British Rail Class 206

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The British Rail Class 206 or 3R was a type of Diesel electric multiple unit first created in 1964. They were not 'built' as such but rather re-formed from Class 201 and EPB vehicles for use on Reading-Redhill-Tonbridge services. Six three-car sets were created, numbered 1201-1206. By 1964, the majority of services on the Southern Region of British Railways had been converted to diesel and electric operation. However, steam locomotives continued to operate the entire service on the North Downs Line. New trains for this route could not be justified as passenger numbers were relatively low. Twelve carriages from class 201 diesel-electric units were available for use following service cuts on the Hastings Line, so a decision was made to combine these vehicles with six redundant driving trailers from 2-EPB electric multiple units.