The

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

Class 204 designation has been used twice for two similar types of diesel-electric multiple units.

History

The original units, numbered in the range 1119-1122, were two-car versions of the Class 205 '3H' units, and were classified as 2H under the old system. In 1979, BR decided to augment the two-car units to three-car formation. Three of the four units were reformed with the addition of centre trailers taken from 3H (Class 205) units, and thus were themselves reclassified as Class 205. The fourth 2H unit, and the three former 3H units which had given up their trailers, were augmented by reusing the ex- 2EPB driving trailers from redundant Class 206 units. The Class 204 designation was re-applied to these four newly formed units (which were also given the classification 3T under the old system). They were renumbered into the range 1401-1404. In 1986, the units were renumbered to 204001-004 to conform with the

TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), ...

numbering system.

Technical details

Power car (one per set) * Introduced: 1957 * Weight: * Engine: English Electric 4-cylinder type 4SRKT Mark II of at 850 rpm * Transmission: Diesel-electric, two English Electric type EE507

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, or electric multiple unit trains. Traction (engineering), Traction motors are used in electrically powe ...

s rated at () each. * Maximum tractive effort: * Driving wheel diameter: * Coupling code: Standard ' Buckeye' compatible with contemporary class 20x and 4xx units. * Train heating:

Electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

Fleet details

Original Class 204 (2H) Units Reformed Class 204 (3T) Units * ex- Class 205

Preservation

Of the original 2H units, a single driving trailer has been preserved. *205008 (ex-1121) - DTCsoL 60820 - Hastings Diesels, currently at the

Lavender Line The Lavender Line is a heritage railway based at Isfield railway station, Isfield Station, near Uckfield in East Sussex, England. History The Lavender Line was originally part of the Lewes to Uckfield Railway opened to the public on 18 Octob ...

. None of the reformed 3T units are preserved.

References

External links

Hastings Diesels
{{British Rail DMU

204 __NOTOC__ Year 204 ( CCIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cilo and Flavius (or, less frequently, year 957 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 204 for th ...