Nostalgia: Front seats on 1st Gen DMUs

[strange6]

Who ever rushed their way on to a 101 etc in the hope of bagging the front seats so that they could have a cab view on their journey? That was assuming the driver hadn't been a mean so and so by pulling the blind down. Failing that, the back seats quite often had the blinds down for some reason so you could still have a great driver's eye view view if the fronts were taken or the blind was down! Brilliant memories of these great units!

 

[Wyvern]

There was a bloke in the front right hand seat reading a paper as we were clogging it up through Hathern.

He looked up just as the Thames-Clyde Express approached on the other line with a closing speed of, say, 150mph.

I thought he was going to have heart attack.

 

[RobShipway]

Back in the late seventies when the Cross City service around Birmingham was still being run by Class 101 I was given the opportunity to ride in the drivers cab by the driver when travelling from Wylde Green into Birmingham City Centre. The driver could see when the train go to Erdington that I was a very interested young boy of about 9 years old of where the trains was going, so invited me to join him in the cab to see the drivers view.

If the class 101's where operating now you would not get the drivers being so kind towards Children because it would be a breach in Health & Safety plus it is against regulations to allow none railway personnel in the drivers cab without approval of the management I believe.

 

[gordonthemoron]

fortunately that doesn't apply where I live

 

[starrymarkb]

Cab Rides were always forbidden, certainly I remember being shooed out before a major station when a DMU driver gave me one as a small kid (in the late 1980s) less management were lurking.

If you still want something like the 1st Gen units try the ICE3 and derivitives. They have an observation lounge behind the driver with a glass wall between.

Unfortunatly the Velaro D (ICE4?) and E (Eurostar 320) that will be coming to the UK won't have the lounges (instead having equipment in a fireproof cupboard)

 

[notadriver]

Does anyone know of a website where I can download decent engine sounds if 1st Gen DMUs from the inside?

 

[flymo]

Who ever rushed their way on to a 101 etc in the hope of bagging the front seats so that they could have a cab view on their journey? That was assuming the driver hadn't been a mean so and so by pulling the blind down.

Certainly did. Loads of times around the North Tyne loop in pre-Metro days. Large comfy sofa type seats too. Bounced along the Tyne valley line a few times, not to mention a ride from Par - Newton Abbot....Marvellous

 

[talltim]

I did it on a Sheffield Supertram yesterday. Not quite as good, but nearly.

 

[Wyvern]

Does anyone know of a website where I can download decent engine sounds if 1st Gen DMUs from the inside?

You also need the sound of the Beclawat window lights vibrating deafeningly whenever the engines are idling.

 

[LE Greys]

I certainly remember that on the Cambridge-Ipswich route in the late '80s. Great fun! Much better than the A45. Whoever thought to let passengers see the line in front was either a PR genius or an enthusiast. Think the units were 101s, can anyone confirm this?

 

[strange6]

You also need the sound of the Beclawat window lights vibrating deafeningly whenever the engines are idling.

Some Northern 150's are much worse for that, believe you me!

 

[b0b]

Before the 303's were refurb'd, they also had a front seat cab view - most fun!

 

[notadriver]

You also need the sound of the Beclawat window lights vibrating deafeningly whenever the engines are idling.

Thats right. I want the whole kit and caboodle.

 

[strange6]

You also need the sound of the Beclawat window lights vibrating deafeningly whenever the engines are idling.

Like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9O8_TPe8sU&feature=related

 

[WestCoast]

fortunately that doesn't apply where I live

The panoramic lounge on the ICEs is one of their best features. For a front seat experience you can't beat the DLR or the Tyne and Wear Metro!

I traveled only once on a First North Western 101 back in 2003, the year they were retired from service. Certainly preferable to pacers in my opinion!

 

[387star]

Ah i have fond memories of a fnw unit through the edale tunnel in the 90s when i was a kid. I loved seeing the light at the end grow nearer

 

[Polarbear]

Oh where to start - lots of happy memories!

In the late 1970's & through the 1980's, I loved to sit at the front of a first generation DMU. My personal favourites were the 120's, (Swindons) but I was happy with most of what was available. Park Royals were a bit of a hard ride & not much in the way of seat cushion & the Craven's (105) rattled themselves to bits generally, but it was fun!

