page_title: British steam railcars
section_title: Great Western Railway
hierarchical_section_title: British steam railcars / Railmotors / Great Western Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: A rebuilt en:GWR Steam Rail motor at the Didcot Railway Centre
context_page_description: A steam railcar is a rail vehicle that does not require a locomotive as it contains its own steam engine. The first steam railcar was an experimental unit designed and built in 1847 by James Samuel and William Bridges Adams. In 1848 they made the Fairfield steam carriage that they sold to the Bristol & Exeter Railway, who used it for two years on a branch line.
  Railcars were built in the early 20th century for the London & South Western Railway and before entering passenger service one was lent to the Great Western Railway. Between 1902 and 1911, 197 steam railcars were built, 99 by the GWR.
  Introduced either due to competition from the new electric tramways or to provide an economic service on lightly used country branch lines, there were two main designs, either a powered bogie enclosed in a rigid body or an articulated engine unit and carriage, pivoting on a pin. However, with little reserve power steam railcars were inflexible and the ride quality was poor due to excessive vibration and oscillation. Most were replaced by an autotrain, adapted carriages and a push-pull steam locomotive as these were able to haul additional carriages or goods wagons.
context_section_description: After the trials with the L&SWR railmotor, in 1903 the GWR designed and built two prototypes and by 1908 had 99 carriages and 112 engine units. Although there were detail differences between carriages there were six basic types: the prototypes were the only examples 57 feet (17 m) long and in 1905 two railmotors (numbered 15 and 16) arrived from Kerr, Stuart & Co. These were unlike the others, of the articulated type and to the outline design of Tom Hurry Riches of the Taff Vale Railway but with locomotive style boilers. The other carriages were either 59 feet 6 inches (18.14 m) or 70 feet (21 m) long and designed for branch or suburban use, the branch cars having a separate luggage compartment. There were between 49 and 64 seats and two cars had corridor connections at both ends.
  The engines, apart for the two for the Kerr, Stuart cars, were all interchangeable, although there were minor differences in the heating surface, wheel diameter and tractive effort. These were equipped with a swing arm suspension that was effective in damping out the vibration typical of steam railcars.
  Withdrawals started in 1914, services being replaced by autotrains. Three were sold and one was destroyed in a fire but most were converted into trailers. However, by the 1923 grouping 53 remained in service and it was October 1935 before they were all withdrawn.
  As of 2012 a reconstructed GWR steam railmotor built in 1908 is operational and based at Didcot Railway Centre.
caption: Rebuilt GWR steam railmotor in 2012
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