A Driving Brake Standard Open or DBSO is a type of railway carriage, converted to operate as a control car

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...

. Fourteen such vehicles, numbered 9701 to 9714, were converted from Mk. 2F

British Rail Mark 2

The Mark 2 family of railway carriages were British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975...

 Brake Standard Open

Brake Standard Open

A Brake Standard Open or BSO, is a type of railway carriage used by British Rail. Both Mark 1 and Mark 2 types were built. Each consists of a standard class open passenger saloon with a centre aisle, a guard's compartment with hand brake and a lockable luggage compartment.A number of Mark 1 and...

 (standard class coaches with brake van

Caboose

A caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...

) carriages. Modifications included adding a driving cab and TDM equipment to allow a locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 to be driven remotely. Using a system known as push-pull

Push-pull train

Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...

, the driver in the DBSO can drive the locomotive, even though it is at the rear of the train.

Operations

The vehicles converted in two batches. Numbers 9701–9710 were converted in 1979 for use on the newly introduced Glasgow

Glasgow Queen Street railway station

Glasgow Queen Street is a railway station in Glasgow, Scotland, the smaller of the city's two main line railway termini and the third-busiest station in Scotland. It is between George Street to the south and Cathedral Street Bridge to the north, at the northern end of Queen Street adjacent to...

-Edinburgh

Edinburgh Waverley railway station

Edinburgh Waverley railway station is the main railway station in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Covering an area of over 25 acres in the centre of the city, it is the second-largest main line railway station in the United Kingdom in terms of area, the largest being...

 InterCity ScotRail

InterCity (British Rail)

InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....

 push-pull

Push-pull train

Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...

 service with specially modified Class 47/7

British Rail Class 47

The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...

 locomotives. A further four, nos. 9711–9714 were converted in the period 1985–1986. The fourteenth DBSO, no. 9714 was a replacement for no. 9706, which was derailed

Derailment

A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....

 and damaged beyond repair in the Polmont rail crash after it hit a cow.

When first introduced, the DBSO fleet had half-cabs and retained their end gangways. They were later rebuilt to have full-width cabs, with the removal of the end gangways.

In the late 1980s, with the introduction of Class 158

British Rail Class 158

British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit train, built for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs...

 diesel multiple unit

Diesel multiple unit

A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...

s on the Glasgow-Edinburgh corridor, the DBSO fleet was transferred en-masse, and converted to use the TDM system used by the AC electric locomotives used on the London Liverpool Street-Norwich

Norwich railway station

Norwich is a railway station serving the city of Norwich in the English county of Norfolk. The station is the northern terminus of the Great Eastern Main Line from London Liverpool Street. It is also the terminus of railway lines from Ely, Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.-History:At one...

 services on the newly electrified Great Eastern Main Line

Great Eastern Main Line

The Great Eastern Main Line is a 212 Kilometre major railway line of the British railway system, which connects Liverpool Street in the City of London with destinations in east London and the East of England, including Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich and several coastal resorts such as...

. The Mk. 2E/2F

British Rail Mark 2

The Mark 2 family of railway carriages were British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975...

 coaching stock used on the route was based at Norwich Crown Point

Norwich Crown Point

Crown Point was originally the name given to an area within the city of Norwich in the United Kingdom.The name is now more commonly associated with the Crown Point Traction Maintenance Depot operated by National Express East Anglia. Intercity and Diesel Multiple Unit trains are serviced and...

 and rakes were marshalled into semi-permanent formations (numbered AR01-AR13). Traction was provided by Class 86/2

British Rail Class 86

The British Rail Class 86 was the standard electric locomotive built during the 1960s, developed as a result of testing with the earlier Classes 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85. One hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965-1966 by either English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, or...

 electric locomotive

Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...

s.

Following privatisation of 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...

, the London-Norwich route became part of the Anglia Railways

Anglia Railways

Anglia Railways was a British train operating company, owned by GB Railways, which between 5 January 1997 and 31 March 2004 operated mainline trains out of London Liverpool Street station and a number of local rail services in East Anglia....

 franchise. From 1997 onwards, a new livery of turquoise with a white stripe was introduced onto all Anglia stock. However, rake AR01, containing DBSO 9710 retained its old InterCity

InterCity (British Rail)

InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....

 livery.