As to where, pretty much all over the north of England & the midlands, with occasional forays to London, (the 115's out of Marylebone ALWAYS had the blinds down). I also ventured to Anglia & the West Country, though I didn't get to Scotland much in those days. I recall being sat at the front of a relief York - Manchester Victoria train, which comprised 9 cars of various DMU classes, (101, 104 & 110).

I remember getting bowled out on more than one occasion when the first generation units had 1st class accommodation. I'd leg it up the platform, only to find the 1st compartment was at the front. Mind you, I did manage to ching out for the extra comfort on one or two occasions.

 

[O L Leigh]

I certainly remember that on the Cambridge-Ipswich route in the late '80s. Think the units were 101s, can anyone confirm this?

I was at school in Bury St Edmunds at that time and the line ran along the edge of our playing fields.

The units would indeed have been MetCamm Cl101s as that was the only class of 1st gen DMU allocated to Clown Point at that time, with the exception of the sole celebrity green Cravens Cl105. The Cambridge-Ipswich route mostly got the 2 car power/trailer sets but every now and then a 3 car unit would appear. However, these were a rarity because they tended to stay on the East Suffolk line as they were the only units fitted with RETB.

At around the time of the Ely remodelling additional units were drafted in from elsewhere to cover the Cambridge to Kings Lynn shuttle, including at least one Cl101 in NSE livery. I presume it came from OOC. Also the initial Sprinterisation of the East Anglia Cross Country services would throw up an oddity to cover for the non-availability of a Clown Point Cl156. Both sub-classes of Cl150 were not uncommon depending on where the service originated, but I do distinctly remember on one occasion that Tyseley had sent out a 3 car Derby Suburban DMU (Cl117...?) complete with "Wumpty" branding to cover an Ipswich service.

Strange6: Given that you're clearly a MetCamm fan, why do you have a Derby Cl108 as your avatar? It's been bugging me for weeks but this is the first time there's been an opportunity to ask.

O L Leigh

 

[Kingfisher200262]

When I was a kid, we lived on the Buxton line, which, at the time was operated by I think, (not having been a rail enthusiast at the time) either Class 104 or Class 108 DMUs. Anyway, one day my mum and I went to Manchester and upon returning to Piccadilly, I ran ahead to get the front window seat on the train if I could.

To my delight I saw that the wide seat was free (from memory, I think they had what we would now consider as "3+2" seating, with a long bench seat and one not so long) and sat down. Before my mum arrived, an enormous black lady came and sat down beside me... rather timidly, I said "I'm sorry but that seat's taken".

"I don't see anyone sitting 'ere" she boomed back....

I fled, and didn't get a driver's view that day!

Happy days.

 

[Wyvern]

Sometime in the 'fifties I was sitting on the stile next the Wirksworth branch foot crossing outside Duffield when this coach with windows cut in front for the driver came ghosting past all by itself.

Eerie or what?

It was a test vehicle for the transmission that would be used in the Derby Lightweights.

My travel in the early sixties were strictly functional - from Lincoln St Marks to Derby and back when I was at RAF Scampton. A long, long journey seeming to stop at every farm along the way.

 

[Bald Rick]

About 25 years ago, when I was nobbut a whippersnapper, my Dad took me on a day out on, I think, a one off promotional 'Network Day' where you could travel the whole of Network South East for a day for a tenner or something.

Anyway we got to Marylebone to take the train to Banbury. One of these old DMUs (I can't tell you class numbers because I don't have a clue) was in the sidings ready to make our train. The platform was pretty busy, with a group of what you could call 'bigger' boys, evidently on a Network Day out too, quite excited and jostling around us wanting the front seat for the drivers eye view. Dad (and me by extension) wanted it too!

My Dad stood me very precsiely at a point on the platform and said "stay right here, and the front door will stop right in front of you, and then you can get on first and we'll get the front seat. I'll make sure these lads don't".

So the train draws in, and before it has come to a stop people naturally start moving towards the doors, which are, naturally, still moving towards us. The general drift of people was back towards the bufferstops, and my Dad subtely encouraged these lads to drift by making a show of moving around them and looking like he knew where the door would stop. The lads followed him, I stayed where I was, the train stopped with the front door right in front of me, I get on and bag the front seat to much gnashing of teeth from 5 unhappy young spotters! Then we had a drivers eye view for the whole 2hour(ish) jurney to Banbury. Bizarely the only thing I can remember about the whole journey was seeing the abandoned flyover at what I susbsequently found out used to be Ashendon Jn.

