page_title: British Rail Class 506
section_title: Numbering
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 506 / Numbering
caption_attribution_description: English: Guide Bridge station
context_page_description: The British Rail Class 506 was a 3 carriage Electric Multiple Unit built for local services between Manchester, Glossop and Hadfield on the Woodhead Line, which was electrified in 1954 on the 1,500 V DC overhead system.
context_section_description: British Railways numbers were:
  Motor Open Brake Second
  M59401-M59408 (8 cars 1954, Met-Cam)
  Trailer Open Second (built as Trailer Composite, declassified early 1960)
  M59501-M59508 (8 cars 1954, Met-Cam)
  Driving Trailer Open Second
  M59601-M59608 (8 cars 1954, BRCW)
  Being built against an LNER order, the numbers were in the former LNER series. To distinguish these from other similarly-numbered carriages, BR used letter prefixes and suffixes, but these varied. At the time that they were delivered, the numbers were in fact unique; but from 1959, new Diesel multiple-units were delivered carrying similar numbers, in the BR series. The Manchester-Glossop-Hadfield EMU number prefixes and suffixes may be summarised thus:
  as new — prefix "E" to denote allocation to the Eastern Region, i.e. E59401 etc.
  by 21 September 1957 — suffix "E" added to denote former LNER number series, i.e. E59401E etc.
  1 February 1958 — prefix altered to "M" following transfer of route to London Midland Region, i.e. M59401E etc.
  circa 1968 — suffix altered to "M" implying transfer to former LMS number series, i.e. M59401M etc.
  The "E" suffix seems to have been dropped a few years prior to the change to "M"; photographs exist from the 1964–1968 period showing unsuffixed numbers, including M59404, M59405 and M59408.
  No unit numbers were carried, however the cars were normally formed so that the last two digits corresponded, i.e. 59401-59501-59601 etc., and the units were known locally as 01, 02, etc. On the few occasions that units were reformed, one car would be renumbered to correspond with the others in its new unit; thus 59406 became 59408 in December 1983 (59506, 59606 and the real 59408 being withdrawn); while 59401 (crudely renumbered 59402) was formed with 59502 and 59602 about September 1984 (59501, 59601 and the real 59402 being stored out of service).
  There is a suggestion that the motor coaches would originally have been numbered 29401-8, but this may be a typo - the initial digit "2" would imply the North Eastern Area of the former LNER, while "5" denotes the Great Central Section.
caption: A Class 506 (left) at Guide Bridge in 1967.
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