A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also generally classed as DMUs. Diesel-powered units may be further classified by their transmission type: diesel–mechanical DMMU, diesel–hydraulic DHMU, or diesel–electric DEMU.
Pacer was the operational name of the British Rail Classes 140, 141, 142, 143 and 144 diesel multiple unit railbuses, built between 1980 and 1987. They were inexpensively developed using a passenger body based on the Leyland National bus on top of a chassis based on the HSFV1 research vehicle. The railbuses were intended as a short-term solution to a shortage of rolling stock, with a lifespan of no more than 20 years. As modernised replacements were lacking, the Pacer fleet remained in service on some lines until 2021 – 37 years after their introduction in 1984.
British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail.
The British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter is a diesel multiple unit passenger train. A total of 114 sets were built between 1987 and 1989 for British Rail by Metro-Cammell's Washwood Heath works. They were built to replace elderly first-generation DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
The British Rail Class 108 diesel multiple units were built by BR Derby from 1958 to 1961, with a final production quantity of 333 vehicles.
The British Rail Class 158Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train. It is a member of the Sprinter series of regional trains, produced as a replacement for British Rail's first generation of DMUs; of the other members, the Class 159 is almost identical to the Class 158, having been converted from Class 158 to Class 159 in two batches to operate express services from London Waterloo to the West of England.
The British Rail Class 153 Super Sprinter are single-coach railcars converted from two-coach Class 155 diesel multiple units in the early 1990s. The class was intended for service on rural branch lines, either where passenger numbers do not justify longer trains or to boost the capacity on services with high passenger volume.
Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after Privatisation of British Rail. The sector was originally called Provincial.
The British Rail Class 159 is a class of British diesel multiple unit passenger trains of the Sprinter family, built in 1989–1992 by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL)'s Derby Litchurch Lane Works as Class 158. Before entering traffic, the original 22 units were modified at Rosyth Dockyard to Class 159 to operate services from London Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, replacing various locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
The British Rail Class 121 is a single-car double-ended diesel multiple unit. 16 driving motor vehicles were built from 1960, numbered 55020–55035. These were supplemented by ten single-ended trailer vehicles, numbered 56280–56289. They have a top speed of 70 mph, with slam-doors, and vacuum brakes. The driving motor vehicles were nicknamed "Bubble Cars" by some enthusiasts.
The British Rail Class 165 Networker Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple unit passenger trains (DMUs), originally specified by and built for the British Rail Thames and Chiltern Division of Network SouthEast. They were built by BREL York Works between 1990 and 1992. An express version was subsequently built in the form of the Class 166 Networker Turbo Express trains. Both classes are now sometimes referred to as "Networker Turbos", a name derived some three years later for the project that resulted in the visually similar Class 365 and Class 465 EMUs.
The British Rail Class 150 Sprinter is a class of diesel multiple unit passenger trains; they were developed and constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited at York Carriage Works between 1984 and 1987 for use on regional services across the UK. The type is a second-generation design, built to more modern standards and based on BR's Mark 3 body design for longer-distance services. It was developed alongside the lower-cost Pacers, which were built using bus parts, for use on short-distance services. Two prototype units were built, followed by 135 production units in two batches. Subsequently, further members of the Sprinter family were also developed and introduced to service, including the Class 155, Class 156, Class 158 and Class 159.
The British Rail Class 143 is a diesel multiple-unit railbus, part of the Pacer family of passenger trains introduced between 1985 and 1986.
The British Rail Class 155 is a diesel multiple unit passenger train. These DMUs were built by Leyland Bus at Workington between 1987 and 1988 as part of BR's replacement of its ageing first-generation diesel fleet. 42 units were originally built, of which only 7 remain; the other 35 units were converted to Class 153 railcars.
The British Rail Class 210 was a type of diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) passenger train designed and constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited's Derby Litchurch Lane Works.
The British Rail Class 125 was a design of three car Diesel Multiple Unit built by BR Derby at Derby Works in 1958. They were almost identical in appearance to the Class 116.
The Sprinter is a family of diesel multiple unit trains in use on the British railway system. They were built in the 1980s and early-1990s by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL), Metro-Cammell and Leyland. Sprinters operate in almost every part of Great Britain, from rural branch lines to commuter expresses into major cities.
Diesel multiple units and railcars are trains, usually with passenger accommodation, that do not require a locomotive. Railcars can be single cars, while in multiple units cars are marshalled together with a driving position either end. As of December 2010, 23 percent of the rail passenger cars used on Network Rail are part of a diesel multiple unit.
Network SouthEast (NSE), the sector of British Rail which ran passenger services in London and southeast England between 1986 and 1994, operated a wide variety of rolling stock during its existence. The majority of the network was electrified, and further electrification schemes took place during the 1986–1994 period; and the 7,000 vehicles owned by NSE in 1986 consisted of a mixture of electric, diesel-electric and diesel multiple units, diesel locomotives and the coaches they hauled.
The British Rail Class 769 Flex is a class of bi-mode multiple unit (BMU) converted by Brush Traction, and running in service with Northern Trains. The train is a conversion of the existing Class 319 electric multiple unit (EMU), a conventional unit type which had become surplus to requirements during the 2010s.
