- British Rail Railbuses
Infobox EMU
name = British Rail Railbuses
imagesize = 300px
caption = Railbus no. 79964 atYork Railfest exhibition on 3rd June 2004. This vehicle is preserved on theKeighley and Worth Valley Railway .
background = #012545
Manufacturer =
Operator =British Rail
Formation = 25 trainsets
Built =
InService = 1950-1997
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Voltage =British Rail produced a variety of Railbuses as a means both of building new rolling stock cheaply, and to provide services on lightly-used lines economically.Terminology
Railbuses are a very lightweight type of
Diesel multiple unit Railcar designed for use specifically on little-used railway lines, and as the name suggests share many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus, or modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies."First Generation" BR Railbuses
In the late 1950s,
British Rail tested a series of small Railbuses, produced by a variety of manufacturers. These proved to be very economical, but also somewhat unreliable. The lines they worked on were mainly closed during the Beeching Cuts and, being non-standard, they were all withdrawn in the mid-1960s, before being allocatedTOPS classifications.In addition to these Railbuses, BR ordered three for departmental (non-revenue earning) service. The full list of passenger and departmental units is set out below.
References
External links
* [http://www.thewoodheadsite.org.uk/ EM2 Locomotive Society - owners of Drewry railcar DB998901.]
* [http://www.old-dalby.com/HSCCP.htm Old Dalby Test Track site - Pictures of the Drewry car RDB998901 in action at BR's test track]
* [http://www.wickham-railbus.org.uk Wickham Railbus Group - owners of Wickham railbus DB999507.]
* [http://www.traintesting.com/LEVs.htm Train Testing site - Pictures of the testing and travels of the early railbuses]
* [http://www.departmentals.com departmentals.com]
* [http://www.telfordsteamrailway.co.uk Telford Steam Railway - home of RB004]
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