British Rail Railbuses

British Rail Railbuses

Railbus no. 79964 at York Railfest exhibition on 3 June 2004. This vehicle is preserved on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.
In service 1950-1997
Formation 25 trainsets
Operator British Rail

British Rail produced a variety of Railbuses as a means both of building new rolling stock cheaply, and to provide services on lightly used lines economically.

Contents

Terminology

Railbuses are a very lightweight type of Railcar designed for use specifically on little-used railway lines, and as the name suggests share many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus, or modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Some, but not all, of the units were equipped for operation as diesel multiple units.

First Generation BR Railbuses

In the late 1950s, British Rail tested a series of small Railbuses, produced by a variety of manufacturers. These proved to be very economical, but also somewhat unreliable. The lines they worked on were mainly closed during the Beeching Cuts and, being non-standard, they were all withdrawn in the mid-1960s, before being allocated TOPS classifications.

In addition to these Railbuses, BR ordered three for departmental (non-revenue earning) service. The full list of passenger and departmental units is set out below.

Number Range Builder Introduced No. Built Region Withdrawn
79958-59 Bristol / Eastern Coach Works 1958 2 Scotland 1966
79960-64 Waggon und Maschinenbau 1958 5 Eastern Region/London Midland 1967
79965-69 D Wickham & Co 1958 5 Scotland 1966
79970-74 Park Royal Vehicles 1958 5 London Midland / Scotland 1968
79975-79 AC Cars 1958 5 Scotland / Western Region 1968
999507 Elliot Wickham 1958 1 Departmental 1997
998900-998901 Drewry 1950 2 Departmental 1990
Engines[1]

Second Generation BR Railbuses

British Rail returned to the idea of railbuses from the mid-1970s, and a prototype four wheel vehicle was developed jointly by British Leyland and the British Rail Research Division. A number of single and two-car Railbuses were built and tested, in co-operation with Leyland (hence the generic term for these vehicles as LEV (Leyland Experimental Vehicle) Railbuses). The first three single car prototypes were essentially Leyland National bus bodies mounted on a modified HSFV1 four wheeled rail chassis. The prototype two-car Railbus was allocated Class 140 and is dealt with on that page, but the prototype single car Railbuses were not classified and are set out in the table below:

Number Identity Builder Introduced Withdrawn
RDB 975874 LEV1 Leyland/BREL Derby 1978 1987
- LEV2 Leyland/Wickham 1980 19??
RDB 977020 R3 Leyland/BREL Derby 1981 1990
- RB004 Leyland/BREL Derby 1984 19??

In 1978 tests were carried out with a modified double ended Leyland National bus body placed on an (unpowered) wagon chassis derived from HSFV1, this was LEV1 (Leyland Experimental Vehicle 1). Whilst in its unpowered state this vehicle never left the Railway Technical Centre in Derby. In 1979 the powertrain was addded to LEV1 (p54 of A history of engineering research on British Railways Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History by A Gilchrist), the engine being a Leyland 510 diesel, and the transmission a mechanical type with self-changing gears.

Even though some of these vehicles carried numbers in the departmental coach series, they were actually used in ordinary passenger service. LEV1 was tested in passenger service at first in East Anglia, and then elsewhere, before being temporarily exported to the USA in the early 1980s. LEV1 was withdrawn and transferred to the National Railway Museum in 1987 (Railway Magazine April 1987 p252), it is currently at the North Norfolk Railway where it is undergoing restoration. LEV2 was built especially for the USA and following export c1981 was used on an experimental extension of MBTA (Boston) commuter service to Concord, New Hampshire. When that experiment was ended in 1981 the LEV 2 was sold to Amtrak for use on the Northeast Corridor, but it was quickly put out of service after an accident at a crossing. It was subsequently sold to the Steamtown Museum in Scranton, PA for use as a shuttle, but was damaged during repair and sold for scrap. It was bought from the scrap dealer by the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, a tourist railroad in West Virginia, and later sold to the Connecticut Trolley Museum, where it remains to this day.[2] Similarly, R3 was exported to Canada after its testing phase, before being converted to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Irish gauge and sold to Northern Ireland Railways. R3, also known as RB003, was withdrawn in 1990 and preserved, initially at the Ulster Transport Museum, then in 2001 at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway Museum (Second Generation DMUs p12, author Colin Marsden). These Railbuses were sent abroad in the hope of gathering export orders, but they never transpired. The hauled railbus coach was tested on various lines in the London Midland region.

In addition, there was an experiment with a loco-hauled Leyland-built vehicle, when a bus-type body was placed on the 63-foot (19 m) underframe from Mk1 BCK coach number 21234. This was numbered RDB 977091 and was run in normal service alongside ordinary coaching stock until withdrawn as being unsuitable. It had nothing directly to do with railbuses and is now preserved at the East Kent Railway.

The result of these tests was that British Rail ordered a series of two- and three-car Railbuses, which became known as Pacers (or Skippers on the Western Region) and were allocated TOPS Classes 141-144. The next generation of Sprinter units were based on conventional railway design and bogie mounted bodies.

Routes

Lines regularly served by railbuses include:

Preservation

A number of the BR Railbuses, both first and second generation examples have survived into preservation, as follows:

Vehicle No. Builder Year Built Location Comments
First Generation Railbuses
79960 Waggon und Maschinenbau 1958 North Norfolk Railway -
79962 Waggon und Maschinenbau 1958 Keighley and Worth Valley Railway -
79963 Waggon und Maschinenbau 1958 North Norfolk Railway -
79964 Waggon und Maschinenbau 1958 Keighley and Worth Valley Railway -
79976 AC Cars 1958 Great Central Railway -
79978 AC Cars 1958 Colne Valley Railway -
RDB999507 Wickham 1958 Previously Middleton Railway - moved to Lavender Line 2009 Elliot High-speed track-recording unit
RDB998901 Drewry Car Company 1950 Middleton Railway Overhead-line inspection car
Second Generation Railbuses
RDB975874 Leyland/BREL Derby 1978 North Norfolk Railway LEV 1
LEV2 Leyland/BREL Derby 1980 Connecticut Trolley Museum There is a project to repatriate LEV2
RDB977020 Leyland/BREL Derby 1981 Downpatrick & County Down Railway in Northern Ireland LEV3 aka RB3. Has been regauged to 5’3”
RB002 Leyland/BREL Derby 198? Riverstown Old Corn Railway? near Dundalk, Eire RB002 aka The Denmark
RB004 Leyland/BREL Derby 1984 Currently at the Midland Railway Centre (arrived 19 August 2011) Owned by Northumbria Rail Ltd. and The Railbus Trust. Moved from Telford Steam Railway to Llangollen Railway 20 May 2011

Additionally, AC Cars railbus 79979 was preserved, as a grounded body, on the Strathspey Railway. It was scrapped by MC Metals, Glasgow, in 1990.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, winter 1962/3 edition, pp 316-317
  2. ^ http://www.nashuacitystation.org/?article=commuterrail
  3. ^ BR Atlas and Gazetteer p11 D4
  4. ^ "Traction News". Rail (138): 50. December 1990. 
  5. ^ "AC railbus 79979". Railcar Association website. http://www.railcar.co.uk/pics/Preserved/others/ACbus/79979.htm. 

External links

Diesel multiple units of the United Kingdom
First generation units:
First Generation
Original TOPS:
First generation units
(pre-TOPS):
Second generation units:
Diesel-electric units:
Southern Railway designations:
Families