GWR steam rail motors

Ride a steam rail car. I don't think I've ever heard of one on this side of the ocean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV5RVbMvAbE#t=381.73551" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osxrz2mW0zA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Beautiful vehicles. I regret I've never had the chance to see one in the flesh.

John, Googling it, I think that it's at Didcot.
Here's a comment. Close clearance under Brunel's bridges: Published on Oct 19, 2014
"1908 GWR Steam Rail Motor Diagram R number 93 was running trips from Southall Platform no 1 down the Brentford goods line, by courtesy of The Great Western Society and First Great Western. Note the footprints on the roof round the chimney, that had to be removed to get it under the bridges! Note Brunel's famous 'Three Bridges' where a road crosses the Grand Junction Canal with the railway in a cutting beneath the two. The Three Bridges bridge crossing is a unique transport intersection, that was designed and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was to be his last project before he died on 15 September 1859 just two months after its completion."

Southall is a name that rings a bell, in part because I lived there for a couple of years back in the early '80s, but also because earlier this month my wife and I were travelling by train from Paddington to Maidenhead when we were stopped in Ealing Broadway due to a death on the line at Southall. Our train had to return to Paddington and all down trains were delayed for a couple of hours while they cleaned up the mess. We had lunch at the Paddington Hilton - a trifle expensive but all the cheap food outlets were absolutely jam-packed with delayed passengers. When we finally arrived in Maidenhead some time later, I was chatting to a priest who is also a Samaritans volunteer, and he said Southall is notorious for suicides, although nobody seems to know exactly why. On a more positive note, the station name boards in Southall Station are written in both English and Urdu, a sign of the glorious mix of cultures one finds there.

I can remember when in the 1950s there were GWR single diesel rail cars on some branches and rural routes, with a very elegant shape. Almost certainly they were built in the 1930s. A few were made into three carriage trains. As modern diesels came in they were phased out. Presumably they had replaced the 1920s steam vehicles, as being much easier to supply and maintain. Some of them can still be found on preserved railways.

The diesel railcar is very stylish in appearance; was that designed in-house by the GWR, or did some manufacturer come up with it?

Is this the car we are talking about? I have to admit that I like its looks better than I like the usual North American doodlebug. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAhk8hXAtsI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's the one, and that GWR In a circle was used by the Great Western in the 1930's. And at 3:22, is that GWR broad gauge track on the left?

ExCon90 wrote: And at 3:22, is that GWR broad gauge track on the left?

I have no idea, but I hope it is; I am a great fan of GWR seven foot baulk road. Here's the caption from Wiki for the picture below.
"A baulk road crossing showing the baulks (under the rails) and transoms (to maintain the gauge)"

philipmartin wrote:

ExCon90 wrote: And at 3:22, is that GWR broad gauge track on the left?

I have no idea, but I hope it is; I am a great fan of GWR seven foot baulk road. Here's the caption from Wiki for the picture below.
"A baulk road crossing showing the baulks (under the rails) and transoms (to maintain the gauge)"

There's a modern reconstruction of the 7 ft gauge track at the Great Western heritage centre at Didcot.

Thank you George, I was just looking at the Didcot Railway Centre on Google.