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The British Rail Class 109 is a class of 2-car diesel multiple units built in 1957 by D Wickham & Co. Five two-car units were built featuring an unusual body design. The design, first used in 1936 for
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n railways, aimed to minimise weight. It had no
underframe An underframe is a framework of wood or metal carrying the main body structure of a railway vehicle, such as a locomotive, carriage or wagon. See also * Chassis * Headstock * Locomotive bed * Locomotive frame A locomotive frame is the struct ...
, but the whole body was formed into a welded stress-bearing box girder made of solid drawn steel tube. Aluminium was used for panels, luggage racks, window frames, vacuum pipes and fuel and vacuum tanks. The corrugated steel floor was filled with sprayed asbestos and covered with asbestos-filled flame-proofed hardboard and rubber sheet. The units soon became non-standard and two were sold back to the manufacturer who exported them to
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. Another unit was converted into departmental service, and survived in BR ownership until the early 1980s.


Vehicle numbers


Further use

One two-car set (50416+56171) was extensively overhauled in 1967 at Doncaster, revamping the interiors and adding kitchen facilities to 50416. After repainting, the set was used as the ER General Managers special train, numbered 975005 / 975006.


Preservation

One two-car unit, (see above) the former departmental unit, formed of vehicles 50416 and 56171, has been preserved and restored to working condition at the
Llangollen Railway The Llangollen Railway () is a volunteer-run heritage railway in Denbighshire, North Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that c ...
. It was restored using lottery money.


References


External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20051029135601/http://www.railcar.co.uk/his100-109/109intro.htm {{British Rail DMU 109 D. Wickham and Company rolling stock Train-related introductions in 1957