British Rail Derby Lightweight

The first units were introduced on services around the West Riding of Yorkshire, namely Leeds to Bradford and Harrogate services from 14 June 1954.[2] Subsequent units were introduced onto services in West Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Newcastle to Middlesbrough, Edinburgh to Glasgow[3] and, later, Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield, Bletchley to Buckingham and Banbury, and East London lines services. They were also the last units to run on the Anglesey Central Railway which closed to public traffic in 1964.

These units were an outstanding success, helping to reduce the operating costs of branchlines. Initially they also attracted many more passengers. Between February and October 1956 on the London Midland, they carried 800,000 more passengers than steam in the same period of 1955. The largest increase was 434% (4,772 passengers) on the Buckingham-Banbury line (from 13 August), followed by Birmingham-Lichfield 178% (from 5 March), Bury-Bacup 152% (from 6 February), Llandudno-Blaenau Ffestiniog 39% (from 5 March) and Manchester-Buxton 38% (from 8 October).[4] As such, British Railways ordered many more DMU vehicles from various builders over the next decade, thus helping to eliminate steam locomotives. However, as these units were non-standard compared to other later DMU vehicles, they were subject to early retirement. The last units were withdrawn from normal traffic in 1969.

Four different sorts of formation were created from the 217 cars built of this type, as follows:

A number of cars from these units were subsequently transferred to departmental (non-revenue earning) use after withdrawal from normal service:

• 79018 + 79612 were rebuilt as an ultrasonic test train based at Reading, numbered 975007 + 975008. Replaced by unit 901001.
• 79900 was rebuilt as test coach "Iris", based at Bletchley, numbered 975010. Later transferred to the BR Research Division at the Railway Technical Centre at Derby, for its last few years in traffic, it was repainted into original BR Green livery. Replaced by unit 901002.
• 79185 was taken into departmental use for brake trials, numbered 975012. It was scrapped in 1970.
• 79250 and 79252 were taken into departmental use as staff messrooms, numbered 975013 and 975014. They were scrapped in 1978 and 1982 respectively.
• 79649, the inspection saloon mentioned above, took its place in the departmental series as 999510.

Derby Lightweight single car unit no. 79900 fully restored to passenger carrying standard again after being former test car Iris. The unit now resides on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway running regular passenger diagrams.

Thanks to their extended life in departmental service, one 2-car unit and a single car unit survive in preservation on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, the former following a high-profile campaign.

• British Rail BEMU – a power-trailer two car EMU based on the Derby Lightweight DMU design.

Media related to British Rail Derby Lightweight at Wikimedia Commons