DMU Compendium - Hardcover

The third of Boocock's Compendium titles provides a guide to all diesel multiple units (DMUs) constructed for use in Britain and Ireland over the past sixty years. The DMU first appeared before World War 2, but it was not until the Derby Lightweight units in the early 1950s that large numbers were produced. Cleaner and more efficient than the steam services they replaced, it was hoped that the DMU would save many of the country's unprofitable passenger lines. Initially, their impact was dramatic but eventually even the savings produced by the DMUs proved insufficient and many of the lines for which they were constructed fell victim to the Beeching Axe. Following the true Compendium format, each class of DMU is profiled on one page, including a brief commentary, a table of key facts, with a large picture of the standard version of the class, and pictures of all significant variations. The book includes 200 mono and color illustrations.

Author Colin Boocock is an experienced railway engineer and lifelong railway enthusiast. He is also a dedicated photographer, drawing inspiration from the late Eric Treacy's booklet My Best Railway Photographs to attain considerable skill in taking and developing railway photographs. In his professional life Colin became a chartered mechanical engineer and during his forty-one years of full-time employment pursued a varied railway career, concerned mainly with the maintenance of traction and rolling stock, on all six original regions of British Railways. Now semiretired, he continues to be involved in consultancy work while having more time to devote to his hobby.