LMS railcars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway purchased three four-wheel diesel railcars from Leyland in 1933. They were numbered 29950-29952 (in the multiple unit section of their carriage number series). They each had a 95hp diesel engine fitted and worked mainly in Scotland. They were inherited by British Rail at Nationalisation, but were withdrawn in the early 1950s, so never received TOPS classification.
[edit] Diesel multiple unit
In 1938 the LMS introduced a three-car DMU. It was built at Derby Carriage and Wagon Works and the cars were numbered 80000, 80001 and 80002. It had a very short life and there seems to be little published information about it.
It was a streamlined three-car set with 125 bhp Leyland underfloor engines driving through Lysholm Smith torque converters. Details are uncertain. There may have been four or six engines and it may, or may not, have been articulated. Maximum speed was 75 mph. It was very advanced for its time and had pneumatic sliding doors.
It was first used on the Oxford-Cambridge line and then on St Pancras-Nottingham services. It was withdrawn in 1939, possibly because of wartime fuel shortages. One source claims that it was broken up in 1943 but another states that it survived the war and was converted to a two-car set for overhead line maintenance on the Manchester-Altrincham route.
The design probably formed the basis for the post-war Derby Lightweight units, at least as far the powertrain was concerned, but the sliding doors were not perpetuated.
[edit] References
- The Development of the Railcar by R W Kidner, published by the Oakwood Press in 1958
- Diesel Rail Cars (An Introduction) by R H Mann, published by the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians' Association in 1963
