THE EMUPS PAGE

First uploaded 2 May 08

Samll corrections 7 May 08

The PBR and EMUPS

What all this then? It’s a rather odd initiative from the PBR to accommodate a group and their train, which, in essence, and through no fault of their own (more on that below), had been given their marching orders from their previous home on the Dartmoor Railway. This happened at just the same time that the PBR had decided to ‘cash-in’ on some of the spare siding capacity that it had at its disposal. PBR are proud to serve as hosts to another group of committed preservationists, and hopes for a long and successful association.

Here at Meldon on the Dartmoor Railway, two coaches of 1198 are visible, with the third hidden by the curvature of the line. The unit is finished in green undercoat. The photo was taken from 4-Cig 1399 during a shunt.
(photo Albert Mutton)

About EMUPS
The Electric Multiple Unit Preservation Society Ltd, (EMUPS) is a registered company and limited by guarantee. Its members are all committed volunteers, anxious to preserve a wide cross-section of Electric Multiple Units (EMUs). Our aim, eventually, is to gain charitable status and benefit from gift aid and other advantages afforded to such groups.

EMUPS saved, owns, and maintains a three-coach third-rail Electric Multiple Unit (EMU), Unit No.1198. A four-car unit was built in 1960 as a so-called 4-Cep class for BR(Southern Region) for the Kent Coast electrification scheme. Like many EMUs, its history was complicated (see below), as, like many EMUs, component coaches were swapped about. Nowadays it is classed as a 3-Cep, or Class 411 under the BR TOPS scheme.

EMUPS has a few rules, one of which is that if the line on which our unit resides requires our help, we drop tools and help the host railway. Thus the host railway does not just gain a working unit, but also expertise from our members who can be called upon to provide skilled assistance. Our unit, 1198, was purchased as a working train straight from the main line. We are therefore keen for it to operate on a regular basis. Of course, currently, no conventional heritage railway is electrified with the third rail (or overhead for that matter), so the best we can do for the present is to haul the unit with a suitable locomotive, such as a class 73 electro-diesel.

About us:
Who we are - what we do – special responsibilities
Chairman - planning and direction - Philip Roy
Vice Chairman - Liaison with other preservation societies - Albert Mutton
Director - Administration work and organisation - Robert Burch
Company Secretary - Financial management and planning - Chris da Silva-Skinner
Electrical engineer – ETH work - Martyn Hewitson-Griffiths
Fitters – maintenance and exams – Darren Franklin and Julian Pope
Membership Secretary - Don Evans
Magazine editor - Norman Worsfold

Find out More
We have a Yahoo! Group

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/EMUPreservationSociety/

we post events and so on here, please feel free to join up.

Our little problem

The Unit’s previous home, the Dartmoor Railway was owned by Ealing Community Transport (ECT). Around January 2008 ECT abruptly announced that they were going to close the Dartmoor railway, and also their other operation – the Weardale Railway. We were required to move our unit, as were other owners, by the beginning of May. This unexpected requirement has meant that we have had to raise a lot of money very quickly in order to transport the three vehicles to South Wales. Frankly, we now owe lots of people lots of money, and before we can spend more funds improving unit 1198 we must pay our creditors

Donations of any amount will be gratefully received, If you can help in any other way, please let us know.
Life membership of the EMU Preservation Society is £500, donate that, and you are in for life.
If you cannot afford £500, then whatever you can manage will be calculated in membership at £17.50 per year.
With all of us pulling together we can move 1198 to a line where it will be cared for, looked after along with its fellow units – 1198 was 2314 before it became a 3-car unit and went to the Lymington Line - and most importantly – run in service!

Send donations and membership orders to
Don Evans, Membership Secretary.
11 South Mead, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 2EL

Our Plans:
Once we have paid the transport costs we can return to our plans which are:
[1] Light and heat. Thanks to Martyn Hewitson-Griffiths, 1198 already has ETH fitted to the DMSA end, and we hope to add this to the other end as well.
[2] Disability access. We plan to use a ‘disabled’ door from 1699 in the TBC coach to allow a wheelchair passenger to sit in a proper compartment with friends, family or carers.
[3] Safety features. 1198 is electrically complete, and we are willing to consider the fitting of Secondary Door Locking and make other changes in time to allow a return to the mainline. These fittings should also permit over 25mph running on other lines, thus making the unit of use to community-based as well as conventional preserved lines.
[4] Educational value. As a CEP, 1198 will provide a contrast with the other three surviving CEP units; one of which is to be retro-fitted and two are to remain post-Swindon (BR modifications 1970’s) but with earlier liveries. 1198 will be taking things forward – how would the CEPs have had to change had they been allowed to continue on the mainline?
[5] Flexibility of use. We are working on detachable tables that can fit over the trinket trays to allow buffet operations using the unit.
[6] Traction. We are looking into ways of fitting batteries to the unit to allow limited amount of traction for running, shunting, etc., thus saving on diesel propulsion and its fuel.

