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 103

diesel multiple unit 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 ...

s were built by

Park Royal Vehicles Park Royal Vehicles was one of Britain's leading coachbuilders and Bus manufacturing, bus manufacturers, based at Park Royal, Abbey Road, in west London. With origins dating back to 1889, the company also had a Leeds-based subsidiary, Charles H ...

with

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s by

British United Traction British United Traction (BUT) was a manufacturer of railway equipment and trolleybuses. It was established in 1946 as a joint venture between Associated Equipment Company, AEC and Leyland Motors, Leyland. History British United Traction was e ...

(BUT). Ordered in the first half of 1955, 20 of these sets were built by Park Royal at the

Crossley Motors Crossley Motors was an English motor vehicle manufacturer based in Manchester, England. It produced approximately 19,000 cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958, and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to ...

works in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

of the ACV Group. They consisted of a

power car In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle: *a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, potentially a multiple unit train, often as the lead vehicle; *a veh ...

and a

driving trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK, Ireland, Australia and India) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or t ...

. Standard BUT equipment was fitted, with 'A' type engines. A two-car set with 16 first class and 100 second class seats weighed just under 60

long ton The long ton, also known as the imperial ton, displacement ton,Dictionary.com - ''"a unit for measuring the displacement of a vessel, equal to a long ton of 2240 pounds (about 1016 kg) or 35 cu. ft. (1 cu. m) of seawater."'' or British ton, is a ...

s, representing 1,150 lb (520 kg) a seat and had 5 hp per ton of empty weight or 4.35 hp per ton when full.

Orders

Operations

They were allocated new to the

London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...

, spending most of their time at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. The first deliveries went to traffic in the

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 UK census, the community � ...

area, allocated to

Llandudno Junction Llandudno Junction (), once known as Tremarl, is a town in the Community (Wales), community of Conwy in Conwy County Borough, Wales. Llandudno Junction and neighbouring Deganwy are both part of the built-up area and community of Conwy. It take ...

in early 1958. This is believed to be an indirect consequence of unit shortages as a result of bogie problems with the BRCW units rains Illustrated 1958 By the end of the same year they were all allocated to Ryecroft for the routes radiating from Walsall. These services were dieselised on 17 November that year rains Illustrated Jan 1959 p53 The last four sets, including W50413 and W56169 the surviving full set, were transferred to the

Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...

, and worked on the Kingswear Branch having been based out of Laira Depot. Although considered non-standard, owing to their bodywork construction, their use of standard BUT equipment and blue square coupling code allowed them to operate with other classes. They spent some time in the

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

area, working the

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

and Belmont branches after the demise of the ACV/BUT " flying brick" railcars. Three units were transferred for this service in December 1958, according to Trains Illustrated eb 1959 p110

Accidents and incidents

On 8 May 1972 an oil train 'ran away' and crashed in Chester General station. M50407 and M56154 were in an adjacent platform and damaged beyond repair.

Liveries

They were delivered in

Brunswick green Varieties of the color green may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation or intensity) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint ...

with cream lining, red bufferbeam and pale grey roof. The first sets were delivered without "speed whiskers" (a decorative device on the front). Plain blue with yellow ends was later applied, initially with just a small yellow panel.

Decline

The bodywork became troublesome in service, seeing many withdrawn early. By the end of 1972 there were only 12 power and 14 trailers left in service. The last power car was withdrawn in December 1982, and the last trailer in February 1983.

Preservation

Due to

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

insulation, only three Class 103 vehicles survive in preservation. 50413 and 56169 are currently being restored by the Helston Railway Diesel Group for use on the Helston branch line. 56160 is privately preserved. Three other vehicles were preserved but have since been scrapped.

References

* * * * * *

External links

The Railcar Association

{{British Rail DMU

103 103 may refer to: *103 (number), the number *AD 103, a year in the 2nd century AD *103 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 103 (Tyne Electrical Engineers) Field Squadron, a territorial regiment * 103 (Newcastle) Field Squadron, Royal Engineers * 103 ...

Park Royal Vehicles multiple units Train-related introductions in 1957