British Rail Class 101

Class 101, no. 101692 (formed of vehicles 53170 + 53253) at Arley on the Severn Valley Railway on 15th October 2004, whilst taking part in the Railcar 50 event. This unit was specially repainted in Caledonian Blue livery in 1996 by ScotRail for the launch of a new Motherwell to Cumbernauld service. In 2000, it transferred to Manchester, where it became one of the final six in service with First North Western. It was withdrawn in October 2003, and is now preserved at the Midland Railway Butterley.

Class 960 departmental unit no. 960001 at Norwich on 31st January 2004. This unit was rebuilt as an Ultrasonic Test Train in 1986, and is pictured here in Railtrack blue/lime green livery.

The British Rail Class 101 diesel multiple units were built by Metro-Cammell at Washwood Heath in Birmingham from 1956 to 1959, following construction of a series of prototype units. This class proved to be the most successful and longest-lived of all BR's First Generation DMUs, with the final five units being withdrawn on 24 December 2003. The oldest set was, by then, just over 47 years old.

Original TOPS classes

When TOPS was originally introduced only the Driving Motor Brake Second (DMBS) and the Driving Motor Composite (with Lavatory) (DMC(L)) were classified as class 101 or class 102. The Driving Trailer Composite (with Lavatory) (DTC(L)) were either Class 144 or Class 147. The Trailer Standards (with Lavatory) (TS(L)) were Class 162, the Trailer Brake Second (with Lavatory) (TBS(L)) were Class 168 and the Trailer Composite (with Lavatory) (TC(L)) were Class 171.

Later all the cars were reclassified, becoming class 101.

In fiction

In The Railway Series books by Rev.W.Awdry, the character Daisy the Diesel Rail-Car was introduced to assist on the Branch Line when Thomas was away for repair.

Daisy is undoubtedly based on the Metro-Cammell DMUs, but is a one-off, being a single railcar (akin to the Class 121 'bubble cars'). Although normally considered to be a Class 101, Daisy is always depicted with the distinctive valances around the buffer beams that distinguishes the lightweight prototype units.

Preservation

Several vehicles have been preserved on heritage railways.

Vehicle numbers			Set number	Livery	Location	Comments
50321	-	51427	960993	BR Green	Great Central Railway	Previously sandite unit 977900+977899.
51187	-	51512	101684/687	Strathclyde Orange	Cambrian Railway Trust	-
51188	-	-	101694	BR Blue	Ecclesbourne Valley Railway	-
51189	-	51803	101660/676	Regional Railways	Keighley and Worth Valley Railway	-
51205	-	56055	101676/662	BR Green	Cambrian Railway Trust	-
51210	59509	53746	101678	Regional Railways	Wensleydale Railway	One of final 5 units in service. 59509 is a Class 117 vehicle.
51213	-	56358	101659/653	BR Blue	East Anglian Railway Museum	-
51226	-	51499	101695	Strathclyde Orange	Mid-Norfolk Railway	-
51228	-	56062	101681	BR Blue	North Norfolk Railway	-
51247	59500	-	101687	Strathclyde Orange	Wensleydale Railway	59500 is a Class 117 vehicle.
51434	59117	51503	L836	BR Blue/Grey	Mid-Norfolk Railway	-
51505	-	54365	101682/661	Regional Railways	East Anglian Railway Museum	-
51511	59539	50204	101680	BR Green	North Yorkshire Moors Railway	One of final 5 units in service.
53160	-	53164	101685	BR Green	Elsecar Railway	One of final 5 units in service.
53170	59303	53253	101692	Caledonian Blue	Midland Railway Butterley	Painted in special Caledonian Blue livery.
53193	-	53203	960992	BR Blue/Grey	Great Central Railway	Previously sandite unit 977898+977897.
53256	-	54343	101660	Regional Railways	East Kent Railway	-
53266	-	-	101693	Strathclyde Orange	Great Central Railway	-
54342	-	-	-	BR Blue/Grey	Private site, Royston	Previously internal user no. 042222.
54347	-	-	101663	Regional Railways	Bressingham Steam Museum	-
54356	-	-	-	LNER Green/Cream	Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway	Rebuilt to observation saloon 6300.
54408	-	-	101654	Regional Railways	Spa Valley Railway	-
51192	-	54352	101693/657	BR Green	East Lancashire Railway	Unit on long term loan from the National Railway Museum.

References

• The Railcar Association
• 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