Even now when I get on trains, I wonder at what part of human nature it is that causes people to drift gently in the direction a train is moving, sometimes by a whole coach length, before it comes to a stand.

 

[LE Greys]

At around the time of the Ely remodelling additional units were drafted in from elsewhere to cover the Cambridge to Kings Lynn shuttle, including at least one Cl101 in NSE livery. I presume it came from OOC.

I've got a picture of that very unit (not scanned in, unfortunately) sitting in Platform 1b at Royston with the Cambridge shuttle. It's front on, but there is a distinctly-stripy cab door open and facing the camera.

 

[strange6]

Strange6: Given that you're clearly a MetCamm fan, why do you have a Derby Cl108 as your avatar? It's been bugging me for weeks but this is the first time there's been an opportunity to ask.

O L Leigh

I'm just a fan of the 1st generation DMU's in general Mr Leigh. My Avatar is a 108 I admit but one is very much like the other and that was the only decent photo (of a 1st gen) I could find and crop to a suitable frame size Nicely spotted by the way - you're a true railwayman for sure

 

[Welshman]

There was a bloke in the front right hand seat reading a paper as we were clogging it up through Hathern.

I'm not normally a violent person, but I did see red when someone bagged the front seat before me and then sat there and calmly ready the newspaper!

Confession time now - I did spend a large amount of my pocket money travelling in the front seat of dmus somewhere around the West Riding! [Oh, think how rich I could have been now!] The older, Derby Lightweights were best, with their large front windows [crash resistance were words which had not entered the vocabularly then!], followed by the Metro-Cammell sets, later known as class 101s.

Then BR got canny, and newer builds, eg the Class 110s and Trans-Pennine 124s were built with the 1st class compartments at both the ends. Then it was a case of one eye at the front of my head admiring the forward view and one in the back of my head, looking-out for the ttc!

 

[strange6]

I'm not normally a violent person, but I did see red when someone bagged the front seat before me and then sat there and calmly ready the newspaper!

Confession time now - I did spend a large amount of my pocket money travelling in the front seat of dmus somewhere around the West Riding! [Oh, think how rich I could have been now!] The older, Derby Lightweights were best, with their large front windows [crash resistance were words which had not entered the vocabularly then!], followed by the Metro-Cammell sets, later known as class 101s.

Then BR got canny, and newer builds, eg the Class 110s and Trans-Pennine 124s were built with the 1st class compartments at both the ends. Then it was a case of one eye at the front of my head admiring the forward view and one in the back of my head, looking-out for the ttc!

That's a lovely little confession! I always enjoyed watching the driver's actions and comparing them to the noise of the engine. The hardest part to driving these machines as far as I'm concerned was using the vacuum brakes effectively and smoothly - that really was an art that took quite a time to master.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmx3PeSTVcg&feature=related

That's a nice little clip!

 

[Class2ldn]

Grr i hate metcams. We have them down south.Now there the pits lol. Brels are much better.

 

[O L Leigh]

I think you must be getting Networkers mixed up with 1st gen DMUs.

O L Leigh

 

[Class2ldn]

No no i know the difference lol. I drive the networkers and some of the metcams are awful. (in reference to your post about metcams).

 

[JoeGJ1984]

Never experienced it myself (although I've been on the DLR at the frontseat), but the two bubblecars are still around and would give a similar experience (I don't know if the driver would pull the blinds down though - there is at least one youtube clip of the Chiltern bubblecar with the blinds down). And I think these first generation DMUs are used on heritage railways (I presume they would leave the blinds up in this case). (I imagine that lots of people in this case would look for a seat near the front, so it might be difficult to get one). I also went on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, and these coaches have open balconies and you can get a view of the track in front from the frontmost coach (although the steam locomotive is in front of you).

 

[Kingfisher200262]

It's a sad fact that in the world we live in today, there's very little likelihood of anyone designing trains with front view for passengers, in case they inadvertently witness a jumper incident and claim compensation for trauma.

It would be very easy for the forward facing CCTV in most driving cabs to be streamed to the passenger area, and / or to Wi-Fi, but it doesn't and it won't be, for the reason given above.

Maybe I'm too nostalgic, but this never entered people's minds in the '50s, did it?