Windhoff MPV Profile and Models
DR98959 at Kings Norton in October 2014. ©Dan Adkins
The Multiple-purpose Vehicle or MPV is a purpose-built departmental derivative of a diesel multiple unit. These two-car units were ordered by Railtrack to enable it to replace its varied collection of ageing departmental vehicles, many of which were converted from redundant passenger stock. The vehicles were built in Germany by Windhoff. The design is based on the Windhoff "CargoSprinter" units that are operated by Deutsche Bahn (Germany) and CRT Group (Australia). Normally a unit consists of one powered vehicle fitted with twin 265 kW (355 hp) Railpac diesel engines, semi-permanently coupled to an unpowered slave unit without engines. The later orders for the South East of England and for overhead line replacement are instead composed of two powered units, to give better acceleration and top speed. The concept of the design is that each vehicle has a driving cab and an under floor engine/transmission with Multiple unit (MU) control. The majority of each vehicle is a flat load bed that can carry combinations of 10-foot and 20-foot modules. |
|
Type of Vehicle |
Multi-Purpose Diesel Rail Vehicle |
Builder |
Windhoff, Germany |
Build Dates |
1998 to 2001, 2012 |
Total Built |
32 sets |
Formation |
1 or 2 cars |
Power Output |
355hp per engine (Earlier models have 1, later have 2) |
Operated By |
Network Rail |
Main Duties |
Departmental - Maintenance & Testing |
In Service Until |
Present |
Surviving Examples |
All in service |