Driving Van Trailer

This article is about British DVTs, which are a type of railway control car.

British Rail DVT
An East Coast Mark 4 DVT at Peterborough station.
In service	1988 – present
Manufacturer	BREL, Metro-Cammell
Family name	British Rail Mk3 (82101–82152) British Rail Mk4 (82200–82231) British Rail Mk3 (82301–82305) Refurbished
Constructed	1988
Number built	Mk3: 52 Mk4: 32
Number scrapped	Mk3: 1 Mk4: 1
Fleet numbers	82101–82152 82301-82305 82200–82231
Operator	Chiltern Railways DB Schenker Greater Anglia East Coast Virgin Trains Arriva Trains Wales
Specifications
Car length	18.83 m (61 ft 9 in)
Width	2.71 m (8 ft 11 in)
Height	3.88 m (12 ft 9 in)
Maximum speed	Mk3: 110 mph (177 km/h) Mk4: 140 mph (225 km/h)
Weight	43.7 tonnes (96,000 lb)
Braking system(s)	Air
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

A Driving Van Trailer (DVT) 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. Unlike many other control cars, DVTs resemble locomotives (specifically Class 91) and thus when the train is operating in "push" mode it does not appear to be travelling backwards. The vehicles have no passenger accommodation due to rules in place at the time of building that prohibited passengers in the leading vehicles of trains that travel at more than 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

Development

On the InterCity 225 (IC225) sets operating on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) the Mark 4 DVTs and locomotives operate in push-pull formation utilising a Time-Division Multiplexer to send control signals along specially screened cables which run the length of the train. The locomotives usually face away from London, only being changed occasionally in rare circumstances.

On the original Mark 3 DVTs, which operated on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the intention was to use the RCH jumpers to carry the signals therefore allowing the same cables to be used for lighting and the public address system, as well as driver-guard signalling. However this proved to be very troublesome in service and eventually the rakes of coaches on the WCML were re-wired with specially screened cables exclusively for the TDM system.

Mark 3 DVT in InterCity livery pauses at Crewe in 1989 with a London bound train

In addition to the driver's cab, some DVTs have luggage and cycle storage space and a guard's office.

When a train is operated by a DVT, the control signals are encoded and multiplexed onto the cables by the TDM equipment in the DVT. At the locomotive, these signals are demultiplexed by the TDM equipment, and the signals are used to control the locomotive. The air braking system is operated directly from whichever cab the driver is driving from. If the TDM fails and cannot be reconfigured, the train may still operate, but if the DVT is leading, it will be necessary to uncouple the locomotive and attach it to the front of the train.

The DVT was developed from the Mark 2 DBSO, but unlike its predecessor, it was built specifically for this purpose. The original DVTs were designed to be used with Mark 2 D, E & F and Mark 3 coaches, and the second design with Mark 4 coaches, which have a narrower profile. This enables it to be converted to tilting operation if required in the future.

Mark 3 DVTs can be seen in service in the UK today with EWS, with Greater Anglia Mainline services and occasionally with Virgin West Coast, powered by Class 90 locomotives. During its operation, Wrexham & Shropshire utilised Mark 3 DVTs on its services between London and Wrexham powered by Class 67 locomotives. The Mark 4 DVT is operated by East Coast and powered by Class 91s. They were also powered by the unique Class 89 Co-Co locomotive which once operated on the same route but is now preserved.

Mark 3 DVT

Operators

Virgin West Coast

A Virgin West Coast Mark 3 DVT pictured north of Weedon in the summer of 2004.

Virgin Trains' one remaining DVT, now painted in the new livery and seen at Birmingham New Street in December 2009.

Virgin West Coast used to operate push-pull services on WCML between London Euston, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow in conjunction with Class 86, Class 87 and Class 90 locomotives, but latterly the services went on to be run exclusively by Class 390 Pendolinos. Virgin retained two DVTs for backup purposes, both DVTs have recently been fitted with on-train monitoring recorders (OTMR). As of July 2009, one of the vehicles had been repainted into a Pendolino silver/black livery, in order to bring it in line with the newer trains.

Greater Anglia

Greater Anglia operate push-pull services between London London Liverpool Street and Norwich in conjunction with Class 90 locomotives. These DVTs were originally used by Virgin West Coast until the Pendolinos were fully operational. All the WCML DVTs needed refurbishing when they came off lease and were re-painted into 'one' colours.

Mark 3 82119 DVT at Norwich station

DB Schenker

DB Schenker (Formerly known as EWS) operate a Mark 3 DVT as part of their EWS Company Train. 82146 is painted in the Silver colours of the company train and operates with Class 67 67029 and three Mark 3 coaches.

Chiltern Railways

Wrexham & Shropshire started operating push-pull services with DVTs in October 2008 between Wrexham General and London Marylebone in conjunction with Class 67 diesel locomotives following the start of the service on 28 April 2008. The DVTs required modification to work with the Class 67, involving adding a notched power controller as is used in the locomotive and a 27 wire jumper cable as used on the GM EMD locomotives which is known as the AAR Multiple Working system. These DVTs were originally used by Virgin West Coast until the Pendolinos were fully operational.

Although these services did start operation in April 2008, no DVTs were initially used due to delays in the refurbishment of the units. Up to mid October WSMR trains used two Class 67 Locomotives - one at either end of the train. On 11 October 2008 the first DVT entered traffic on a WSMR service.

Following the closure of Wrexham & Shropshire these vehicles transferred to sister company Chiltern Railways and started operating on Birmingham to London Marylebone services. They are currently being further modified to work with the power doors that Chiltern are fitting to the Mk3 coaches and to have a generator fitted to enable Electric Train Supply and compressed air to be provided to the coaches when the Class 67 locomitve is not running, such as when in terminus stations and when stabled.

