GWR Steam Railmotors

Something different for Rail3D

The Great Western Railway’s Steam Rail Motors were a victim of their own success and limitations. First appearing in 1903 they were a way to provide a high frequency local service serving new wayside halts with lower costs than those of an infrequent convential train service. Their success in promoting these services led to them having to be replaced with Autotrains of up to 4 carriages. The srms were also used on branches with low profits as an economy measure. They were limited in pulling capacity and fuel range, and the last were withdrawn in 1936. Most were converted to Auto trailers.

There were two distinct types: Suburban and Branch. Suburban Motors had no Luggage compartments and were used on lines supplementing loco hauled services, whereas Branch Motors were used as the Branch train and required a Luggage compartment.

Rail3D Models

This is my first attempt at a Rail3D model so I shall hold my breath and plunge into the deep end as I try my hand at the Stock Editor and (assuming I can find one) a free vector editor for texture creation (I’m experimenting with Inkscape right now). As the srms were a steam engine and a coach combined it is a good starter model because it is a Locomotive with the easier construct of a coach. All railmotors (bar 2) were 0–4−0 locos with a fairly standard motor section so it should be easy to make certain parts interchangable as it is my hope to produce a model of each Rail Motor variety.

Dia. A, The Two Prototypes

These two were non-standard in that they were slab ended and slightly shorter than the subsequent diagrams, so they are my first choice of model. I have chosen to do No. 1.

As of 06 Augist 09 the first section of texture is finished which includes the roof and body sides. All matchboarding has been drawn in from the original diagram.

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