The most numerous class in BR service and in preservation The roots of the Class 08 can be traced back to LMS and it is quiet staggering that the development of a class of locomotive dating back to 1945 is still operational in numbers across today’s railway network and in preservation 75 years later. An…

Not one of the most successful prototypes of modernisation plans Not all prototypes submitted for consideration for mass production as British Railways looked to modernise in 1955. Many fell by the wayside and were unceremoniously sent for scrap after a short life. Changing circumstances leading to a successful life D0226 was not unsuccessful in its…

The answer to passenger transport in rural byways? Most rural branchlines had low passenger carrying figures and the answer seemed to come in the way of single car diesel railbuses – effectively a bus on rails. However these did not stem the tide of closures and both the railbuses and the branchlines they served disappeared…

The first production class of DMU introduced in West Yorkshire Built between 1958 and 1961, Class 108 Diesel Multiple Units were designed primarily for use on local and branch line work with sets operating on the Worth Valley branch right up to closure in the early 1960s. Split up but re-united on the KWVR Paired…

The second longest-lived class of First Generation multiple units First introduced in 1956, the last of the Class 101 multiple units was not withdrawn until 2003, 47 years after its introduction. Found almost everywhere, the use of the class was notably concentrated on services in the east of Scotland, West Midlands, North East and West…

History The Class 144 Diesel Multiple Unit was built in 1986 to operate local services in West Yorkshire. It was a joint venture between British Rail (who built the underframes in Derby) and Walter Alexander & Co (who built the bodies in Falkirk). Final assembly and fitting out were done in Derby by British Rail….