GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Solihull Station: gwrs2708

The experimental AEC Railcar stands at platform 3 having arrived on a local service from Snow Hill circa 1950. Railcars were thought to be the answer for keeping branch lines with frequent stops and relatively few passengers profitable. However this laudable objective failed to materialise because whilst the new vehicles might have cost about the same as road transport (if built in sufficient numbers) the railway had to bear the entire cost of infrastructure, something bus and transport companies were able to avoid as such costs were paid by the motorist.

Photograph courtesy of the Mike Morant Collection

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