DMU Update, Oct '25

Below are two photographs of the corridor connections on our DMU carriages taken back in 2017, when they were still located at the Midland Railway Centre (MRC), Butterley.

The carriages arrived at NPL Thornton in basically the same condition three years later in March 2020.

Trailer Car

The corridor connection remained attached to carriage as the previous owner had not yet started work on it.

They had concentrated first on restoring the power car (see following).

The red oxide areas are for steelwork repairs we commissioned MRC to carry out on our behalf.

Power Car

The previous owner had removed the corridor connection from the power car to allow the welding in of new steel work to replace corroded steel, and then to repaint the carriage.

In addition, they removed the two lower brackets on to which the corridor connection is attached (see later).

Note the damage to the sliding doors on both vehicles.

Fortunately, MRC were able to supply us with all the dismantled corridor connection parts and we brought all the parts up to NPL inside the DMU.

Eight Years Later

A lot of work has taken place during 2025 to refurbish the corridor connections on both carriages.

This view is the rear of the trailer car after the corridor connection had been carefully removed.

Its removal allowed further repairs to be made to the steel work and to paint the end of the carriage.

The damage to the sliding door has been repaired.

Steel Components

All steel components have been removed and disassembled, rust ground off, and the fixing bolts and nuts undone.

Where necessary, the split pin holes on the bolts have been redrilled ready for new pins.

All metal parts have now been painted with Hammerite black paint and are now stored ready for future refitting.

This photo shows one set of the side scissors being disassembled ready for overhaul.

Connection Plates

Both corridor connection end plates have received simiar treatment with rust removed.

Coats of Hammerite black paint have then been applied.

Scissor Brackets

Finally, as mentioned earlier, the previous owners had removed from the power car, the brackets on to which the scissors are attached.

We have now reinstated these but had to work out exactly where to position them and to redrill the holes for the fixing bolts.

The position of the holes was lost during the welding repairs mentioned above.

What Next?

The corridor connections cannot be refitted to the carriages until all the exterior painting of the DMU is completed, hopefully in 2026.

In addition we need to carry our repairs to the bellow sides of the corridor connection.

Nigel Kirkpatrick