1198 on the mainline.
1198 started off as a Phase 2 Kent Coast Electrification 4CEP [Corridored Electro-Pneumatic] unit, number 7175; it saw regular use on Boat trains and other services from Victoria, Charing Cross, Blackfriars and Cannon Street. (Phase 2 was mainly Charing Cross – Tonbridge – Ashford – Dover together with Canterbury Wast and Ramsgate via Sandwich)
It went for refurbishment at Swindon and lost its TSK (Trailer Second Corridor) carriage for a buffet car, and emerged as a BEP [Buffet Electro-Pneumatic] unit, numbered 2304, allocated to the South Western division working mainline services from Waterloo.
It remained there until retirement; in its last years it lost its buffet car and gained a TSO, (Trailer Second Open) reverting to a 4CEP, numbered 2314.
From June 2004, it was transferred to run on the Lymington Line till December of that year, and lost the TSO it had for a few months, becoming a 3CEP, and numbered 1198. Staff on the Lymigton branch unofficially named 1198 ‘Linda’. Another 3CEP, 1199, worked the branch before Linda and was dubbed ‘Lucy’, whilst ‘Lisa’, a 3CIG (Class 423) came later and worked the branch. Collectively they were called ’The Lymington Flyers’. 1198 was secured for preservation in January 2005 when it went to the Dartmoor Railway

1198 since preservation
The start of 1198`s life after the mainline.
1198 nearly wasn’t saved; EMUPS had an agreement to bring a FOUR car unit to Dartmoor and initially we wanted 2315, as this unit has the TSO 70229, which really belongs in the East Kent unit 2325 AKA 7105 which we had helped to save earlier.
The plan was to convert 2315 into a 3 Car unit [The Railway Inspectorate does not permit propelling of 4 or more vehicles so a 3 car was needed anyway] and use the TSO for stores, eventually donating it to the EPBPG who own 2325/7105, thus giving them the complete original unit.
However a short-lived HSE restriction meant we could only have 1198, but after the restriction lifted, we helped negotiate for both 2315 and 2311 to be saved at the Eden Valley Railway. In this way the only four complete CEP units were saved; 2325, 1198, 2311 and 2315.

There have been a number of setbacks, after arrival we were told the airbraked steam locomotive 1198 was to have worked with had a damaged boiler and was unable to enter service; the replacement was vacuum braked, and thus incompatible with our unit.
In autumn 2007 the unit was passed fit to run, and the unit was used for several driver training runs at line speed to and from Coleford with a class 73 loco working in multiple. The unit was popular with the drivers and other operational staff at the line.
Unfortunately, later in 2007 a change of stock policy by the railway rendered the unit surplus to their requirements. The storage agreement ran out in April and so we had to find a new home for 1198 – and here we are at Blaenavon.

The Unit.
1198 is a highly versatile unit; it consists of two Driving Motor Second Open (DMSO) vehicles with 64 standard seats per carriage, with a centre Trailer Brake Composite (TBC) vehicle with two toilets, four 1st class compartments with 6 seats each, a guards brake, a goods area next to a standard class compartment of 6 seats.
The unit is gangwayed throughout, making for easy access for passengers and train crew to any part of the train.

Works already completed.
On arrival at the Dartmoor Railway, work got underway to repaint 1198. We were told it had to be in Atlantic Coast Green, and we were able to get it into the correct undercoat in time for the 2006 Diesel Gala. We are not greatly concerned about the colour scheme, so long as it runs in service; one more coat of paint is, after all, more protection. Electric Train Heating (ETH) was fitted to the DMSO (A) end and provides light to the whole unit and heat to the DMSO (A) and TBC. Plans to extend ETH to the third (DMSO (B)) carriage are now on hold for the moment. A lot of work has been done to improve flooring and window frames, repair lavatory valves, fix loose fittings etc. These works, although minor, all add up to make 1198 a pleasant, comfortable and safe unit.

Future Plans.
We plan to cut a doorway from the goods area to the standard compartment to allow a wheelchair user to enter by the double doors in the goods area and access the standard compartment by way of the new door. Plans are also being made to fit removable tables; these would fit over the existing trinket trays and have a fold-back leg, to allow the unit to work as a dining train, or as it was built, or as a combination of both.