Spardo:
ParkRoyal2100:
Just to add a little something to the Australian rail-car convo, here’s a couple of snaps I took of a '30s NSW ‘Rail Pay Bus’. Originally designed and built by Waddington (Granville, Sydney) in the 30s as railbuses for use on branch lines in Central Western NSW, these had petrol powered 221cu in (3.6l) Ford V8s and were built on truck chassis. The experiment failed and all six were converted for use as paymaster’s vans, and apparently were used all over the NSW rail network right up till the late 60s.2
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Photos taken at the NSW Rail Museum at Thirlmere (NSW), a place well worth a visit if you’re in that neck of the woods, especially on Steam Days.
That is really interesting, PR, although it is a Ford and not exactly the same thing but the principle is there, a forward control bus on rails. Do you remember where the passenger entrance was, was it in the normal place at the front, opposite the driver?
Just out of interest though, what part of it failed? Obviously not the vehicle itself as they were used for the next 30 years, so was it passenger resistance for some reason?
IIRC David the entrance was up front near the driver. The failure wasn’t down to the vehicle but the experiment of running these rail-buses as an economical venture. Unfortunately, I can only remember paraphrasing the info on the placard, but perhaps if you can ferret around on their website you might find more info.
Steve