Royal mail DMU s?

For some time now there has been a train of what appear to be red ( now royal scot pink) windowless dmus parked at Hellifield... what are these please, and what is to become of them...!

 

They are not Class 325, they are mail vehicles based on mk1 stock and seem to include some manner of unpowered driving vehicle. (Sorry don't know class)

Sure read somewhere that WCRC have purchased for the bogies and spares though don't quote me on this.

 

Thanks Martin, pending a closer look i'm not convinced that this is what is parked there, the 325 is far too modern looking...

 

What you see at Hellifield are propelling control vehicles (PCV) typically used for low-speed propelling moves in and out of the PRDC at Willesden when there were still loco-hauled mail trains . The class 325 EMUs are still being used for what they were originally designed for.

 

late lamented W55991 or 2

 

To answer the OP:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/r-t-c/14413756236/

 

Which confirms the posting made by rule55.

 

Perhaps faulty memory (easy now at this stage!), but weren't these propelling cab units converted from the Southern electric single MPV's? The profile looks very EMU-ish.

 

Class 307 emu's according to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propelling_Control_Vehicle

 

Thats what they look like.
Potentially useful on the end of a charter train, but of course the whole train would have to be wired through...
A good starting point for a 'bespoke' fitted out support coach for steamies perhaps

 

They had a particularly long and chequered history. Originally built as 1500v DC units, with Mk. 1 bogies, for the Liverpool St.- Southend Victoria & Chelmsford electrification in 1956. They were converted to 25 kv AC, with Gresley bogies, about 1960, "modernised", i.e. converted into open configuration, with Mk 4 bogies, in the mid-'80s and later transferred north to work Leeds-Doncaster services, before their final conversion to mail vehicles.

 

Didn't the NRM claim a DMU in the late 80s, restore it, and then hand it back to BR for conversion to a parcels unit, or am I misremembering?

 

You're thinking of Class 127 "BedPan" Diesel hydraulic DMU Motor Coach 51591 which was modified in 1988 (after designation by the Railway Heritage Committee but before being handed over to a heritage body) and renumbered 55966 but later restored to original condition and is maintained at the Midland Railway Centre.

 

Ref the comment about charter trains. Through wiring wouldn't be a problem, as these vehicles use the TDM system which runs on existing RCH coach lighting wires/connections. Therefore theoretically mark 1/2/3/4 can all work with these PCVs. The limiting factor is the number of locos that have the apparatus to do the "pushing". 47/7's are fitted along with I think 67's, and a whole host of AC electrics (86-91). There may well be other classes I've missed.