KNOW YOUR… LIVERIES
PART 10: Southern Region Diesel Electric Multiple Units
Paul Chancellor examines the colour schemes carried by British Rail’s Southern Region DEMUs.
All of the BR(S) DEMU classes began life in ‘plain green’ livery with the shade of paint being the same as that used on Southern Region EMU stock. This is seen on Hastings unit 1013 at Ham
Street station in 1960.
D. OVENDEN/COLOUR RAIL
The Southern Region of British Railways was unique in adopting electric transmission for its diesel multiple unit fleet, which led to the new trains being classed as DEMUs. Three basic designs emerged in the late 1950s, with each featuring a single diesel power unit mounted above the carriage frame, as opposed to the underslung engines adopted elsewhere on BR. The types were designated ‘Hastings’, ‘Hampshire’ and ‘Oxted’, these monikers reflecting the routes on which the trains were intended to work, although enthusiasts referred to them all as ‘Thumpers’, owing to the characteristic noise they made.