Factfile: GWR diesel railcars
In 1912 the GWR acquired a four-wheel petrol-engined railbus which was tested on the Windsor branch, and for the next two decades it dabbled with internal combustion-engined locomotives for light shunting. In the early 1920s, in co-operation with Hardy Motors, an open-cab railmounted lorry was trialled at Slough. From this came the development, in 1932, of a streamlined diesel railcar intended for use ‘Flying Hamburger’-style, on fast, limited stop services where demand was low. More of these railcars followed. One was tried on branch line services
2 but its braking power proved inadequate. However, a branch line railcar was needed to bring economies on lines where it was becoming difficult to justify autotrains with a crew of three. This became increasingly important as the GWR found it difficult to recruit adequate numbers of steam crews in the London area.
The result was a new railcar, No. 18, specifically designed (and geared to 40mph) to haul a tail load of a couple of horseboxes. It spent most of its career on the Newbury-lambourn branch. With the approach of the Second World War, the GWR brought the construction of railcars in-house and produced a new angular body design which could be built at Swindon. Nos. 19-33 were delivered from 1940.
These later-style GWR railcars, more recently called by railway modellers ‘razor-edge’ cars, lasted in service until displaced in the early 1960s by the Gloucester RCW single units (Nos. W55000-19).
The railcars operated branch lines and local services in the London area, including the Greenford loop, Staines, Uxbridge and Windsor during the early 1950s and were also to be found working from Bristol, the Wye Valley and ending their careers working from Worcester on the Severn Valley routes and some West Midlands local services. The last examples were withdrawn in October 1962. 3: Two carmine and cream railcars, Nos. W31W and W25W, stand withdrawn, probably at Worcester.