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Posted: 17-02-2013 09:43 Post subject:

Steam railmotor back on South Devon line after 100 years

A steam powered train has returned to a Devon railway after more than 100 years.
The Great Western Railway Steam Railmotor was last seen on the Totnes to Ashburton line in 1905, the South Devon Railway (SDR) said.
Dick Wood, from SDR, added it was the "grandfather of all modern trains".

It was introduced in 1903 and ran locally around Plymouth, Exeter, Teignmouth and between Totnes and Ashburton.
Mr Wood said 99 steam railmotors were built between 1903 and 1908.
He said it was "totally unique".
"The reason why they disappeared was because they were victims of their own success," he added.
"They couldn't carry the number of people who wanted to travel on them, so Great Western expanded the principle and put them with a steam locomotive with up to four coaches, with the steam engine in the middle.
"Therefore you could carry nearly 500 people, quickly, efficiently and easily."

The steam railmotor, which has been hired from the Great Western Society, was one of the last to be built in 1908.
It has been hired for the Western Branch Line Gala until 24 February.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-21472043

Video from 2011 is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13574529

Posted: 17-02-2013 22:01 Post subject:

Self-contained steam railmotors ran and existed during well over a century, on and off (mostly off), in many parts of the world. For various reasons, it seems that they never managed to "do the business" very successfully. It was either, other ways of moving passengers by rail proved more efficient in absolute terms. Or, same-thing-sort-of: as in rynner2's post, they were "victims of their own success" -- attracted more passengers than they could accommodate, which led to the development as described, of the more flexible "push-and-pull train" idea: loco can be anywhere in the train, with a specially-adapted compartment wherever the front of the train is, with controls there for the driver to drive; while the fireman, or "second man" for a non-steam loco, remains on the loco.

I gather that the last regularly-working steam railcars anywhere on earth, ran on the Sri Lankan railways' 2ft. 6in. gauge line out of Colombo. If I have things rightly, these remained in commercial service until about the 1980s: at least one was retained in working order, preserved, after that. I believe that at the present day, though the line concerned is disused, some track remains at the Colombo end, and there is still a steam railcar in working order, which can be chartered for special runs.

Posted: 12-10-2013 09:12 Post subject:

[Video]
Great Western's 182-year-old royal carriage restored
11 October 2013 Last updated at 21:23 BST

A Victorian railway carriage once used by royalty has been restored in Cornwall.
The saloon car was built for VIPs by the Great Western Railway in Swindon in 1831.
Although the carriage was not part of the royal train, it was used privately by the then Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII.

As John Danks reports, it has taken five years for a skilled craftsmen at the Bodmin and Wenford Steam Railway to restore the carriage to its original splendour.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-24498481

Posted: 15-10-2013 05:17 Post subject:

1881, rather than 1831, I think you'll find...