EMUs A History

Hugh Llewelyn

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781445649832
• Subtopic: Rail Transportation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

From nationalisation in 1948, British Railways built huge numbers of EMUs for suburban and short/medium-distance main line express duties, initially of pre-nationalisation design. In 1954 the Standard Mark 1 type was introduced, but was obsolete by the late 1960s. More EMUs were needed to replace life-expired pre-nationalisation sets still working as well as to provide for new electrification services that were planned. The result was a complete fresh start in design terms with Southern Regions' 4-PEP design of 1971, from which several very successful classes were derived – the second generation. Second-generation EMUs cover a huge number of current services today. As the 1990s dawned, change was in the air. The former British Railways workshops, already under the aegis of British Rail Engineering Limited, were to be sold and the privatisation of the entire BR network was looming. Before BREL was bought by ABB, they produced the first of the Networker design in 1991 – effectively the first of the third generation of EMUs. From then on, not only was the Networker produced in large numbers, but many other private concerns produced a variety of their own standard designs such as the Electrostar, Juniper or Desiro, and some that did not spawn any derivatives, such as Hunslet's Class 323.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Introduction
• 1. First Generation EMUs – Standard BR Mark 1 Designs 1953–74 and BR-built Pre-nationalisation Designs of the LMS (1938)–1958; LNER 1949–50 and SR (1938)–1958
• 2. First Generation EMUs – Standard BR Mark 2 Designs 1965–77
• 3. Early Second Generation EMUs – BR 1972 Designs 1971–81
• 4. Later Second Generation EMUs – Standard BR Mark 3 Designs 1981–95
• 5. Third Generation EMUs – Designs Towards and under Privatisation: BREL/ABB Networker Family 1991–95
• 6. Third Generation EMUs – Designs Towards and under Privatisation: Hunslet Transportation Projects 1992–93
• 7. Third Generation EMUs – Designs under Privatisation: CAF/Siemens Family 1997–98
• 8. Third Generation EMUs – Designs under Privatisation: Alstom Juniper Family 1998
• 9. Third Generation EMUs – Designs under Privatisation: Adtranz/Bombardier Electrostar Family 1999 and Continuing
• 10. Third Generation EMUs – Designs under Privatisation: Alstom Pendolino 2001–12
• 11. Third Generation EMUs – Designs under Privatisation: Siemens Desiro Family 2002 and Continuing
• 12. Third Generation EMUs – Designs under Privatisation: Hitachi Javelin 2006–11
• Bibliography
• Abbreviations