diesel motive unit

[miketurnham]

I am building a railcar multiple unit comprising two unpowered passenger cars sandwiching a diesel propulsion unit. I have modified three 00 Dapol C47 railcar kits, taking off one body end from each of the passenger units, leaving a driver's compartment on each. The power unit had both ends removed to shorten the body. I now have to decide should the power unit have blank sides, or should they retain the windows from the original body? Would a the manufacturer fit windows, bearing in mind the consist is fitted with corridor connections and passengers would pass through the unit? Or is this unrealistic?

[JulienW]

The thing to think about is the layout of the centre power unit.

Are the engine(s) mounted below the floor (like 'modern' DUMs) or in the body of the vehicle? Given that a 2' to 2'6" gauge railcar will be narrower and lower than a standard gauge one my feeling is that having the power inside is more likely. If that is the case then you would probably not want the general public (passengers or "customers" in the modern parlance) wandering though the engine room, and as it's unlikely the engine room would be divided with a corridor down the middle then the middle car would be asymmetrical with the corridor running down one side. This would have windows, and possibly a door whereas the other side would not have windows (not needed) or might have a small number of windows with frosted glass in. Bear in mind that it might also have a doorway (double doors) to get the engine(s) and other bits of mechanical gubbins in and out for maintenance.  There may even be a removable roof section, and there might be double doors in the corridor side to get parts in and out.

If the idea is to allow the guard to pass through but not the passengers then you can still have the corridor connections but the windows would probably be frosted glass if only so that the guard and any fitters working on it can see what they are doing, but remember that the bigger doors might be needed in both sides as per the corridor version.

With an underfloor power set up then there may still be an asymmetrical corridor  with the rest of the area being given over to guard's and luggage accommodation as it might be too noisy with the engines underneath for passenger accommodation.

[miketurnham]

Thanks Julian, the engine does intrude into the body space so it has side corridors, they are probably going to be too narrow for passengers to use and only be used for the driver or guard to swap ends at the terminuii. I do need to consider larger doors or a roof hatch for engine changes. In view of the cost of a bespoke railcar set it might be reasonable to suppose the operating company is able to have an engine hoist in the depot so I think a hatch wins over body side mods. The windows will be frosted, saves on interior detail as there is not much room inside any way with a Kato bogie chassis installed.

[Hobby]

Have a look on the County gate website as he has done several railcars with that set up. Bottom of this link:

http://www.009.cd2.com/locos_page.htm

[tat2drod]

The Veolia company over here in the south of The Netherlands has multiple units with a central engine section which us passengers can walk through (necessary for access to the one toilet they have). The DMUs have a sliding door (operated by pushbutton) separating the engine corridor from the rest of the train but the ones that work off the overhead don't.

If you look them up on your favourite internet search engine you should be able to find a decent picture or two.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Thanks Julian, the engine does intrude into the body space so it has side corridors, they are probably going to be too narrow for passengers to use ...

Corridors are/were very narrow on British standard gauge trains. Anyone with broad shoulders had to do a sideways shuffle, guard or passenger. I suspect that a number of people now would get stuck Winnie-the-Pooh-like.  They were definitely not wheelchair friendly (much as now).