Railmotor - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Railmotor is a term which was used by several British railway companies for a steam railcar.

Overview

William Bridges Adams was an author, inventor and locomotive engineer.-Overview:He is best known for his patented Adams Axle — a successful radial axle design in use on railways in Britain until the end of steam traction in 1968 — and the railway fishplate...

started building railmotors as early as 1848, but only in small numbers. One example was the Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield steam carriage

Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield steam carriage

The Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield was an experimental broad gauge self-propelled steam carriage. In later use the carriage portion was removed and it was used as a small shunting locomotive.-Fairfield:...

.

Around 1900, because of competition from road vehicles and electric trams, there was renewed interest in railmotors and several railway companies, including the London and North Western Railway

London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

, Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...

, and Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

began to introduce them.

Designs

There were two basic designs:

A small 0-4-0
0-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...

steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

with one end of a coach hung on it like a semi-trailer
Semi-trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. A large proportion of its weight is supported by a road tractor, a detachable front axle assembly known as a dolly, or the tail of another trailer...

.

A coach with a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

built into one end of it. This type would sometimes have a vertical
Vertical direction
In astronomy, geography, geometry and related sciences and contexts, a direction passing by a given point is said to be vertical if it is locally aligned with the gradient of the gravity field, i.e., with the direction of the gravitational force at that point...

boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

.

These machines were not a great success because they lacked flexibility. Most could haul a single trailer, but no more. This meant they were unable to cope with greater than expected passenger demands – a classic example being busy market days on an otherwise lightly used rural branch line. They were also unable to haul goods wagons, requiring a conventional locomotive to be stationed on the same line in any case for these duties. For this reason, they were largely superseded by push-pull train

Push-pull train

Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...

s and the GWR converted some of their railmotors into autocoaches

GWR Autocoach

The GWR Autocoach is a type of coach that was used by the Great Western Railway for push-pull trains powered by a steam locomotive. The distinguishing design feature of an autocoach is the driving cab at one end, allowing the driver to control the train without needing to be located in the cab of...

for this purpose. The South Eastern & Chatham Railway

South Eastern and Chatham Railway

The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...

built its P Class

SECR P Class

The South Eastern and Chatham Railway P Class is a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive designed by Harry Wainwright.They were inspired by, and loosely based on, the more successful LB&SCR A1 Class "Terriers" and eight were built in 1909 and 1910. They were originally intended for lightweight...

of small, light tank locomotives specifically to replace railmotors in the 1900s.
In the late 1920s there was another revival of railmotors with the introduction of new designs from Clayton

Clayton Equipment Company

Clayton Equipment Company Ltd, now known simply as Clayton Equipment Ltd or CEC and CEL, is a locomotive construction company that specialises in locomotives for underground mining operations.-Inception:...

and Sentinel

Sentinel Waggon Works

Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire that made steam-powered lorries, railway locomotives, and later, diesel engined lorries and locomotives.-Alley & MacLellan, Sentinel Works, Jessie Street Glasgow:...

with high-speed engines. The London and North Eastern Railway

London and North Eastern Railway

The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...

bought over 80 of them but, again, they were short-lived. Some lasted no more than 10 years and all had been withdrawn by 1947.

In the 1950s the diesel

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

railcar made great progress and the railmotor was consigned to history. The diesel's ability to use multiple unit

Multiple-unit train control

Multiple-unit train control, sometimes abbreviated to multiple-unit or MU, is a method of simultaneously controlling all the traction equipment in a train from a single location, whether it is a Multiple unit comprising a number of self-powered passenger cars or a set of locomotives.A set of...

control was a huge advantage.

Fleets

Operator	Period	Quantity
Barry Railway	1905–1914	2	Converted to bogie composite coaches (Diagram 14)
Bristol and Exeter Railway Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...	1850–1851	1	See Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield steam carriage Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield steam carriage The Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield was an experimental broad gauge self-propelled steam carriage. In later use the carriage portion was removed and it was used as a small shunting locomotive.-Fairfield:...
Cardiff Railway Cardiff Railway The Cardiff Railway came into being from the need to service Bute Docks, so as to provide facilities for the traffic to and from the Docks. The railway was only 11 miles in length, a fact which belied its importance, since it provided both the Taff Vale Railway and the Rhymney Railway, inter alia,...
Eastern Counties Railway Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway was an early English railway company incorporated in 1836. It was intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then on to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in late March 1837 on the first nine miles, at the London end of the line.Construction was...	1847 -
Furness Railway Furness Railway The Furness Railway was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.-History:The company was established on May 23, 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament...	1905–1918	2
Great Central Railway Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...	1904 -	3
Great Northern Railway Great Northern Railway (Great Britain) The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....	1905–1927	6
Great Southern and Western Railway Great Southern and Western Railway The Great Southern and Western Railway was the largest Irish gauge railway company in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries... (Ireland)	1904–1915
Great Western Railway Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...	1903–1935	99	See GWR steam rail motors GWR steam rail motors The steam rail motors were self-propelled carriages operated by the Great Western Railway in England and Wales from 1903 to 1935. They incorporated a steam locomotive within the body of the carriage.-History:...
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...	1905–1948	18	L&YR Railmotors L&YR Railmotors The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Railmotors consisted of a single class of 18 railmotors. They were of the "0-4-0T locomotive + semi-trailer type". All were inherited by the LMS in 1923, who numbered the locomotives 10600-17 and gave the trailers separate numbers in the coaching stock series... used on the 'Altcar Bob Altcar Bob The Altcar Bob was a train service introduced in July 1906 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on the Barton Branch of the Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway. The service was so named because it terminated at , though from 1926 it only went as far as . The Bob was a diminutive... ' and other services
London and South Western Railway London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...	1901–1903	15
London Brighton and South Coast Railway	1905 -	2
Nidd Valley Light Railway Nidd Valley Light Railway The Nidd Valley Light Railway, was a light railway in upper Nidderdale in North Yorkshire, England. It was owned by Bradford Corporation Waterworks Department and the Corporation also operated its public passenger services...	1921–1929	1	Ex-Great Western Railway
Northern Counties Committee Northern Counties Committee The Northern Counties Committee was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge but later acquired a number of narrow gauge lines...	1905–1913	2
Port Talbot Railway	1906–1915	1	Sold to Port of London Port of London The Port of London lies along the banks of the River Thames from London, England to the North Sea. Once the largest port in the world, it is currently the United Kingdom's second largest port, after Grimsby & Immingham... Authority, withdrawn 1926.
Rhymney Railway Rhymney Railway The Rhymney Railway was virtually a single stretch of main line, some fifty miles in length, by which the Rhymney Valley was connected to the docks at Cardiff in the county of Glamorgan, South Wales.-History:...
South Australian Railways South Australian Railways South Australian Railways built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 to the incorporation of its non-urban railways into the Australian National Railways Commission in 1975, together with the former Commonwealth Railways and the former Tasmanian Government Railways...	1906 -	2	No.1 now preserved in operating condition on Pichi Richi Railway Pichi Richi Railway The Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society is a non-profit railway preservation society and operating museum formed in 1973. The society, managed and staffed by volunteers, operates heritage steam and diesel trains on the restored 39 km section of track between Quorn and Port Augusta in...
Sri Lanka Railways Sri Lanka Railways Sri Lanka Railway Department, branded "Sri Lanka Railways", is a key department of the Sri Lankan Government under the Ministry of Transport with a history that begins in 1858...	1904 -	1
South Eastern and Chatham Railway South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...	1904 -	6
Taff Vale Railway Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...		16

External links

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Overview

Designs

Fleets

See also

External links