How new is the DMU?
In this article, diesel multiple units (DMUs) are being touted as a new invention. While the concept of combining a diesel engine with a passenger car is indeed strange here in America, it has been widespread elsewhere for years. I took one from West Drayton to Oxford (via Slough) on my recent trip to the UK, and I appreciated the more frequent service allowed by the smaller trains.
It would be hard to imagine a huge MARC locomotive dragging two cars between Baltimore and Washington once every few minutes instead of the current setup, which involves very long trains running every hour or so. Assuming they raise the platforms, service could be far faster and more frequent at a reduced cost.
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rj3 | 12:32 PM |
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In North America, the term "diesel multiple unit" is simply the latest name for the "doodlebug" and later the Rail Diesel Car. I don't have enough time this morning to put together the research on Rail Diesel Cars and their successor, the SPV2000 (Self Propelled Vehicle for the year 2000 if memory serves) but hope to have something up at Cold Spring Shops by week's end.
The idea of faster, more frequent, shorter trains has been on people's minds for a long time. On the Northeast Corridor, the solution might be to run electric multiple units at 30 minute intervals, rather than the hourly locomotive hauled rakes. (We used to have something called the interurban to do that.) That decision is not without controversy, Adrian Vaughan objects to the replacement of hourly eight-coach High Speed Trains with half-hourly four-coach Voyagers in his book on Railway Blunders.
Thanks for a post that tempts me to do some railroad writing.
More than most readers would care to know about Budd Cars now available here.
