19850223_ZD_AdrianNicols
Production Prototype 2-car class 141 Railbus set no.141 001. Kilmarnock. 1988.
With British Rail looking for a cost effective means of replacing the aging standard DMU fleet BRE (British Rail Engineering) in conjunction with Leyland Bus developed the lightweight railbus concept. Instead of bogied vehicles these new units were built on an express freight wagon underframe which was being developed for fast container freight by BR Derby Research Centre. On top went a standard Leyland National bus body and interior. As railway stock went these new generation units were very basic. It should also be recognized though that if not for the class 140 to 144 railbuses much of the branch network and secondary lines within the UK might well have lost their passenger service during the Conservative Government era of the early 1980's when rail investment was seen as subsidy. So they served a purpose but were never a patch on the stock they replaced and only just outlasted the older units they were intended to replace., All bar one of the class 141 fleet of twenty units were outshopped in West Yorkshire PTE green and white livery from new but the first of the class which went to BR Derby Research for evaluation and type testing was outshopped in BR blue and grey livery. The unit was accepted by BR in October 1983 and from 1985 ended up allocated to Neville Hill Depot in Leeds to be with the rest of the class 141's. Poor reliability and non standard couplings lead to the class being refurbished from 1988 onwards at Andrew Barclay's Works, Kilmarnock. Stored units were thus hauled to Scotland for overhaul and here sets 141 001 still in BR livery but robbed of many parts is seen waiting its turn for overhaul. It returned to service as 141 102 in May 1989 sporting the new red and cream "Metro-Train" livery but by 1997 was withdrawn and like 12 of its sister sets was exported in 2001-02 to RAI (The State Railways of Iran).
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