GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Leamington Shed: gwrls2629

Ex-Great Western Railway Diesel Railcar No W13W displaying ‘TRPS Special’ headboard draws into the southern end of Leamington Spa Station to stop at the down main platform on Saturday 26th September 1953. This Diesel Railcar had been hired by the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society to convey members from Paddington, via Birmingham to Towyn for their AGM. The preservation society was the first of its kind, started by enthusiasts in October 1950, it took over the two foot, three inch narrow gauge slate railway at Talyllyn in North Wales in February 1951. Society volunteers helped to rescue, rebuild and finally reopen the line and for many years main line Railtours were also run to coincide with the Society’s AGM. These Diesel Railcars were regularly used for small group excursions at weekends even in pre-nationalisation days.

Diesel Railcar No 13 was built in February 1936 for the Great Western Railway by the Associated Electrical Company (AEC) as part of Lot 1546. The railcar was powered by two 121 hp six cylinder diesel engines, which could produce a top speed in excess of 75 mph. It cost a total of £5,164 and had been fitted with a 62 foot long streamlined body similar to its predecessors, but was internally arranged to maximise passenger accommodation with 70 seats, a luggage compartment, but no lavatory. The railcar only weighed 29 tons, 10cwt, which allowed rapid acceleration. Ridding had been improved by redesigning the seven foot bogies with longer side bearing springs and modifications to the bolster springs and swing links. Diesel Railcar No 13 was initially allocated to Neath Shed (NEA) in March 1936 where the summer timetable advertised passenger services to Tenby, Carmarthen and Swansea. In January 1936 No 13 moved to Landore shed (LDR) and apart from a few months at Newport shed (NPT) remained there until moving to Pontypool Road shed (PPRD) in March 1939. At this time there were three diesel railcars operating routes in South Wales and these appear to have moved between the local sheds, however with war time activities affecting rail travel it was decided in early 1941 to suspend the South Wales services, which mainly operated on sparsely populated routes.

In June 1941, Railcar No 13 was reallocated first to Oxford shed (OXF) and then in April 1943 to Reading shed (RDG), where the Railcar operated a service to Savernake. Towards the end of the war the South Wales diesel railcar passenger services were reinstated and No 13 was allocated between Landore and Carmarthen sheds until nationalisation in January 1948, when the prefix and suffix W’s was added to the railcar’s number. Under British Railways ownership W13W remained in South Wales and in 1950 was operating from Carmarthen shed providing daily passenger services to Kidwelly, Haverfordwest and Swansea (a daily journey of approximately 144 miles). At the end of 1950 the railcar had travelled 499,601 miles, of which almost half (240,004 miles) had been completed in the four years up to March 1940. In June 1952, No W13W moved to Southall shed (81C) and in April 1953, to Reading shed (81D) before returning again to South Wales (Newport shed) in October 1954. In 1959, diesel railcars Nos W13W and W14W were converted to parcel railcars and in May that year, No W13W was allocated to Leamington Spa shed (84D), but by the following year had returned again to South Wales, where the railcar was finally withdrawn from Newport shed (86A) in August 1960.

This photograph is displayed courtesy of the HMRS (Historical Model Railway Society) and copies can be ordered directly from them using the link HERE, quoting reference ACD521.

Robert Ferris

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