GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Widney Manor Station: gwrwm2628

Another photograph of ex-Barry Railway Trailer coach No W4303 in Departmental use in the mileage siding at the back of the goods yard at the northern end of Widney Manor Station, circa 1952. The photograph shows the bow ended front of the 60 foot, 9 inch long (over headstocks) Auto Trailer with its driving compartment and main third class compartments. Beneath the coach can be seen the boxes that contained the batteries for powering the coach’s electric lighting.

This coach started life as one of a pair of Steam Rail Motors built jointly by RY Pickering & Co of Wishaw (near Glasgow) and the North British Locomotive Co (Atlas Works, Glasgow) for the Barry Railway in 1905. RY Pickering furnished and fitted the coach bodywork, while the North British provided the power unit - a vertical steam boiler and coupled four wheeled bogie with outside cylinders. The Steam Rail Motor that would eventually become No W4303 was numbered No 2. From the outset these Steam Rail Motors were provided with electric lighting using the patented Stone’s system with the side and tail lights also being electric. The Stone’s system was the earliest self-contained carriage lighting system. It was designed to utilise an ordinary shunt wound dynamo suspended under the coach by a hinge that caused the weight of the dynamo to maintain the tension in the drive belt. A tension screw on the hinge could be manually adjusted to set the minimum drive belt tension, but the basic principle was that when the coach was travelling above a predetermined speed, the drive belt would start to slip and as the speed increased further the slippage increased, thereby restricting the speed of the dynamo, which in turn limited the maximum voltage produced and prevented the batteries from overcharging. Two batteries were employed, with one being charged from the dynamo, while the other was used to regulate the voltage to the level required by the lamps.

In 1914 both of the steam rail motors were converted at the Barry carriage repair shops into composite trailer coaches. This trailer coach was numbered No 178 and had 12 second class and 56 third class seats. At the Grouping in January 1923, the Barry Railway became a constituent company of the new Great Western Railway and their locomotives and rolling stock were renumbered into the Great Western Railway’s stock lists. As a composite coach No 178 was initially allocated No 6134, but it never carried this number, because in June 1923 the coach was downgraded to an all third (70 seat) coach and renumbered No 4303 in September 1924. Although all the Great Western Railway trailer coaches had gas lighting until 1929, they maintained the electric lighting systems for the compartments on the absorbed rolling stock, but at some point removed the electrically lit side and tail lamps, replacing them with traditional oil lamps. This may have been because it was found that the electric lights dimmed when the voltage reduced, which could occur if the train was required to stop for prolonged periods and without the dynamo operating, the voltage relied entirely on the regulating battery. In September 1925, chain communication apparatus was fitted to No 4303, allowing passengers to indicate to the train crew when something was amiss and would also partially apply the vacuum brake. The system had a rod across the end of each coach attached to external tell-tale indicators on either side. On trailer coaches this was normally positioned across the rear end, but when the coach had a gangway, it was easier to install the rod above the driver’s windows as evident in this photograph. Also evident is the piping, near the coupling, for the steam heating which was installed in No 4303 circa 1929. In November 1934, Through Regulator Gear (TRG) was recorded as being provided to No 4303, allowing the locomotive’s regulator controls to be linked to another trailer at the driver end. No 6131 also had TGR fitted, but had no regulator handle in the driving compartment implying that it was only used as an intermediate trailer. After No W4303 was condemned in November 1951, it was moved to Tyseley for Engineering Department use.

This photograph is displayed courtesy of the HMRS (Historical Model Railway Society) and copies can be ordered directly from them using the link HERE, quoting reference AEQ913.

Robert Ferris

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