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[Lizzie_Zoom]

Marks DTM posting of that awful attempt of a modern railcar has given me an excuse to mention The Great Western Railway and their first "streamlined" diesel railcars in December 1933:

This is No.4 outside GWR Swindon Workshops.


I think that looks much better than the yellow contraption of BR days!

The 69 seater GWR railcar was powered by a 121hp London Bus diesel engine, with other mechanical and internal features common to London buses of that time. The top speed of these railcars was up to 80 mph.

Later, once the GWR was happy with the results of running these cheaper to run alternatives on lines with light traffic, they introduced railcars with 260hp twin engine units.  These had 44 single class seats with tables in between, and were more spacious than the previous versions. There was also a buffet with four further seats. The average speed on their runs between Birmingham and Cardiff  was a modest 49.3 mph; 142 minutes over the 116 3/4 miles involved. To travel in these a further 2/6d was charged, but that later was withdrawn.

A member of the 2nd batch, No6, at Swindon Works:



A later version, built in 1940.  Note the more angular front "streamlining":



This is an example of a working GWR railcar at the Didcot Railway Centre, with No.4 (the one shown at the top of this posting, outside Swindon Workshops), static in the Swindon Steam Museum:



These all were buses on rails, with the railway companies, the GWR in this instance, attempting to fight the growing competition from road buses and, more importantly, cut costs of running full steam driven trains on lightly used lines.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

..........and in case anyone is wondering, the GWR had introduced a steam railcar at the turn of the 19th/20th century.

This is one of those in 1905:



 

[Lizzie_Zoom]

.............and before anyone suggests I cannot remember those earlier railcars in traffic!

But I do remember these in 1960 when I travelled on one between Dartmouth (Kingswear) and Totnes:



 

[omegod]

No offence but how is this thread still going?

More effective tham Temazapam though

[Lizzie_Zoom]

No offence but how is this thread still going?

More effective tham Temazapam though

It is still rolling along due to a mutual nostalgic love for transport, especially buses, coaches, and all forms of both, even if rail mounted!

It is also an escape for those who need it, away from a world where values have changed, and look in to the world we saw as children, or remember from stories told by our then elders, now in many cases sadly departed.

Enjoy, enjoy!!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

I have been asked in the past about why double deck railway coaches, like double decker buses, are not on British Railways as in other countries.

My answer is that they were once tried, by one of my railway hero's, the great man, the CME of the Southern Railway, O.V.Bullied. He overcame the restrictions placed on British railway design by the constricted loading gauge, and came up with an idea to develop the standard EMU units on the Southern to have a upper passenger deck.  This was in the days leading up to the Nationalisation of the railways on 1st January, 1948, so his coaches arrived on the scene in early BR days.

The main problem with them was the time it took for people to disembark at stations, and so the idea was not developed further.  The units that were built survived until 1971, and I remember then well when I used to travel up to London by train regularly in the late 1960s, and last saw one just before their withdrawal. This is how they looked, and although not dissimilar to a standard EMU, if you look closely you can see the upper floor windows:




For those interested, have a look at this brilliant web site I have found on them:

http://www.bulleidlocos.org.uk/(S(hbvhqm11p4lic2513ci51ivm))/_oth/4_dd.aspx

 

[ozzycat]

I have been asked in the past about why double deck railway coaches, like double decker buses, are not on British Railways as in other countries.

My answer is that they were once tried, by one of my railway hero's, the great man, the CME of the Southern Railway, O.V.Bullied. He overcame the restrictions placed on British railway design by the constricted loading gauge, and came up with an idea to develop the standard EMU units on the Southern to have a upper passenger deck.  This was in the days leading up to the Nationalisation of the railways on 1st January, 1948, so his coaches arrived on the scene in early BR days.

The main problem with them was the time it took for people to disembark at stations, and so the idea was not developed further.  The units that were built survived until 1971, and I remember then well when I used to travel up to London by train regularly in the late 1960s, and last saw one just before their withdrawal. This is how they looked, and although not dissimilar to a standard EMU, if you look closely you can see the upper floor windows:




For those interested, have a look at this brilliant web site I have found on them:

http://www.bulleidlocos.org.uk/(S(hbvhqm11p4lic2513ci51ivm))/_oth/4_dd.aspx

 

thats good lizzie

[Lizzie_Zoom]

As this is a car forum, I will now touchdown with what we all love; Engines!

But, an engine for a GWR Railcar!  This is the AEC 8.85 litre diesel engine fitted to some of the GWR railcars, which as I stated before were the same engine as fitted to contemporary London Buses:



The London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) also tried out railcars building this version in 1938 for the same reasons as the GWR did.  To me this is more like a DMU, but the LMS classed it all as a "Railcar"!:



These were powered by six 125hp Leyland oil engines with hydraulic transmission:




This was the typical interior of a GWR Railcar:



To end, and for all the petrol heads on the forum, this was the Michelin Experimental Railcar trailed on the GWR:



A classis in design...........not!

From all this series of Railcar insights, which is not comprehensive as I would require a separate thread for that, you can see the close link between these rail vehicles and road buses of the era.  In fact, as Marks DTM posting shows, even very recently BR were working on a close, if not unfortunate, link with road transport technology and railway requirements.

 

[Seth]

Not (that) far from Vamps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pcdg9m7Dao

Nice bit of driving there!

[Vamps]

Yep, seen that before and know the bank...
It reminds me of a time in the 80's when I had a bus full of Cub Scouts visiting Scotland, we were to stay in a local Scout Hut, I was driving the bus, and was Akela, and missed a turn and ended up going down and then back up a twisty bendy that, was not suitable for large vehicles, believe me was tight, inches either side, other cars simply reversed or turned around to wait, but we managed....

[Vamps]

Bus and trams, and trolley buses, and classic cars........

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=110024.0

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Bus and trams, and trolley buses, and classic cars........

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=110024.0

As stated on your thread Vamps, it is most suitable for the Bus Nostalgia thread, with great social and transport history shown, along with a great humorous soundtrack!

So I take the liberty to post the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPXdaTMMa2w

Apart from so much historically interesting content, it is so interesting to learn, judging by a Mk2 Cortina with a "E" reg (1967) in one scene that trolley buses were still alive and well after that date.  I have learnt though they were withdrawn in 1968.

All so cool Vamps, what a great find!  It has made my day, and I have already played the video 7 times to soak in the information.  The cars, many from the 1940's and others from the 1930's, all add to the content, with a BEA  (British European Airways for those too young to remember) sign, followed by a BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), both shortly to become British Airways. Even horse and carts which I saw in London in the late 1950's, into the early 1960's, adds to the wonderful mix, with a coach that would not be out of place in Malta! You can also see the black and white strips on the lower parts of lampposts and traffic lights, which I think would have been left over from the days of the blackout during WW2.

Then you have the women's fashions, which remind me of the clothes my mum was wearing at that time, but the men were all in "uniform" very drab clothes; no colourful t-shirts, tops, or trainers!!

All in all a wonderful, wonderful video of individual nostalgic photographs

[Muttly]

I love old busses, I worked for Robinson's Holidays some years ago a fitter.

The coach below is the one I learnt to drive in so holds a place in my heart.

[Seth]

A DAF MB230 with Van Hool 'Alizee' body from Robinsons of Great Harwood, Lancashire.

Mid-mounted horizontal DAF DKTL1160 engine (derived from Leyland's 0.680 unit), driving through a ZF 6-speed (with splitter) gearbox. Superb air-assisted hydraulic twin-caliper front disc brakes with full air 'S-cam & roller' rear brakes.

We had four Plaxton-bodied MB230s, and they were very reliable machines.
Achilles Heel was a tendency for the water pump impeller drives to shear off.

How did you get on with that 12-speed ZF 'box Muttly?

[Seth]

Robinsons coaches were frequent visitors to West Wales on extended tours.
Prior to operating DAFs; the Leyland Leopard was standard fayre at Great Harwood:


A Plaxton 'Supreme IV'-bodied Leopard resting at Tenby's North Beach Coach Park during the mid-1980s.