GWR railcars
Preserved AEC railcar no 22
In service	1933-1962
Number built	1934-1942
Operator	Great Western Railway British Rail (Western Region)
Specifications

In 1933, the Great Western Railway introduced the first of what was to become a very successful series of railcars, which survived in regular use into the 1960s, when they were replaced with the new British Rail "first generation" type diesel multiple units. The Great Western Railway ( GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of Civil engineering, linking London with the West The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 The Great Western Railway ( GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of Civil engineering, linking London with the West A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway Vehicle designed to Transport passengers See also Rail transport in Great Britain, National Rail, Network Rail This article is about the defunct entity "British Railways" A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel

Contents 1 Overview 2 Preservation 3 See also 4 External links

Overview

The original design featured 'air-smoothed' bodywork, which was very much the fashion at the time. The rounded lines of the first examples built led to their nickname: "flying banana". The preserved W4W is an example of the original, rounded body shape. Later examples, such as No. 22 (pictured), had much more angular (and practical) bodywork, yet the nickname persisted for these too.

Below is a full list of GWR railcars:

Number Range	Introduced	Builder	Engine	Weight (tons)	Seats	Withdrawn	Notes
1	1934	Park Royal	1 AEC of 130 hp	24	69	1955	Prototype railcar
2-4	1934		2 AEC of 130 hp	26. Dating its origins back to 1889 Park Royal Vehicles along with its Leeds -based subsidiary Charles H AEC was a United Kingdom based vehicle manufacturer which built Buses and Trucks from 1912 until 1979 2	44	1954-1958	Buffet fitted
5-7	1935	Gloucester RCW		25. Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (GRC&W was a railway Rolling stock manufacturer based at Gloucester, England; from 1860 until 1986 3	70	1957-59	Standard single car
8-9, 13-16	1936			29. 5	70	1957-60	9 withdrawn in 1946 after fire
10-12	1936			29. 9	63	1956-57	Lavatory fitted
17	1936			28. 85	None	1959	Parcels car, capacity 10tons
18	1937			33. 6	49	1957	Prototype, with buffers & draw gear for hauling vans
19-33	1940-41	GWR, Swindon	2 AEC of 105 hp	35. Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire. 65	48	1960-62	33 rebuilt in 1954 to replace 37
34	1941			34. 9	None	1960	Parcels car, capacity 10tons
35-38	1941-42			36. 7 + 37. 6	60 + 44	1957 + 1962	Power twins with buffet and lavatory 35+36 and 37+38 37 withdrawn in 1949 after fire and replaced by 33

Preservation

Three of the GWR railcars have survived into preservation, as follows:

Vehicle No.	Builder	Year Built	Location	Comments
W4W	Park Royal	1934	Swindon Steam Railway Museum	-
W20W	GWR Swindon	1940	Kent & East Sussex Railway	-
W22W	GWR Swindon	1940	Didcot Railway Centre	-

See also

• GWR steam rail motors

External links

• The Great Western Archive

Swindon 'Steam' Railway Museum is located at the site of the old Railway works in Swindon, England - Wiltshire 's 'railway town' Historical Company Opening And Growth The Kent & East Sussex Railway was one of the light railways operated by Colonel H Didcot Railway Centre, located in the town of Didcot in the English county of Oxfordshire, is based around the site of an old engine shed The steam rail motors (SRM were self-propelled carriages operated by the Great Western Railway in England and Wales from 1903 to 1935

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