Thursday, January 10, 2019

Irish diesel railcar, County Donegal, 1959

Number 19 (this one) and number 20 were sold to the Isle of Man Railway where they are preserved today.
"The first diesel railcar was built in 1930 (the first diesel railcar anywhere in the British Isles), although two further petrol-engined railcars were built before standardisation on diesel traction in 1934. Eight articulated diesel railcars were constructed by Walker Brothers of Wigan between 1934 and 1951, by which time virtually all passenger services were operated by diesel railcar. The railcars could only be driven from one end and had to be turned by a turntable to make a return journey. They also couldn't be worked in multiple, if two railcars were working back to back both required a driver. The railcars were incapable of hauling most freight wagons, so steam traction continued to be used on freight and excursion trains. The railcars were powerful enough to haul specially constructed trailers and some lightweight freight wagons, these special wagons were painted red to distinguish them from the heavier wagons which were grey. A diesel locomotive named Phoenix (converted from a steam locomotive) was also used, but due to the noisy and slow speed, (top speed of 27 mph [45 km/h]) she spent most of her career shunting and built up a mileage of 204,577 miles in its working life" (Wikipedia)

No comments: