The five British Railways Waggon und Maschinenbau railbuses were delivered in April 1958. They were based at Cambridge until 1964. They were withdrawn in 1966 and 1967.

The WMD railbuses were 5 of the total of 22 delivered in 1958 from five manufacturers (the rest British). They were planned to have "extensive trials". The underframe, power equipment, transmission and brake gear were similar to the Uerdingen railbus, common on the German Federal Railway. They were shipped via the Harwich-Zeebrugge train ferry.

It was hoped they might be the answer to increasing losses on rural branch-lines. In the first year of the railbuses they saved £66,000 in operating costs, but the branches were still lossmaking and were soon closed.

Four are preserved.