Self-propelled carriages were a big innovation at the beginning of the 20th century, and the GWR was quick to develop a large number of steam motor cars to link farms and scattered villages to the new branch lines. Their steam motor cars ran from 1903-1935, stopping during the war, and were so effective at making rural areas accessible they became victims of their own success. Wagons brought in to meet the demand proved too heavy for the carriages and they struggled on hills, and after they stopped service all 99 steam carriages were eventually scrapped. Engineer Ken Gibbs reveals the unique...
Self-propelled carriages were a big innovation at the beginning of the 20th century, and the GWR was quick to develop a large number of steam motor ca...
The GWR at Swindon is well known, as are its trained craftsmen, all over the world. It has been written about, filmed and lectured upon countless times, and many of its old steam locomotives saved from the scrap yards and lovingly rebuilt to run again on heritage lines. But across all of this activity a full half of the Works has been fleetingly "mentioned in passing" and even in the illustrations only occasionally represented. There is little written about the "other half" of the successful operation of a railway works system: the design, construction, and repair of the rolling stock, the...
The GWR at Swindon is well known, as are its trained craftsmen, all over the world. It has been written about, filmed and lectured upon countless time...