In April 2004, the Anglia franchise became part of the new 'one' franchise. The thirteen surviving DBSOs were still in service, although they were gradually replaced by Driving Van Trailer

Driving Van Trailer

A Driving Van Trailer is a purpose-built railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate a locomotive at the opposite end of a train. Trains operating with a DVT therefore do not require the locomotive to be moved around to the other end of the train at terminal stations...

s (DVT) cascaded from Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland...

. One DBSO, no. 9710, has had the new 'one' Anglia livery applied by means of adhesive vinyls, whilst retaining the InterCity livery underneath.

However, many of the new Mark 3 sets being received by Anglia were not originally accompanied by DVTs. For this reason a small number of DBSOs were retained until enough DVTs had been received. The last DBSOs were withdrawn from mainline service in December 2006. Some vehicles will probably see further use by charter operators, with no. 9713 already moving to Crewe for assessment by Riviera Trains

Riviera Trains

Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company, based at Crewe in Cheshire. It owns a large fleet of Class 47 locomotives, which have been hired to both passenger and charter train operators. One of their main customers was Arriva Trains Wales, which used locomotives to haul Manchester to...

. Two others, nos. 9704 and 9709 moved for storage with FM Rail

FM Rail

FM Rail Limited was a railway spot-hire and charter company based at Derby, United Kingdom. The company was formed in January 2005 following the merging of spot-hire company Fragonset Railways Limited with charter train operating company Merlin Rail Limited...

, but since this company's collapse have been moved for secure storage. In addition, one unspecified DBSO has been reserved for preservation by the Railway Heritage Committee.

In February 2007, Network Rail

Network Rail

Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...

 took delivery of five DBSOs, nos. 9701, 9702, 9703, 9708 and 9714. These will be converted to allow test-trains to run in push-pull mode, therefore eliminating the need to operate two locomotives (one at each end of the train).

ex Riviera/Anglia MK2 driving trailer 9712 was sold to Northern Ireland Railways

Northern Ireland Railways

NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways and for a brief period of time, Ulster Transport Railways , is the railway operator in Northern Ireland...

 for use on the ex Gatwick set

British Rail Class 488

The British Rail Class 488 are unpowered trailer sets, converted from Mark 2F coaches for the Gatwick Express service from London Victoria railway station to Gatwick Airport....

 to convert it to push-pull operation

Push-pull train

Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...

 using 111 class locomotives. It is 8918 on NIR
The vehicle was finally delivered to Belfast on June 26, 2009. Almost 14 months late on contracted delivery date. It now looks as if the vehicle will never run on NIR as the ex Gatwick coaches were stopped on June 19th (before it was delivered!) and have now been withdrawn.

Fleet details

Full details of the DBSO fleet are given below:

Key:	In Service	Withdrawn	Under repair	Scrapped

Numbers		Built	Converted	Current/Final Livery	Operator	Withdrawn	Status
DBSO	BSO
9701	9528	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	NR Yellow	Network Rail	Operational	In Service with Network Rail
9702	9510	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	NR Yellow	Network Rail	Operational	In Service with Network Rail
9703	9517	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	NR Yellow	Network Rail	Operational	In Service with Network Rail
9704	9512	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	Anglia Railways	FM Rail	07/2006	Secure storage at MoD Long Marston
9705	9519	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	Anglia Railways	’one’	01/2006	Secure storage at MoD Kineton
9706	9514	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	InterCity ScotRail	British Rail	11/1984	Scrapped following accident
9707	9511	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	Anglia Railways	’one’	01/2006	Secure storage at MoD Kineton
9708	9530	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	NR Yellow	Network Rail	Operational	In Service with Network Rail
9709	9515	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	Anglia Railways	FM Rail	07/2006	Secure storage at MoD Long Marston
9710	9518	1974 Derby	1979 Glasgow	’one’	’one’	08/2005	Secure storage at Eastleigh
9711	9532	1974 Derby	1985 Glasgow	Anglia Railways	’one’	12/2006	Secure storage at MoD Kineton
9712	9534	1974 Derby	1985 Glasgow	Translink Gatwick	NI Railways	04/2006	At York Road Depot, Belfast
9713	9535	1974 Derby	1985 Glasgow	Anglia Railways	Riviera Trains	01/2006	Under repair at Crewe Carriage Shed
9714	9536	1974 Derby	1986 Glasgow	NR Yellow	Network Rail	Operational	In Service with Network Rail