British Rail Class 101 Railcar No. E51188

Class 101 Diesel Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second (class) 51188 This vehicle was built at Saltley in Birmingham by Metropolitan-Cammell in 1958, as one of a batch delivered in October 1958. This part of the class of vehicles initially went into service on the London Midland Region of British Rail and by 1965 was operating on services around Birmingham.

This vehicle first ran in British Railways DMU green livery 1958-1962 with black underframes and bogies, then BR DMU green with cream lining and speed whiskers. From 1962-1970 this was amended to BR green with cream lining, and a small yellow warning panel, then 1967-1975 into BR Rail Blue with brown underframes and bogies, then 1975-1992 in BR Blue & Grey livery, then from about 1992-1995 in Regional Railways livery of white and blue. Finally in about 1995 it was painted in Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive orange livery and remained in this livery through the rest of its working life, withdrawal, storage and early preservation. It was returned to Rail Blue in 2007.

In latter years, the vehicle was part of a set based which operated around Chester (1980s), then Glasgow (1990s) and finally Manchester in 2000-2001. The set was withdrawn from passenger service in 2001 making it almost the very last of its kind on the National Network. This class of railcar had been an everyday sight throughout the country and they were the longest serving railcars ever built in the UK, outlasting British Railways itself.

The vehicle was brought to the EVR from the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley, having been stored at Shoeburyness after withdrawal in Manchester. It is in the care of Railcar Enterprises.