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The Regio-Shuttle RS1 low-floor vehicle is a modern version of a single unit railcar. Several of these can run together; articulated versions are also available.

A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car), is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g. the Great Western Railway, used the term Railmotor. If it is able to pull a full train, it is rather called a motor coach or a motor car.¹

In its simplest form it may be little more than a motorized version of a railway handcar, sometimes called a speeder.

The term is sometimes also used as an alternative name for the small types of multiple unit which consist of more than one coach. The term is used more generally now in Ireland to refer to any diesel multiple unit (DMU), or in some cases electric multiple unit (EMU).

The term "railcar" is also used in North America to refer to any kind of railroad car, including unpowered freight cars or passenger cars.²³⁴

A 3-car train of 2000 class railcars in suburban Adelaide, Australia

A 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+⁵⁄₆ in) gauge RVR-made railbus AR2-002 at Vilnius, Lithuania

Uses

Railcars are economic to run for light passenger loads because of their small size, and in many countries are often used to run passenger services on minor railway lines, such as rural railway lines where passenger traffic is sparse, and where the use of a longer train would not be cost effective. A famous example of this in the United States was the Galloping Goose railcars of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, whose introduction allowed the discontinuance of steam passenger service on the line and prolonged its life considerably.

Railcars have also been employed on premier services. In New Zealand, although railcars were primarily used on regional services, the Blue Streak and Silver Fern railcars were used on the North Island Main Trunk between Wellington and Auckland and offered a higher standard of service than previous carriage trains.

In Australia, the Savannahlander operates a tourist service from the coastal town of Cairns to Forsayth.

Historic railcars

An early steam railcar for the narrow gauge Niederösterreichische Landesbahn, built by Komarek of Vienna in 1903. Works photograph

An early petrol-engined rail omnibus on the New York Central railroad

Two diesel-powered rack railcars on the Snowdon Mountain Railway

Standard railcar RM 31 in the yard at Pahiatua station of the Wairarapa Line

Multiple unit and articulated railcar

Sometimes when there are enough passengers to justify it, railcars can be joined together. Usually these form multiple units with one driver controlling all engines, however it has previously been the practice for a railcar to tow a carriage or second railcar which does not provide any power. It is possible for several railcars to run together, each with its own driver (a practice of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee). The reason for this was to keep costs down, since small railcars were not always fitted with multiple unit control.

There are also articulated railcars, with bogies under the point between the carriages rather than two pivoting bogies under each carriage (see Jacobs bogie).

Light regional electric multiple unit railcar in Beinwil am See

New-generation DMU and EMU railcars

A new breed of aerodynamically designed light regional railcars – in diesel- or electric- multiple unit form – are becoming very popular in Europe, replacing the first-generation railbuses and second-generation DMU railcars, usually running on lesser-used main-line railways and in some cases in exclusive lanes in urban areas.

Existing systems

The light regional railcars are used by a number of railroads in (Zwickau in Saxony) Germany amongst others, and also in the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and soon in Spain.

• Sprinter in San Diego, California
• O-Train in Ottawa, Canadá
• Capital MetroRail in Austin, Texas
• Ferrovia Trento-Malè in the region of Trento, Italy

A Coradia LINT of the Taunusbahn has arrived in Waldsolms and now waits for departure to Bad Homburg

Manufacturers

Models of new generation multiple unit and articulated railcars include:

• Alstom Coradia LINT
• Bombardier Talent
• Siemens Desiro
• Stadler GTW
• Stadler FLIRT
• Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1

Railbuses

A variation of railcar is a railbus, a very lightweight type of vehicle designed for use specifically on little-used railway lines, and as the name suggests share many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus, or modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Railbuses were used commonly in countries such as Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Sweden.

Petrol railbus at the Eastern Södermanlands Railway, ÖSlJ, a narrow-gauge museum railway in typical time 1890-1910-century environment in Sweden.

A type of railbus known as a Pacer is still commonly used in the United Kingdom. New Zealand railcars that more closely resembled railbuses were the Leyland diesel railcars and the Wairarapa railcars that were specially designed to operate over the Rimutaka Incline between Wellington and the Wairarapa region. In Australia, where they were often called Rail Motors, railcars were often used for passenger services on lightly-used lines. In France they are called an Autorail. Once very common their use died out as local lines were closed. However, a new model has been introduced for lesser used lines.

