Some Historical Details
As well as physically preserving and restoring Railmotor No. 93 and Trailer No. 92, we are interested in preserving and recording facts and memories about the vehicles and their like.
Here are some items of interest, and some links and references to other sources, which we hope form merely the start of another interesting aspect of this project.
Web Resources
We are interested in hearing stories from those who worked or travelled on the Steam Railmotors, so if you have any interesting tales, why not get in touch?
Great Western Society member Mike Lewis recalls two such tales:
- Walter Cottam, a fireman at Wolverhampton remembers some of the challenges involved in firing a railmotor.
- Jack Lloyd tells of his time as an apprentice at Stafford Road factory (Wolverhampton) and recalls the dire consequences of putting a railmotor together ‘the wrong way round’!
As the last of the Great Western Steam Railmotors were withdrawn in 1935, there are few who now recall travelling on them, but William Harbour, a young passenger, remembers.
There are also, of course, some more contemporary accounts of working with Steam Railmotors:
- The account of William F Bolton, A Loco-Man Looks at Rail-Cars which appeared as part of a longer article, celebrating the then new GWR Diesel Railcar in the Winter 1946/47 edition of 'Railway Pictorial'
- The account of Harold Gubbins, Fireman on the Chalford motor service which appeared as part of an article 'A Chalford Miscellany' by Mike Fenton in the Christmas 1992 issue of the 'British Railway Journal' (No. 44) and is reproduced here by kind permission of the Author and the Publisher, Wild Swan Publications Ltd.
- The account of Harold Holcroft, taken from his book ‘An outline of G.W. locomotive practice 1837-1947’
Inevitably there are also some more recent memories of finding withdrawn Railmotors and Trailers, and of their acquisition by the Great Western Society.
- Great Western Society member Richard Parry Reminisces on Auto Trailer No. 92 and Railmotor No. 200 (one which got away)
The Swindon Engineering Society held a meeting on Tuesday March 12th 1906, where A H Nash presented a paper entitled 'The Construction of Steam Railmotors', which was followed by a discussion. (PDF File - 676kB).
Other documentation concerning Steam Railmotors sometimes comes to light:
- An advert for Hale and Kilburn including walkover seats of the type fitted to both 92 and 93.
- An Order for Railmotor Boilers signed by Churchward.
- General Instructions issued by the GWR in 1905 for the introduction of Rail Motors into service (2.9Mb .pdf file)
Notices concerning the commencement of railmotor services:
- Between Chalford and Stonehouse.
- Between Southall and Brentford .
- Between Totnes and Ashburton, Wrexham and Rhos, and Wrexham and Coed Poeth .
Further Reading
A definitive history of the Great Western Railmotor is provided in John Lewis' excellent book:
Great Western Steam Railmotors: and their services. Lewis, John. 2004.
Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 1 874103 96 8
The story of the rebirth of Railmotor No. 93 is particularly featured in:
Railmotor: The Steam Engine that Rewrote Railway History. Jones, Robin. 2011.
Halsgrove. ISBN 978 0 85704 122 7
These books are available from the shop at Didcot Railway Centre.
