BRITISH RAIL CLASS 210

The British Rail 'Class 210' was a type of Diesel-electric multiple unit built in the late 1970s. The class was intended to be a modern DEMU to replace the ageing types in use on the Southern Region of British Railways but the prototypes built did not manage to secure production for the class and they were withdrawn in the 1980s.

Contents

Introduction

Technical details

Set 210 001

Set 210 002

Sources

External links

Introduction

The class were externally very similar to the Class 317/1 but half of the forward carriage was taken up by the engine room.
Seven vehicles were built, formed into 210001 (four car set) and 210002 (three car set). The vehicles were initially given numbers in the DMMU series (5xxxx) but quickly renumbered into the DEMU series (6xxxx).
Sets 210001 and 210002 operated in various parts of the country on trial (as did the prototype railbuses, both the single cars and the Class 140 set). In the end they were judged too complex, and their remit was filled by the Class 150 family of Sprinter units.
The cars led different lives after BR. The two driving trailers (and the intermediate trailer of the three car set together with one trailer from the four car set) were used in the Class 457 Networker development train. Both the driving cars subsequently passed to the Suburban Electric Railway Association but one was subsequently transferred to HSBC Rail (potentially for future use in a Class 455 set). There was a plan for a driving motor to be saved also but, after their storage at Eastleigh for many years (still in blue & grey livery), both driving motors were scrapped between 1999 & 2001.
One of the TSOs is currently in class 455 set 455912 and the other two have been scrapped.
A Class 210 DEMU appears in the music video of the 1984 hit "smalltown boy" by Bronkski Beat.

Technical details

Set 210 001

Power car (one per four-car set)

★ Introduced: 1981

★ Weight: 64.5 tonnes

★ Engine: Paxman 6RP200L of 1,125 bhp (840 KW)

★ Transmission: Electric

★ Maximum design speed: 90 mph

Set 210 002

Power car (one per three-car set)

★ Introduced: 1981

★ Weight: 63.0 tonnes

★ Engine: MTU 12V396 TC 11 of 1,140 bhp (850 KW)

★ Transmission: Electric

★ Maximum design speed: 90 mph

Sources

★ Ian Allan ABC of British Rail Motive Power, 1983 edition

External links

★ Class 210 photo

★ Paxman Valenta engine