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Coventry Pneumatics Railcar viewed from the non-driving end of the vehicle as it stands under the footbridge at platform two waiting to depart to Nuneaton. It accommodated fifty-six persons and had a compartment for luggage. It was equipped with heating apparatus and was lit by electricity. As can be seen, the coach has been designed to give as much window space as possible to enable the passengers to see the surrounding country. A number of photographs of the Coventry Pneumatice Railcar can be seen in images 'lnwrk161', 'lnwrns1732', 'lnwrlave1349', 'lnwrlave1349a' and 'lnwrlave1362', with 'gwrwm421' showing trials of the original Michelin prototype being tested on the Great Western Railway at Widney Manor. Once the two experimental railcars had left the factory, the Railcar Shop became a Torpedo Shop. This was at the time of re-armament in the run-up to the Second World War. Regular orders for torpedoes were received through the war years. It is assumed that the Michelin licence agreement was allowed to lapse. It was not until the 1955 Modernisation Plan that Armstrong Siddeley tried to get back into the rail traction market. They obtained a licence to manufacture the Maybach high speed diesel engine in 1958 just before the merger with Bristol Aero Engines resulting in the formation of Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited. Bristol Siddeley built about 300 Maybach engines at their Ansty, Warwickshire factory, most for diesel hydraulic locomotives and a few for trawlers or portable generating sets. A change of policy on the railway - a preference for medium speed diesel engines - ended the company's railway manufacturing activity.
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