Is it an engine? Is it a carriage? Both? Witchcraft, burn it

At least ONE Railmotor is in preservation to my knowledge, you can find it at the Didcot Railway Centre.

In the U.S. as early as the 1910s and 20s Gasoline powered "Doodlebugs" became the norm and later Rail Diesel Cars or RDC. Definitely a bit more practical than steam powered coaches or carriages whichever terminology you prefer. Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to ride in at least one of these things just to see what it's like to ride in one.

One of my favorite video games growing up was The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks, and one of the locomotives I distinctly remember from it was in fact a Steam Railmotor. I always thought it was just a made up cartoony train with no basis until now. This was a really cool video! Thanks for sharing man!

BR inherited 2 Rail motors and a Sentinel Railcar upon Nationalisation in 1948. The Sentinel Railcar (No 2136 Hope) was withdrawn in February 1948, the LYR Raimotor (No 10617) went in March 1948 and the LNWR Railmotor ws withdrawn in November 1948 (Even though it hadn't worked since February 1947 due to collision damage).

There is a Steam Motor Coach, SMC1, or more effectively known as the Coffee Pot, still operating in Australia. It is owned and operated by Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society at Quorn in the Flinders Ranges South Australia. The engine unit was built by Kitson and Co and the carriage unit by the Birmingham Carriage and Wagon Co in 1905. There was also a SMC2 that operated in the SE of South Australia, although it differed slightly in that there was a drivers cab at the rear of the carriage unit. Both SMC1 and SMC2 arrived in Australia in 1906. I have the privilige to fire and drive the Coffee Pot at times as rostered. Also at Pichi Richi Railway, we also have a Brill Model 75 Railcar. These were sent to Australia in kit form and assembled at Islington. The one we have 106, was assembled in 1929, so It's getting close to a century of running. As built, the Brills were fitted with a Winton petrol engine, and five speed constant mesh gearbox (I believe the gearbox is by Spicer). Later the South Australian Railways replaced the Winton petrol engine with an English supercharged Cummins L6 engine. This is the variant that I drive at Pichi Richi Railway. The South Australian Railways also ran these on Broad Gauge, some were converted to Cummins diesel engines, then subsequently converted to more powerful Gardiner L8 engines with pneumatically operated gearboxes so that they could operate in the Adelaide Hills as multiple units.

Ringhoffer Smíchov in Prague built a steam railcar in 1903. It was used on a couple branchlines until 1947, when it was withdrawn and put on display at the National Technical Museum. In 2006 it was restored and put into operation at the National Rail Museum in Lužná, although I believe at present it is out of service because of a problem with the boiler. Hopefully next year (2024) she'll be up and running again.

There were steam railcars that didn't require 3 crew members as they had automatic firing, like the FZm 1/2 of the Sursee Triengen Bahn in Switzerland. There were some more than run quite succesfully, but they were only ever a niche

Steam railcars are a fantastic example of an excellent idea that came just a little bit too early.

Finally someone is talking about My favorite type of Locomotive!

We had/have a Kitson Steam train in NZ it is safely tucked away in a museum, would be good on a cold winters day, toasty warm. 👍👍 In fact at one time, it was brought out and for a while.

We actually had some identical steam railmotors to the one shown at 1:33 ordered for the opening of my local line. They were also fitted with an open air deck on the top for extra capacity for picnic goers, since my local line runs mainly through the woods. This was on purpose as the initial entrepreneur behind the line saw more money in logging than in other traffic and so deliberately made the line go deeply in the middle of the forest, several kilometers from some villages. The line originally only ran 3 passenger trains a day, all with the railcars, which themselves also often pulled light logging trains. But of course they had the same issues you described. The railmotors were converted into passenger cars and had their second deck enclosed but didnt last super long. One of its specially built trailing cars does survive into preservation though after having been turned into a holiday hut. Plus over here in Denmark, in the early 1920's a Danish automotive group making buses called "Triangel" began manufacturing light weight gasoline railcars, which quickly became popular and were built in vast quantities from 1923 until 1939, in use on everything from rural branch lines, to busy urban commuter routes. Several units, mostly from the late 20's and early 30's still survive into preservation too, and many ran in passenger service as late as the mid 1970's, and as departmental stock into the 80's. One on my local line was converted into a maintenance trolley and remained in service all the way until 2005, being barely recognisable from its original self at the end.

Steam: I am an engineering titan and require a lot of space to perform efficiently. Diesel: I am revolutionary. I can produce more power in a compact space and can allow more capacity for passengers. Electric: I am a versatile form of energy that can power a train in different ways. Sometimes I am limited by my tracks but recently I can use a battery to stray away onto wireless routes.

In Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government Railways used SENTINEL cars almost identical to the one at the start of the video. 😊They had similar running problems and all 9 had the boilers removed, making them a good-sized luggage, parcel, and guards compartment.

“I guess you guys aren’t ready for that just yet. But your kids are gonna love it.”

The GWR found that they could not adequately haul a trailer when traffic demanded extra capacity. A small tank engine had the fleibility to deal with such changes of capacity, hauling several coaches.

Basically, the early phases of Multiple-Units. Multiple-Units are basically carriages that moves on its own without the need of a locomotive.

On the branch line that served the small market town where I live the LNER ran a Sentinel steam railcar. Apparently it would only steam well on a particular type of coal so it towed it's own coal wagon with it.

One part of the evolution of self propelled carriages was not mentioned in this video. Petrol engines and motorcar/ lorry drivetrains were used for a decade as part of that evolution. Ford model T engines and TT drivetrains were mostly used starting at the end of WW1. WW1 and the widly use of petrol internal combustion engines excelerated the move from steam to ICE propulsion Petrol engines had also huge drawbacks and caused lots fires, explosions and nauseous for the passengers. After the 1929 financial crisis the in WW1 developed military tech Diesel engines electric/hydraulic drivetrains became commercialy viable for coaches lorries shunters and converting self propelled cariages. In the early 30's the rise to rail domination of the self propelled passenger carriage started. Diesel-electric , Diesel-hydraulic and 3th rail-overhead electric self propelled carriages eliminated all the previous drawbacks DMU's and EMU's are now replacing locomotive pulled passenger trains into the same niche the self propelled carriage once stood at its beginning.

Unpopular?! The school boys who lived around my local branch loved the railmotors! Because they could have a cheeky word with the drivers and sneak a cab ride so much easier than on the conventional locos because of the railmotors fully enclosed cabs

You should do a video on the NER petrol-electric railcar as well. And maybe one about NER's early electrification plan which I believe died after the grouping.

There is one of these still in operation in Rockhampton Qld. It gets fired up maybe once a month by volunteers at the railway museum run by the city council. They definitely talk about the rarity when you go for a ride, something like 2 left operational.

I think passengers also complained that the movement of the pistons caused the carriage to sway from side to side. This didn't happen with a locomotive, because any movement was lost in the couplings.

The NER autocar has been overlooked in this video..... It was a petrol powered vehicle and only needed a crew of 2.... It also gas the ability of utilising a trailing car with driving capability from either side. 4:37

Pichi Richi Railway, South Australia. Steam Motor Coach No. 1

Definitely an idea ahead of its time.

We have a Union Pacific petrol-powered motorcar at Traveltown in Los Angeles. Apparently it's unique in having all of it's original equipment. You can't go inside, though. It's not much cared for.

No way your playing Freddy fazebears pizza simulator theme

there was a pretty cool one in the states operated by the New Haven called the "Besler", it looked like a Zephyr trainset and had a cab on both the locomotive and the trailer car. Wasn't that successful iirc but it looked pretty badass

please do a video on the porters steam loco the Japanese class d5, the Chinese QJ 2,10,2 or just exsamples of asian trains how do gear trains work something on saddle bolier and side tanks (like the big water boxes) tank engines double ended diesel trains what to do if the train stalls one talking about the different types of steam funnles and there uses, a video on steam locomotive combination breaks (steam and vacuum brakes) a short video on how a Armstrong turn table works what did train flagman do what did trains (mostly steam) do when going in tunnels, ive heard of gas masks or just useing a wet cloth, or did they bring in other engines like later on they used electric trains, or were there no bigv tunnels. evaluation of electric trains why are some trains wagion tops (the stream lining thing to boilers) railway terms abd slang one on the meaning of flag and lantern colors like green on rear engine means theres another one coming soon, the different types of cut offs/reversers/Johnson bar some are a big lever, some are a big valve wheel, and ive also seen some that are like rods, one exsample is train sim world 3 and im not sure where to find the other reverser and how much water do steam trains take usually, and how much would the crew drink

Good conclusion, and a sound one to a lot of concepts ahead of their time! Reference the Sinclair Electric car, a vehicle who's idea was sound on paper, but needed refinement and better tech to really work.

Err, trans would need a crew of at least 2 - the driver and at least 1 conductor, just like on the buses of the day.

Thank-you. A nice survey!

Perhaps a character from Thomas can be based on this Railmotor.

