Honeybourne to Cheltenham, which was run down in the 1960s and closed in its entirety in 1976, the track being lifted in 1979. Today they operate from a station adjoining Cheltenham racecourse to a point just a mile south of the village of Broadway, reputedly England's prettiest. The extension into Broadway, for which they have raised over $2 million opens at Easter. On Tuesday they were running a service which required two steam engines and a DMU. The two steam engines in traffic were

1: Great Western Railway designed 7820 Dinmore Manor, actually built by BR in 1950. The Manors were a class of light 4-6-0s which spent much of their working life in Wales, on the mainline of the former Cambrian Railways between Whitchurch / Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth / Barmouth / Pwllheli, most notably at the head of the London to Aberystwyth Cambrian Coast Express
2: This picture, taken later in the day after a pall of cloud had replaced the sun, could have been on the Cambrian in the late 1950s
3: The other steam locomotive was another GWR design, 5526 one of the light prairie tanks used on branch lines across the GWR network



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/17 23:49 by 86235.

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But what really attracted me to the G&W was the promise of a ride in the class 117 1959 built (by Pressed Steel) suburban DMU. Whilst the steam trains operated from Toddington to Cheltenham and back, the DMU ran from Winchcombe, through Toddington and along the Broadway extension as far as Little Buckland Bridge.

4: Although built by Pressed Steel the 117s were to the standard Derby design of the time for short distance / suburban DMUs. Quite handsome but also very old fashioned, with slam doors and droplights to every seating bay, low back seats, vacuum brakes, no inter car corridor and toilets only for the lucky few in the centre car.
5: This is what today we'd call the 'work station'. To provide a visual identification to ground staff what DMUs could be coupled together there was a series of colour and shape codes. The standard was blue square, which covered most classes of DMU. there were some other, non standard types which were designed for specific tasks, the usual difference being the use of more powerful engines and a torque converter rather than a pre-selector gear box. the 117s were bog standard blue square, and this layout became the standard for blue square DMUs. On the left is the power controller and deadman's handle, on the right the similar control is the pre-selector shift. Both display the logo of BUT - British United Traction - a JV between two leading UK engineering companies (AEC and Leyland) to market DMUs and electric trolleybuses. The dials, from left to right are the speedo, engine speed, vacuum brake and control line air pressure (power and pre-selector gear box were operated by means of compressed air). The binnacle on the far right is the vacuum brake, the silver bell shape with the suggestive knob on it is for the driver to acknowledge an AWS warning (signal at caution or danger). To activate the controls in this cab the driver inserts a brass 'key' under the pre-selector mounting, they would also fit the brake handle to the binnacle.
6: At Toddington Dinmore Manor is waiting to leave on the next train to Cheltenham

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7: After our run down the Broadway extension we waited at Toddington for the arrival of the train from Cheltenham before proceeding to Winchcombe
8: 5526 approaches, the signalman collecting the single track token for the section from Winchcombe
9: Back at Winchcombe, the roof profile of the 117s was identical to a number of other Derby designs, which were either built in house or sub-contracted to external builders, such as Pressed Steel. By now the sun had vanished.

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Finally, another run back to Toddington,

10: This is the cab set up to drive from. Note the brass key under the pre-selector handle and the brake handle on the vacuum binnacle.
11: The DMU approaching Toddington from the direction of Broadway, it was getting pretty dark and rain (which would later turn to snow) was in the air
12: The interior of one of the DMBS (Driving Motor Brake Second) cars. The strip lighting was a late 1970s addition, as part of a wider refurbishment programme. The great thing the DMUs brought to our railways, now sadly lost, was the view forward. Some of the 117s finished their working life as power twins, without the non powered lavatory composite, on the Gospel Oak to Barking line in London, at about the time we moved into the area in 1996. But most drivers drove with the blinds down so there was no forward view, there were a few who didn't or who would raise the blinds if you asked, some were just downright difficult.

It's a nice railway, with some interesting stock, diesel and steam, a decent length ride, nicely maintained stations and, from Easter, a first class destination in Broadway.

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Glad you shared these with us. Happy New Year!

I think some of the best things about the British Heritage railways is that they preserve signalling equipment and more importantly they keep the way they were used in tact, such as the token system. I also like that they preserved a DMU along with the steam locomotives.

