British Rail Class 118

The British Rail Class 118 diesel multiple units were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company (BRCW) and introduced from 1960.

Originally allocated to the Western Region, the final vehicles were allocated to Tyseley depot in Birmingham, and were all withdrawn by 1994. Like most first generation DMUs they were originally BR Green, then plain blue, and finally blue and grey, with a few receiving Network SouthEast livery. One set was famously painted in all over yellow with advertisements for British Telecom.

A normal formation was three vehicles- a Driving Motor Brake Second (DMBS) which had two BUT engines (Later fitted with Leyland), a driving compartment(cab), 65 second class seats, guards accommodation and luggage/parcels space, a Trailer Composite Lavatory (TCL) which had no engines or driving compartment, but had 22 first class seats, 48 second class seats and a lavatory, and a Driving Motor Second (DMS), which like the DMBS had two engines and a driver's cab, and contained 89 second class seats. Having the 'blue square' multiple working restriction allowed them to run in formations containing up to 12 cars with most of BR's other DMUs.

Two vehicles were converted to sandite use.

Preservation

Number 51321 is preserved at the Battlefield Line

References

*Motive Power Recognition: 3 DMUs. Colin J. Marsden
*British Railway Pictorial: First Generation DMUs. Kevin Robertson
*British Rail Fleet Survey 8: Diesel Multiple Units- The First Generation. Brian Haresnape
*A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units. Brian Golding

External links

* [http://www.railcar.co.uk/his110-119/118intro.htm History of the Class 118s]
* [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChrisSimmons/ Battlefield Line website]