Scottish Railway Preservation Society Collections pages

'Swindon' Inter-City Class 126 DMU car Sc51017

Driving Brake Second Open coach Sc51017 pictures
 

SRPS Core Collection. Acquired from the Swindon Diesel Preservation Society, grant aided by the National Fund for Acquisitions. Refurbished and restored to operational condition with Heritage Lottery Fund support.

Power car Sc51017 is one of the batch of 23 Inter-City DMU "DMSO" (Driving Motor Second Open) cars built especially for Glasgow - Ayshire services in 1959. This is an "intermediate" car, with gangways at both ends as well as a driving cab at one end. This arrangement enabled access throughout the train when two 3-car units were coupled together, so that a single Buffet served the whole train.

It is fitted with two 150 h.p. AEC horizontal diesel engines, each of which drives a 4-speed epicyclic gearbox and a reversing final drive unit mounted on a bogie axle. Top speed is 70MPH.

BR DMU designs required that units could couple together for multiple working with control from the leading driver's cab. To achieve this, Inter-City units had control cables which ran the length of the train, with jumper connections between vehicles. Each power car has its own control air system, with electrically-operated pneumatic valves which control the engines in response to the driver's actions.

Sc51017 was extensively refurbished by Midland Railway Enterprises of Butterley, Derbyshire, as part of our Heritage Lottery Fund project. It was returned to Bo'ness in mid-August 2007, after which overhauled engines were fitted. The car is in working order, while fitting out of its interior saloons is now in hand, the volunteers working flat out to achieve completion of what is the final stage of the reconstruction project.

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