![Afbeelding](http://www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/ashford/pics/20010511Rye-AKing.jpg)
Most of the Southern Region (south of London) was Electric, with power from a 3rd rail at 750v DC. The southern region preferred diesel-electric units as opposed to Diesel Machanical Multiple Units (DMMU) due to their similarity to Electric Multiple Units (EMU) on the region.
![Afbeelding](http://www.semg.org.uk/sr_map/pics/srmapa.jpg)
See here for pictures.
http://www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/
http://www.squarewheels.org.uk/rly/Hastings/
Other units where produced to the standerd British Railways width, Class 205 (Hampshire Units) & Class 207 (Sussex Units) .Also there was the Class 206 ‘Tadpole Units’ which were formed from 2 ex- slim hastings units and one wider ex- electric unit coach to run across country rout of 100km from the towns of Reading and Tonbridge.
There is some more history here. http://www.hsups.org.uk/history.htm
There are a few Class 205’s & 207’s preserved on various heritage lines, they only stopped mainline service last year after 50 years passenger service.
Here some more pictures.
http://community.fotopic.net/search/sim ... P&txt=demu
http://www.anteater.freeuk.com/MUgallery/demu.htm
Here you can here sounds of them.
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/loadreg/rm/soundsmedia.html
Here are pictures of our local preserve Thumper on the local heritage railway, the Watercress line close to where I live.
http://www.watercressline.co.uk/tw/pages/dieselco.htm
Here is another one at another preserved line…The Lavender line.
http://the-shed433.fotopic.net/c639266.html
There are a lot of DEMU fans in the UK, not as many as steam of course, but I will tell you about them on another occasion.
I hope you find this interesting.