#4367
Driving Brake Standard Open
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by British Rail Engineering Limited· from 1979· British railway control car
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. DBSO 9701 at Colchester: Original uploader was Our Phellap at en.wikipedia· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
A Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) is a type of railway carriage in the United Kingdom, converted to operate as a control car; this is not to be confused with DVTs, such as those in InterCity 225 sets. Fourteen such vehicles, numbered 9701 to 9714, were converted from Mark 2F Brake Standard Open (standard class coaches with brake van) carriages. Modifications included adding a driving cab and TDM equipment to allow a locomotive to be driven remotely.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 47 years ago, in 1979.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 20.1 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 47 years.
carriage / wagon: Unpowered passenger coaches or freight wagons, pulled by a locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1979
- in service from
- 1979
- status
- in service
- number built
- 14
- kind
- carriage / wagon
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- British Rail Engineering Limited
- operators
- Locomotive Services Limited, Network Rail
- top speed
- 161 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- length
- 20.1 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q5308048, Wikipedia: Driving Brake Standard Open (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.