GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill - British Railways Period Locomotives: gwrbsh1294

GWR AEC Railcar W14W with a 70 seat capacity and powered by two 8 AEC bus engines is seen standing at Platform 8 with a local passenger service in April 1958. In February 1935, just prior of the delivery of numbers 5, 6 and 7 to the Great Western, an order was placed for a further 10 railcars of three designs. Numbers 8, 9 and 13 to 16 were to be of the same basic plan as the previous three models and having 70 seater bodies, numbers 10 to 12 had the installation of a lavatory with 63 seater bodies, while number 17 was designed as an express parcels car. Each of these examples used the 2 AEC 8.85 litre engines but with a gearbox fitted to each engine.

From experience gained of running the railcars Express parcels railcar number 17 over the previous 12 months a number of modifications were introduced on these cars. The standard London bus AEC engine employed aluminium alloy cylinder heads, but failures of some heads, including cracking, brought the introduction of cast iron castings. Similarly, the oil temperatures had been noted as rather high on continuous high-speed running and so oil coolers, fitted at the front and rear under the buffers, were added to combat this. The previous seven railcars were subsequently fitted with these modifications.

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