British Rail Class 104

The British Rail Class 104 diesel multiple units were built by Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company from 1957 to 1959.

The first units ordered were for the London Midland Region, with the majority of the class for use in North West of England. Sets were also used in Tyneside, replacing the former LNER Tyneside electric units following the de-electrification of the North Tyneside Loop line in 1967, but were themselves made redundant by the opening of the Tyne & Wear Metro in 1980. In the mid-1980s a few units reallocated to Scotland, with one unit being repainted in a unique maroon and white livery for services to Oban – it became known as the "Mexican Bean". Other vehicles spent time in London and the last vehicles could be found there in the early 1990s, notably on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.

The class was gradually taken out of service from the early 1980s and was replaced by Sprinters. The final vehicles were withdrawn in 1995.

Departmental Use
A number of Class 104s were used following their withdrawal from passenger services.

The last two London Midland DTCL vehicles to survive, M54182 & M54183, were converted in 1987/1988 into loco hauled Sandite cars and renumbered ADB977554/ADB977555 respectively. Used until 1994, M54183 was scrapped in February 1994 while M54182 was stored at Buxton until June 2000 and was saved for preservation.

Other Sandite cars included 53472, 53478 & 53530 which were used in Scotland until April 1989.

Derby RTC, known for their railway testing, used 53475, 53506 & 53422 (renumbered 977342, 977343 & 977344 respectively) as carriage washing test coaches. They also used 53451 & 53529 as part of DMU auto-gear experiments until February 1991.

M54182 was the only vehicle converted for non-passenger use to survive into preservation. In 2008 after several years in storage, the vehicle was restored externally, retaining its departmental condition and run in a demonstration capacity with Class 37 37075 for a gala weekend at the Churnet Valley Railway. It was believed by the organisers to be the first and only time that departmental DMU Sandite operations had been recreated in a heritage setting.

Preservation
13 Class 104 vehicles are preserved, all owned privately by two individuals. 12 vehicles were preserved in 1992 in a bulk tender from British Rail who at the time were reluctant to sell individual vehicles or sets. The thirteenth was saved in 2000 after protracted storage after departmental use.

Churnet Valley Railway
The Churnet Valley Railway is the main location for Class 104 preservation, with six preserved vehicles based there. The line is geographically appropriate to the Class, being close to Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, and other lines that the Class 104's served for most of their lives. A small restoration team returned a 2-car set to service between 1997 & 2004. Between 2005 & 2010 attention turned to the rebuild of unique Trailer Composite Lavatory (TCL) M59137 to strengthen the 2-car set to 3 cars, however limited resources put the restoration on hold. Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory (DTCL) ADB977554 was also cosmetically restored into BR Blue livery in 2008 and performed demonstration sandite trains that year with Class 37 Diesel 37075.

Llangollen Railway
The Llangollen Railway received three vehicles in 1994 on a long term loan basis. A 2-car set (M50454/M50528) was quickly returned to service in 1994 and has operated in service every season bar one since. The railway also have a "spare" power car (M50447) which was used as a mess-coach and workshop between 1994 & 2011 before being selected itself for a restoration to operating condition, which is currently ongoing.

Telford Steam Railway
The Telford Steam Railway is home to the remaining four vehicles (also on long term loan), which arrived between 1999 and 2001 from Oswestry, Crewe and Meadowhall. Between 1999 & 2004 the railway operated a 2-car set formed of M50479/M50531 but it was later downgraded to coaching stock use only and by 2010 only M50479 was used. The other two vehicles, 59228 & 53556, are long term projects in poor condition and have not run in preservation.