Jim

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Glad you shared these with us. Happy New Year!


tq-07fan Wrote:
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> I think some of the best things about the British
> Heritage railways is that they preserve signalling
> equipment and more importantly they keep the way
> they were used in tact, such as the token system.
> I also like that they preserved a DMU along with
> the steam locomotives.
>
> Jim

Thanks, Happy New Year - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda :-)

Nick thank you for posting these photos. Happy New Year to you and yours!

Nick, A Happy New Year to you and many thanks for another great set of photos they are much appreciated.

Malcolm
New Zealand

Lovely pictures, many thanks. I hope that at least most people got the joke in your title.

Am I right in thinking that the class 117 DMU were the trains that were supplied to run out of Marylebone from 1962 onwards?

I remember that while the new service was a massive improvement over the former steam operation, the trains themselves were indeed rather old-fashioned, but had four cars of which the end ones were driving motor vehicles, and one of the two trailer cars was divided between first and second class with a lavatory facility between them. As you rightly point out there were no connections between vehicles, and the interiors were rather spartan. At the very end of mainline operation through to Nottingham, these DMU's were occasionally used instead of the usual steam hauled four-car rake, which was highly unsatisfactory.

I believe also that the white roof was a purely Western Region feature, but where were these trains used on the WR?

Happy New Year to all, and please keep the pictures coming.

Excellent photos.
Especially like the DMU photos.
Thanks vey much for posting.
ALLEN

Looks like a very fun day! Thanks for posting.
Duncan

Posted from iPhone

spflow Wrote:
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> Lovely pictures, many thanks. I hope that at least
> most people got the joke in your title.
>
> Am I right in thinking that the class 117 DMU were
> the trains that were supplied to run out of
> Marylebone from 1962 onwards?
>
> I remember that while the new service was a
> massive improvement over the former steam
> operation, the trains themselves were indeed
> rather old-fashioned, but had four cars of which
> the end ones were driving motor vehicles, and one
> of the two trailer cars was divided between first
> and second class with a lavatory facility between
> them. As you rightly point out there were no
> connections between vehicles, and the interiors
> were rather spartan. At the very end of mainline
> operation through to Nottingham, these DMU's were
> occasionally used instead of the usual steam
> hauled four-car rake, which was highly
> unsatisfactory.
>
> I believe also that the white roof was a purely
> Western Region feature, but where were these
> trains used on the WR?
>
> Happy New Year to all, and please keep the
> pictures coming.


No, the 117s spent most of their working life working out of Paddington, after the arrival of the 165s and 166s some migrated from Network South East to Regional Railways, others were used as power twins on the Marston Vale and Gospel Oak / Barking lines. The units built for Marylebone services were the class 115. They differed from the 117s in a number of respects; as you said they were four car units, they had an 'improved' interior with high backed seats but more importantly they were more powerful, each motor car had a pair of 230 HP Leyland Albion engines, the 117s used pairs of 150 HP engines.

I remember as a boy of about 11 cycling to West Hampstead to see the afternoon Marylebone to Nottingham semi fast, which should have been steam hauled only for a pair of 115s to appear. Very disappointing then, today I'd be over the moon!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/17 00:08 by 86235.

The U.K. is fortunate to have so many wonderful preserved heritage railways, most restored or kept to as close to their original appearance as modern times allow.

While walking in the Cotswolds in April, I came across this fantastic view near Wynchcombe.

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Nice shot, the village of Greet with a Toddington bound train, Winchcombe station not actually being in Winchcombe :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/17 10:55 by 86235.

What an authentic restoration. As I understand from the first post all the track had been removed. The restoration uses chairs and bullhead rail. I guess there was plenty of surplus available as rolling new rail would have been cost prohibitive.

nm2320 Wrote:
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> What an authentic restoration. As I understand
> from the first post all the track had been
> removed. The restoration uses chairs and bullhead
> rail. I guess there was plenty of surplus
> available as rolling new rail would have been cost
> prohibitive.

Yes, it's a complete restoration. The track was ripped up and the station buildings and signal box at Winchcombe were demolished. Today's station building was originally at Monmouth Troy, the signal box came from Hall Green whilst the frame was from Honeybourne. Interestingly the track on the new Broadway extension is cwr.