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NER 1903 Autocar


The White Rabbit
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I have been itching to ask this question, would you run that at a steam gala or a diesel gala?

 

Either!  I quite fancy an Edwardian Gala, with the autocar, railmotor, vintage steam and some vintage road vehicles. 

 

 

 

Maybe a railcar gala.

 

Llangollen ran the GWR steam railmotor with the DMUs at one of their galas. They also had the 64XX and auto trailers running as a comparison.

 

 

 

Jason

 

A more general railcar gala would be good from a historical/enthusiast point of view, but I think we'd need to check the economics of it. One little project I do have in mind, especially following recent announcements and releases is a miniature version - something like the line-up pictured:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GWR_Steam_Railmotor_93_with_Railcar_Lineup_(7881308848).jpg. in 1:76 scale. Maybe in 2019? If it comes off, I'll post photos/videos ... 

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Great to see the Autocar running, looking and sounding unique. It would be interesting to see it alongside the NER electric parcels van 3267 which is on the North Tyneside Raileay, sometime, as the only NER electric vehicles in this livery.

 

Dava

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Having spent a lot of time and trouble on the interior (not forgetting the exterior paint finish and signwriting) we are very reluctant to allow non house-trained animals inside the passenger saloon, whether of the two or four legged varieties. As someone who deals with the mentally disturbed on a daily basis, I think some recent comments are confusing the actions of such unfortunates with the well-meaning albeit vigorous gestures of one of our volunteers who was anxious to avoid a problem. Perhaps we can move on from trying to analyse every gesture and motion of everyone captured on screen?

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Having spent a lot of time and trouble on the interior (not forgetting the exterior paint finish and signwriting) we are very reluctant to allow non house-trained animals inside the passenger saloon, whether of the two or four legged varieties. As someone who deals with the mentally disturbed on a daily basis, I think some recent comments are confusing the actions of such unfortunates with the well-meaning albeit vigorous gestures of one of our volunteers who was anxious to avoid a problem. Perhaps we can move on from trying to analyse every gesture and motion of everyone captured on screen?

Awww heck no, we're not analysing the actions of those on the camera at all, flailing is an expression of appreciation from diesel neds like me.  As for being mentally disturbed, yup I definitely am, but that was never really in doubt.

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Most diesel neds I've had any dealings with wouldn't be interested in something that's not a loco, so this wouldn't promote that much flailing or any of the other behaviours associated with diesel nedding.

 

Though I think DEMUs were more widely appreciated than DMMUs, so this might stand a chance. Could do with being a bit louder though... ;)

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 Could do with being a bit louder though... ;)

I disagree, for me the diesel sound detracts from the image of what was a petrol vehicle. Perhaps its not possible to quieten it any more and there are problems with using petrol/LPG alongside live steam.

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I can't quite understand the above banter from all you southern tykes, but are you suggesting that there are problems arising from the above September tests?

It seems like there is criticism of it being diesel - but many petrol road PSVs were re-engined as diesels in the years before and after WW II

 

The Autocar looks astonishingly modern (Derby Lightweight DMU engineers clearly cribbed the front end).  Might we see it up on Tyneside - perhaps at Middle Engine Lane N Tyneside.next year? Pity Alston is the wrong gauge!

 

Best Wishes

dh

 

Edit

Reading the thread upwards/back through time, I've just come across Kevin's posts querying Autocar's provenance.

He and I compiled this RMweb Timeline of DMU/DEMU development pre BR  a couple of years ago. 

Edited by runs as required
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Could do with being a bit louder though... ;)

 

That reminds me about the debate about the noise from F1 engines! We have to consider the drivers' ear-drums, ours won't be wearing helmets! 

 

I disagree, for me the diesel sound detracts from the image of what was a petrol vehicle. Perhaps its not possible to quieten it any more and there are problems with using petrol/LPG alongside live steam.

 

 

It seems like there is criticism of it being diesel - but many petrol road PSVs were re-engined as diesels in the years before and after WW II

 

 

We did look at a petrol engine, but no contemporary engine of remotely the right size had survived, so we wouldn't have had 'grandfather rights'. Modern H&S wouldn't have let us put a petrol engine in a wooden bodied vehicle, so there wasn't really any choice. Diesel may not be what the autocar started out as, but 3170 always was a test-bed for new technology and went through three engines in less than 30 years. And buying the new Cummins diesel means our lives are going to be a lot easier re maintenance and running costs. 

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ive seen the autocar advertised as being in the "home from the front" event at Elsecar in October, this ad was in an issue of the Unknown warrior newsletter booklet but the elsecar website doesnt mention it

 

Unless there's been a change of plan, I thought this was the trailer autocoach and for November? 

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I can't quite understand the above banter from all you southern tykes, but are you suggesting that there are problems arising from the above September tests?

 

 

Might we see it up on Tyneside - perhaps at Middle Engine Lane N Tyneside.next year? 

 

 

I'm not aware of any problems with testing. It went when it was supposed to and stopped likewise. AFAIK, there's some calibration type work to do and a bit more testing to do this month but everyone seemed very happy with the test results. 

 

The autocar will be available for hire next year, subject to existing commitments (Embsay will run it on some of their running days and there are some organisations we are currently speaking to about visits). Some press invites have gone to the north east as it's part of your railway heritage as well as part of Yorkshire's. So maybe... 

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I disagree, for me the diesel sound detracts from the image of what was a petrol vehicle. Perhaps its not possible to quieten it any more and there are problems with using petrol/LPG alongside live steam.

Valid points, but I do like a nice loud characterful diesel engine. Though since this one is a modern Cummins the noise probably wouldn't be that great anyway.

 

Which is not to detect from the work involved in getting the railcar running, or the fact that it looks terrific.

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Valid points, but I do like a nice loud characterful diesel engine. Though since this one is a modern Cummins the noise probably wouldn't be that great anyway.

 

Which is not to detect from the work involved in getting the railcar running, or the fact that it looks terrific.

The point I was making was perhaps the engine could have been made even quieter, perhaps with more insulation. The army once tested a special silenced diesel generator for use near front lines, what was remarkable was that the engine that powered it was an air cooled two stroke diesel.

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