3:03 that is one weird shaped boiler I wonder what that was about

There was battery powered electric versions as well.

I think it's pretty easy to understand why they were unpopular. In Europe the transition to electric and diesel happened and we use these to this day. The US abandoned these completely.

The Kelani railway in Sri Lanka used a steam sentinal that looks like the one in the thumbnail up untill the mid 1990's , it is still stored in working condition but the tracks have been removed/regauged. There are a couple vids of it on youtube.

Check out the Stadler VT650 rail car. It look super futeristic and is pretty funny seeing one pass by on a at-grade crossing.

absolutely great 😀😀😀

Interesting! Some steam powered carriages were built in Sweden too, but never were a success here either. In one case (the Mjölby-Hästholmen Railroad), the boiler tubes had to be replaced after just one year of service (traveling 60 km per day). Eventually it was rebuilt into an ordinary passenger carriage.

Interesting summary of a mode which seems to keep reappearing. Not certain about tram comparison, though. Most trams (at least in UK) at that time carried two crew, a conductor as well as a driver. Also, I’m not sure you can let passengers alight from a train anywhere. It’s not only a long way down from the door but you’d find yourself on fenced-in railway line. There would have to be established stopping points. Contrary to initial appearances, trains and trams serve different purposes and markets.

Still, when a motor bus needs maintenance the whole vehicle needs to be taken out of service, just like the steam rail motors. You just can't remove the trucks from underneath and put in a replacement set straightaway like you can do with trams.

Very interesting concept, nice video ToT

In Sydney Australia they were used over a hundred years ago. I believe they weren’t a favorite of the suburban communities they past through. Mainly due to the smoke, soot and ash the belched out into streets. The house wives hated there sheets being covered in soot. They were much happier when they all converted to electricity.🇦🇺

Thank you! I had wondered about that.

I think the problem is that controls for steam engines are mechanically linked, so the driver has to be next to the engine itself. Which means the engine can only realistically be at the front. Electric motors on the other hand can be placed anywhere on the train and only the driver and controls need to go at the front or at the back of the train.

What about Doodlebugs? Aren't they like railcars?

there is a preserved steam tram in Rockhampton.

Could you do a video on the class 40s

We should still have steam powered carriages & trams but without a burning fuel source, just use electricity to heat up bricks that then keep the water hot like how it does so with a heating system in a building.

In denmark the 3 generations of steam cars kitts rowan(1880), arlöf (1910)and sentinel (1920) all had reliability issues and was converted to wagons within 16 years and none was converted to internal combustion even though there was a trend in denmark to convert regułar 2 axle coaches into railcars (Triangel cars)

How about the most northern rail route in the world?

See the coffee pot on the pitchi ritchi railway in South Australia,,

My reading comprehension thought that *Steam* (as in steam from valve corporation) powered carriages

The selsey tramway uesd railbus when things started to go down hill None of the big 4 wanted to take on the tramway so it was left as its own thing

Well I guess we could see where the BR class 101 came from

Wow the Steam Multiple Unit

Sitting in a historic carriage behind a steam locomotive tends to be pretty dirty regardless. I can't imagine what it would be like to sit with the locomotive in a steam-powered railcar. Today''s trains with their tightly sealed windows and air-conditioning make the train-riding experience much nicer.

Both, i say thit engine have be use for branch lines well about heme diesel railcar wont be existe, in fact the Steam railcar have be presseve in didcot, i préfère to Cal SMU (Steam multiple Unit).

So technically, it’s a vintage subway

Is the background music the FNaF 6 theme or am I crazy?

There were railcars on the Whitby/Pickering/Malton line in the late 40's and I am sure they were steam operated. If my memory is letting me down I would appreciate a correction.

Anyone realize he used the flag 6 song Just ad Water for background music

Interesting to see Maybe if it electric it could be profitable nowadays

Grandfarher of the subway

I do love railcars, myself!

This episode of Train of Thought brought to you by McDougall's patent Self Raising Flour.

Railcars Are Interesting So Steam Powered Ones? Cool

Whato All. Nice but why the background music?

Poor Toby....

Drumm Battery EMUs next

I think you just described electric cars.

I would have thought that randomly stopping would be a signalling issue.

I like to call them SMUs... Steam Multiple Unit lol

Fewer people.

1:10 there’s Floras basis

Steam power railcarriage should've been on thomas and friends.

I guess steam-powered railcars and units just don’t work as well as they sound.

Voir motrice a vapeur "kittel dampftriebwagen" en Suisse. Steam motor car in switzerland.

Which is worse, a steam railmotor, or a Pacer?