Talk:British Rail railbuses

Diesel Multiple Unit

Someone has put a reference to the Diesel Multiple Unit in the article. I think this is misleading as the early railcars (AC, Park Royal, W&M) were not as I understand it capable of multiple unit operation (i.e. coupled together as a train and driven from the front cab). Although the later Pacer units have this function I think this distinction should be made. Britmax 09:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

@Britmax: The 22 railbuses numbered 79958-79979 were not equipped for multiple-working. Indeed most, except the five W&M cars, had very primitive "buffers" and no drawgear as such. The B.U.T. four-wheel units numbered 79740-79750 had m.u. control within each three-car unit, but I can't find if they were true multiple-units other than a quote in

• Haresnape, Brian (1985). British Rail Fleet Survey 8: Diesel Multiple-Units - The First Generation. Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 16. ISBN 0-7110-1495-7.

which says some four-wheeled railbuses, usually made up into three-car sets ... they could be coupled together in various formations. There were eleven cars, ordered and delivered in three groups: the first and third groups (delivered December 1953 and September 1957) both consisted of one each motor second, trailer second and motor brake second; but the second group (delivered August 1955) consisted of two each trailer second and motor brake second but only one motor second, which implies the possibility of a five-car unit (perhaps formed MBS-TS-MS-TS-MBS). The motor seconds and motor brake seconds each had two cabs, the trailers none. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:37, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Historic Routes

As far as I know the 79960-64 were used on the Audley End to Bartlow Branchline (or at least some of them were) until its closure. Is this sort of information useful enoguh to include? to check - http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/b/bartlow/index.shtml

— Preceding unsigned comment added by GeologyTom (talk • contribs) 15:33, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Crew

How many crew were on a railbus and how did this compare to the steam hauled trains which they replaced ( driver, fireman and guard)? Tabletop (talk) 03:56, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Like all the modernisation plan units, they were worked with a driver and guard. Unlike the others, there wasn't room for a 'second man' in the driving compartment. Railway Magazine November 1958 p. 801 mentions the guard issuing tickets on the Gleneagles-Crieff line.Johnragla (talk) 01:22, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Hauled railbus?

I removed this sentence; "However, no further hauled railbus vehicles were produced as locomotive haulage was falling out of fashion" from the article as it makes no sense. A railbus is by definition self powered. The name of a hauled railbus, ie not one self powered, is a "carriage". The reason no more railbuses were built is that the tiny lines that used them were nearly all gone and the higher expectations of sector management led to all build after the Pacer/Skipper family being to main line standard (ie the Class 150 Sprinter). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Britmax (talk • contribs) 14:57, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

LEV1, two vehicles or one ?

Most sources seem to say that LEV1 started off as an unpowered test vehicle (built late 1977 to early 1978) and then had an engine and transmission added in 1979, i.e. it was the same vehicle.

However Colin Marsden`s book (Second Generation DMUs) say`s :

Initially an unpowered short underframe four wheeled trailer......... was put together and first seen by the public and railway press in June 1977.

In 1979 an actual demonstration vehicle was assembled at the EDU (Engineering Development Unit - Derby), this had a slightly different body style, was a bit longer and only had one pair of folding passenger doors on each side. (as opposed to two pairs on the same side, which the initial "trailer" test vehicle had, the photographs also show this, though it would be possible to add this modification to the original unit).

This implies that it wasn`t the same unit.

What is the truth of the matter ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by JustinSmith (talk • contribs) 19:28, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

A paper by Alistair Gilchrist (Head of Mechanical Engineering Research for BR, second in command to the Director of Research) "A history of engineering research on British Railways" Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History quoted on p54 :

"LEV was first tested in 1978 in unpowered and unbraked form..........the vehicle was rebuilt with power equipment and brakes and re-emerged in self-propelled form in 1979"

http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/irs/irshome/academic/leaflet_transport_hist_files/IRS%20WP10%20Engineering%20Research.pdf

That proves that the unpowered and powered LEVs were the same vehicle.--JustinSmith (talk) 22:12, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

First and Second generation

This article is missing the first generation British Rail railbus (the ACV - AEC/British Leyland) units. As a result it has a "first" and "second" generation that are in fact "second" and "third".

See http://www.brindale.co.uk/ach/prv_site/site_index/prv_site_frames.htm?http://www.brindale.co.uk/ach/prv_site/prv_rail_buses_images.htm and also "A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units"

81.2.110.250 (talk) 10:58, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Wickham details

The details in Railway Magazine November 1958 p. 800 differ from those in the article. It says there were 44 seats and the length was 39ft 10in overall, 38ft over the body. It also gives the weight as 11½ tons, achieved by tubular body construction. As one of the features (and failings) of the buses was their light weight, should there be a column showing this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnragla (talk • contribs) 01:31, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

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