After the cessation of mainline passenger service on BC Rail in Canada, BC Rail started operating a pair of railbuses to some settlements not easily accessible otherwise.

In Russia, Metrowagonmash (Russian: ОАО "Метровагонмаш") of Mytishchi manufactures railbus RA-1 with a Mercedes engine. As of the summer 2006, the Gorky Railroad planned to start using them on the commuter line between Nizhny Novgorod and Bor.⁵

Rail bus runs in Kalka-Shimla Railway route in India. Another railbus was in service in Shimoga-Talguppa route, but the same was closed in June, 07 for gauge conversion from narrow gauge to broad gauge under Project Unigauge.

Uerdingen railbus in Germany

Two axle British Rail Railbus in York, England

1950's Emmina railbus in Italy

Road-rail vehicles

The term railbus also refers to a dual-mode bus that can run on streets with rubber tires and on tracks with retractable HyRail train wheels.

Railbus is also a term that refers to a bus that replaces or supplements rail services on low-patronage railway lines or a bus that terminates at a railway station (also called a train bus). This process is sometimes called bustitution.

Parry People Movers

A UK company currently promoting the rail bus concept is Parry People Movers. Locomotive power is from the energy stored in a flywheel. Prototypes have an on board diesel motor to bring the flywheel up to speed. In practice, this could be an electric motor that need only connect to the power supply at stopping points. Alternatively, a motor at the stopping points could wind up the flywheel of each car as it stops.

Propulsion systems

Steam

See also: Railmotor, for the steam-powered vehicles used by British railways

William Bridges Adams built steam railcars at Bow, London in the 1840s. Many British railway companies tried steam railcars but they were not very successful and were often replaced by push-pull trains. Sentinel Wagon Works was one British builder of steam railcars.

In Belgium, M. A. Cabany of Mechelen designed steam railcars. His first was built in 1877 and exhibited at a Paris exhibition. This may have been the Exposition Universelle (1878). The steam boiler was supplied by the Boussu Works and there was accommodation for First, Second and Third-class passengers and their luggage. There was also a locker for dogs underneath! Fifteen were built and they worked mainly in the Hainaut and Antwerp districts.

Petrol

The first petrol driven railcar in the UK was invented by James Sidney Drewry and made by the Drewry Car Co. in 1906. In 1908 the manufacture was contracted out to the Birmingham Small Arms Company

Diesel

While early railcars were propelled by steam, gasoline, and diesel, modern railcars are usually propelled by a diesel engine mounted underneath the floor of the coach. Diesel railcars may have mechanical (fluid coupling and gearbox), hydraulic (torque converter) or diesel-electric hybrid transmission.

Electric

Single electric railcars on mainline electric systems are rare, since electrification normally implies heavy usage where single cars would not be economic. The exceptions to this rule are to be found on tram and interurban systems. The Red Car of the Pacific Electric Railway being an iconic example.

Battery-electric

Experiments with battery-electric railcars were conducted from around 1890 in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. In the USA, railcars of the Edison-Beach type, with nickel-iron batteries were used from 1911. In New Zealand, a battery-electric Edison railcar operated from 1926 to 1934. The Drumm nickel-zinc battery was used on four 2-car sets between 1932 and 1946 on the Harcourt Street Line in Ireland and British Railways used lead-acid batteries in a railcar in 1958. Between 1955 and 1995 DB railways successfully operated 232 DB Class ETA 150 railcars utilising lead-acid batteries.

As with any other battery electric vehicle, the drawback is the limited range (this can be solved using overhead wires to recharge for use in places where there are not wires), weight, and/or expense of the battery.

An example of a new application for zero emission vehicles for rail environments such as subways is the Cater MetroTrolley which carries ultrasonic flaw detection instrumentation.

Draisine

A Railcar could also mean a powered draisine

Battery electric MetroTrolley for rail use

In its simplest form, an American speeder.

With some weather protection, including mountable canvas side curtains

See also

Categories

• Locomotive
• Multiple Unit
• Rail motor coach
• Railbus

General

References

External links

• HyRail
• Fleet Body Equipment
• Rail-Gear (Boatright Enterprises, Inc)
• The Road Rail Bus, an experimental bus for road and rail in the 1970s
• HyRail truck
• North Central Railcar Association (in Pennsylvania)
• Rail Motor Society (NSW, Australia)
• Stadler Rail
• North American Railcar Operators Association
• Search site for railcar for photos of 1930s European and New Zealand Railcars