This page gives details of the units and cars not covered by the other sections that have survived to find a place in preservation in the UK.
London North Western Railway Oerlikon Driving Motor Brake
1915 built car number 28249 is the only vehicle from the North London DC lines to have found a place in preservation to date. It is fully restored in LMS livery and is on static display at the National Railway Museum in York. The photos below (both taken by Mark Bowman) show the high standard of external and internal restoration on this vehicle.
Class 504 Unit
One of these two car sets is preserved at the East Lancs Railway in Bury, which is of course the destination the class spent all their working lives plying from to Manchester Victoria and back. The unit comprising of car numbers 65451 (DMB car) & 77172 (DT car). The unit has been used occasionally for short distance shuttle trips and chartered specials with haulage provided by diesel shunting locos. The unit was still in the Greater Manchester PTE orange and brown livery it was withdrawn in when it was laid aside from service on the East lancs Railway for a proposed overhaul back to its original 1959 condition.
The east Lancs did own a second 504 unit prior to 1984 but this was scrapped as it was both surplus to requirements and in inferior condition to the surviving set.
Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Trailer Cars.
Three trailer composite vehicles from the 1931 built 1500v DC MSJ&A units (later class 505) survive in private ownership at the Midland railway Centre in Butterly. They are numbers 29663, 29666 & 29670. Any further information on their current condition and progress would be appreciated.
GEMINI - Battery Electric Multiple Unit.
Located at the East lancs Railway this two car set comprising of DMB car 79998 and DTCL 79999 is unique among BR emus as being exclusively powered by batteries. It was converted at Cowlairs Works in 1958 from two Derby Lightweight DMU cars for use on the Ballater branch in Scotland (as pictured below) as an experiment sponsored by Scottish Power. The unit saw later life as a test unit at the derby research centre before being passed onto preservation.
Photo Courtesy The RAILCAR Association
The unit has seen occasional use at the East Lancs on passenger services and is believed to be still in working order.
to others menu