British Rail Class 110
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Built in conjunction with the Drewry Car Co., these sets were built to operate services on the former Lancashire and Yorkshire main line, and spent their entire careers based around this same area. This earned them the name of the 'Calder Valley' sets. They were an updated version of the Class 104, with a revised cab design and raised bodyside window frames.
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[edit] Description
The arduous Calder Valley route meant they needed a bit more power than most sets, so they were fitted with 180hp Rolls-Royce engines, and when delivered they had the best hp/ton of any of the DMUs, including the lightweights. With a set weighing 87½ tons (tare), this gave a power to weight ratio of 8.3 hp / ton, which was appreciably higher than any other all-diesel sets in use at the time using normally aspirated engines. Performance tests included a standing start against a ruling gradient of 1 in 261 and a set in tare condition achieved a speed of 30mph in 45 secs, 50mph in 2 mins 4 secs, and 70mph in 4 mins 6 secs. From a standing start on a 1 in 45 gradient a speed of 25 mph in third gear was reached in 42 secs. Each set had 24 first class and 159 second class seats.
[edit] Timeline
The first twenty sets, for the NER, were ordered in March '59. The second batch were allocated to the LMR, in Jan '61. Deliveries of the two batches was concurrent, starting in 1961, and these were the penultimate Class of first generation sets to be built.
[edit] Technical details
- Builder: Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
- Introduced: 1961
- Coupling Code: Blue Square
- Body: 57ft 6in x 9ft 3in
- Engines: Rolls-Royce, 180 bhp
- Transmission: Standard mechanical
[edit] Preservation
Five vehicles are preserved:
- Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway two-car set (52071 & 52077)
- Wensleydale Railway three-car set (51813, 51842 & 59701)
[edit] References
- Motive Power Recognition: 3 DMUs. Colin J. Marsden
- British Railway Pictorial: First Generation DMUs. Kevin Robertson
- British Rail Fleet Survey 8: Diesel Multiple Units- The First Generation. Brian Haresnape
- A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units. Brian Golding