As a result of the modification to work with the Class 67s, the WSMR DVTs have been renumbered 82/3 series although they do retain the ability to work with TDM fitted electric locomotives.

Arriva Trains Wales

In a similar vein to WSMR, the Gerralt Gymro Premier Service between Holyhead and Cardiff is to move from Class 57 + Mk.3 coaches to Class 67 + DVT sometime in 2012. Class 67 locomotive 67001 has, as of December 2011, already been repainted in Arriva Blue livery, with at least one DVT, 82306, also sporting a new paint job.

Current Status

Key:	In Service	Stored	Scrapped	Renumbered	Other Use

Number	Name(s)	Built	Final Livery	Operator	Status
82101	Wembley InterCity Depot 101 Squadron	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82102	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82103	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82104	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	Greater Anglia	Training vehicle for drivers at Norwich Crown Point
82105	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82106	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82107	-	1988 Derby	Greater Anglia Silver	Greater Anglia	In service
82108	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82109	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82110	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82111	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82112	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82113	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82114	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82115	-	1988 Derby	BR Blue	None	Stored
82116	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82117	-	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82301
82118	Britannia	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82119	-	1988 Derby			Scrapped at MoD Caerwent (11/2005)
82120	Liverpool Chamber of Commerce	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82121	Carlisle Cathedral	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82122	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82123	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82124	The Girls' Brigade	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82125	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82126	G8 Summit Birmingham 1998 Wembley Traincare Depot	1988 Derby	Virgin "Pendolino" Silver/Red	Virgin Trains	In service
82127	Abraham Darby	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82128	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82129	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82130	-	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82304
82131	-	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82307
82132	West Midlands Industry '96	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82133	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82134	-	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82305
82135	Spirit of Cumbria	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82303
82136	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82137	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82138	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82139	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82140	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82141	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82142	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82143	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82144	-	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82306
82145	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82146	-	1988 Derby	EWS Silver	DB Schenker	In service
82147	The Red Devils	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82148	International Spring Fair	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82149	101 Squadron	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh	Training vehicle for fire-fighters at Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh
82150	-	1988 Derby	Virgin Red/Black	None	Stored
82151	-	1988 Derby			Renumbered 82302
82152	-	1988 Derby	’One’ slate grey with NXEA white stripe	Greater Anglia	In service
82301	-	1988 Derby	Chiltern Railways Mainline Silver/Grey	Chiltern Railways	In service - Renumbered from 82117
82302	-	1988 Derby	Chiltern Railways White/Blue	Chiltern Railways	In service - Renumbered from 82151
82303	-	1988 Derby	Chiltern Railways Mainline Silver/Grey	Chiltern Railways	In service - Renumbered from 82135
82304	-	1988 Derby	Chiltern Railways Mainline Silver/Grey	Chiltern Railways	In service - Renumbered from 82130
82305	-	1988 Derby	Chiltern Railways Mainline Silver/Grey	Chiltern Railways	In service - Renumbered from 82134
82306	-	1988 Derby	Arriva Trains Wales Blue	Arriva Trains Wales	Renumbered from 82144 in preparation for future use on Gerralt Gymro Premier Services
82307	-	1988 Derby	Arriva Trains Wales Blue	Arriva Trains Wales	Renumbered from 82131 in preparation for future use on Gerralt Gymro Premier Service

Mark 4 DVT

Mk4 DVT on the East Coast Main Line

Mark 4 DVTs were built in 1988 by Metro Cammell at their Washwood Heath plant in Birmingham and were introduced to the ECML with the IC225 rakes of Mark 4 coaches. They operate with class 91 locomotives using the TDM system via UIC screened cables through the nine Mark 4 coaches of the rake.

Initially operated by British Rail's InterCity sector in its familiar livery, following privatisation of the railways the services were taken over by Sea Containers under the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) brand but following a change of operator to National Express East Coast in December 2007 the vehicles were rebranded with NXEC logos and a white stripe whilst retaining the overall GNER blue colour scheme . However, the collapse of the NXEC franchise in November 2009 and its replacement by the Government operated East Coast operator means that the current mix of liveries will probably remain until a new private franchisee is found in 2011.

Key:	In Service	Scrapped

Number	Name	Built	Livery	Operator	Status
82200	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service (Note: was involved in Hatfield rail crash)
82201	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82202	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82203	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82204	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82205	Flying Scotsman	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Flying Scotsman Purple	East Coast	In service
82206	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82207	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82208	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82209	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82210	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82211	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82212	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82213	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82214	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82215	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82216	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82217	Off to the Races	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82218	International Indian Film Academy Awards	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82219	Duke of Edinburgh	1988 Metro-Cammell	East Coast Silver	East Coast	In service
82220	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82221	-	1988 Metro-Cammell			Scrapped after the Great Heck rail crash on February 28, 2001.
82222	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82223	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82224	Passionate People, Passionate Places	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82225	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82226	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82227	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82228	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82229	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82230	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service
82231	-	1988 Metro-Cammell	GNER Blue with East Coast White Stripe	East Coast	In service

Mark 5 DVT

Main article: British Rail Mark 5

The Mark 5 DVT was to be part of British Rail's ill-fated InterCity 250 project on the West Coast Mainline.

Accidents and incidents

DVTs have been involved in very few accidents.

• Hatfield derailment involving DVT 82200
• Great Heck rail crash, February 2001. 82221 was withdrawn after major damage to the DVT

See also

• Control car (rail)