British Rail Class 504
Encyclopedia
The British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 Class 504 was a unique type of electric multiple unit
Electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

 that ran on 1200 V DC third rail with side-contact current collection. All other UK third rail has the electric "shoe" on top of the rail. The type was used only between Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 and Bury
Bury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...

. They were built in 1959, and the body was a standard type used for several electrification schemes of the time, but the high DC voltage through a side-contact third rail was unique in Britain. The trains replaced the previous 5-car units built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway for the route, which had inaugurated this electrification scheme in 1916.

All units of this type were withdrawn in 1991 when the line was closed for conversion to form part of the Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...

 light rail system. One unit, no. 65451+77172, is preserved at the East Lancashire Railway
East Lancashire Railway
The East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England.-Overview:After formal closure by British Rail in 1982, the line was reopened on 25 July 1987. The initial service operated between Bury and Ramsbottom, via Summerseat. In 1991 the service was extended...

 (ELR).

Numbering

British Railways numbers were:
  • Motor Open Brake Second
    • M65436-M65461 (26 cars 1959, BR Wolverton Works)

  • Driving Trailer
    Control car (rail)
    A control car is a generic term for a non-powered railroad vehicle that can control operation of a train from the end opposite to the position of the locomotive...

     Composite (later Driving Trailer Second)
    • M77157-M77182 (26 cars 1959, BR Wolverton Works)

Incidents

All maintenance was conducted by the constructing workshops of Wolverton. The units were diesel hauled from Bury to and from Wolverton.

In 1986 a condemned vehicle (77169?) was given (on temporary bogies) to the newly formed ELR. The carriage was used for a mock fire emergency exercise in Bury Tunnel (at Bolton Street station) with local fire services, British Rail Staff, and soon-to-be volunteers of the new ELR. After the exercise this carriage was sold to a local scrap merchant in Bury and cut up early in 1987. The bogies were returned to the Bury BR depot. The bogies themselves were of interest, being a set of the original Lancashire and Yorkshire EMU unit bogies, which after the scrapping of L&Y 1920s EMUs were retained to move objects around Bury Depot. These bogies were cut up into parts and dumped in a skip at Bury depot on its closure in 1991.

Withdrawal from service

Substantially more units were built than were soon required, and the unique electrical system prevented redeployment. By the 1966 LMR timetable, only 6 to 7 years after the units were introduced, the peak hour service was down to a 10-15 minute interval, requiring only five 4-car trains in service, so only 10 units from the fleet of 26 were required each day by this time. The reduced service (off peak was down to a 30-minute interval, requiring just two 2-car units) was responsible for much business being driven away to the frequent parallel bus services on this quite short urban route.

By the early-1970s only 18 sets remained in use, reduction in demand on the service resulting in years of storage for the first seven sets from the late 1960s onwards (65436-65442; 77157-77163). Additionally Driving Trailer 77164 was transferred in 1970 to the Tilbury lines of Eastern Region to replace car 75292 in 302244, which had been written off in an accident. Its running mate 65443 was thereafter a spare car at Bury depot.

Many of the early stored vehicles were still in BR Green with small yellow warning panels (inc 65438/439 and 77158/159/160), with others in early versions of BR blue with; full yellow ends (inc 65436/437); wrap round yellow ends (65443); or even with small yellow warning panels (65442 and 77163).

In the late 1970s some cars including 65439/443 and 77158/160 were stored at Croxley Green to supply spares to class 501's. Some then went on to Wolverton (inc 77158) for further spares recovery.

Following stripping for spares at their southern locations three cars (Blue 65436/443 and Green 77158) were dumped at Cockshute in Stoke on Trent in sight of the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

.

The eventual disposal of the early losses saw 65440 and 77161 cut up at Bury in 1970/71; 65438 sent to CF Booths in 1979; 65437 and 77157/163 disposed of at Horwich Works in 1982/83; 65439/441/442 and 77160/162 to Bird Group at Long Marston in 1983; and 65436/443 together with the final Green vehicle 77158 to Vic Berry at Leicester for disposal in 1985. Of note was that despite the years of storage none were officially withdrawn until just before disposal.

77164 retained its place in 302244 until 1985 when a replacement class 302 driving trailer was located. The class 504 vehicle was sent for scrap in June the same year to Marple and Gillott.

Apart from two vehicles, 65448 and 77169 withdrawn in the mid 1980s, no further significant withdrawals began until the closure of the line in the 1990s.

The first batch of latter day redundant Bury Class 504 units were hauled from Bury to Warrington before going to MC Metals of Glasgow for scrapping in early 1991. After this point the reduced Bury–Crumpsall service was operated in four-car formation. In August 1991 the entire line was closed. The next day a Class 31
British Rail Class 31
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and originally as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62.- Description :...

 diesel (31306) hauled all the units from Bury to Warrington in two trains of units. From Warrington, the entire collection was towed to MC Metals in Glasgow.

Two units remained at Bury, one purchased for the ELR, and another bought, reputedly as a joke, for £504 by Harry Needle. The latter was sold to the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society (ELRPS). Much debate took place amongst ELR volunteers as the Class 31 pushed the units over the Buckley Wells crossing to a waiting Class 40
British Rail Class 40
The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel locomotive. Built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962, and eventually numbering 200, they were for a time the pride of the British Rail early diesel fleet...

. (The Bury Depot side of the crossing was still owned by BR until midnight that Saturday and the ELR was prevented from using its own locomotives to collect the units). From the Sunday after closure, the ELR moved over the crossing and took possession of the (BQ) Bury Depot Complex.

Preservation

The ELR found itself with two unique Class 504 Units, having only expected one. One unit was refurbished in the late 1980s, with modern strip lighting, and complete running boards outside. The other unit was refurbished in the 1970s, and has incandescent bulbs and individual running boards to each door. The unit was eventually gifted to the ELRPS.

In October 1991 at the ELR annual diesel gala, Harry Needle, with his then owned Class 25
British Rail Class 25
The British Rail Class 25 diesel locomotives were also known as Sulzer Type 2 and nicknamed Rats, as it was alleged they could be seen everywhere in Britain, and hence were "as common as rats"...

, (25262) placed his locomotive in the centre of the 2 units. The units were through wired to have the diesel in the middle and the capability to be driven from both ends of the units in a push pull mode. This was a major success for the October diesel gala, and pointed numerous possibilities to the future for having two units. This weekend saw a Class 504 Unit running north of Bury station for the first time.

One unit has since been scrapped and the parts stored in a container at Buckley Wells. The remaining unit suffers largely from neglect and appears to be treated as another piece of unrestored coaching stock with an uncertain future.

Besides the Class 504 at Bury, an example of the unique side contact third rail gear and a section of electric rail was retained for the National Railway Museum
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...

 at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

; this is now restored and on display.

External links

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