Class 141 Railbus - Built 1984

This is the newest item in the Llangollen Railcars collection and represents one of the first attempts to provide a cost-effective replacement for the fleet of diesel multiple units which had been built in the 1950s and 1960s.

Heritage railcars had been built with a life expectancy of 25 years and so by the 1980's thoughts were turning towards what could replace them.
At the time the Railways of Britain were very run down and there was little cash available with which to buy new trains.

A joint project was undertaken by British Rail Research at Derby and Leyland Buses at Workington with the object of constructing a cheap lightweight train.
Three single-car railbuses and a more complex two-car train (the class 140) were made before the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority agreed to pay for a production batch of 20 vehicles to a revised design.

Known as class 141 these vehicles were made using Leyland National bus body parts on a four-wheel chassis.Although much cheaper than a conventional train there were many disadvantages and the batch of 20 was to be modified many times during its time in service.

However the economies which the new trains brought with them enabled West Yorkshire to cut the cost of running trains and to open more stations and lines.The increased traffic which resulted has enabled more expensive conventional trains to be bought and some lines have even been electrified.

The class 141 is unique in that it is narrower than a conventional rail vehicle or than any other of the later "Pacer" railbus classes. This is because it was built with standard Leyland National parts whereas later models, like the 142, had modified cove panels to make them wider, enabling seating to be raised from 94 to 120.

Unfortunately there were many problems, particularly with the brakes, gearboxes and the engines. This vehicle, and its partner, had - as an experiment - their Leyland engines removed and had Cummins LT10s fitted instead. At the same time the gearboxes were changed and Voith T211r fitted. Later the set went to Hunslet-Barclay where it was rebuilt to conform electrically with the later-built classes 142-144.

This set remained the only class 141 to receive new engines and gearboxes. The small class was withdrawn during the late 1990s due to reliability issues. Some found new homes in Iran and Holland while two unmodified sets went to preserved railways.

This example, which is unique, was bought by us in 2001 and required extensive work, including the rebuilding of one of the engines and a complete exterior overhaul and repaint. It re-entered service at the start of 2007 and made its debut at the Midland Railway Centre. In mid 2010 it was relocated to the Weardale Railway where it is used on diagrams which provide community rail services between Bishop Auckland and Stanhope.

This train is preserved in the later pattern of West Yorkshire Passenger Transport "Metro" livery and retains its West Yorkshire interior and period posters. It was based for the whole of its working life at Leeds Neville Hill Depot.

Originally this unit was painted in West Yorkshire's Metro Green and cream livery but this was changed to red when it was rebuilt. 141113 (then 141012) is seen here when virtually brand new at Leeds Station on 11th May 1984.