The oldest internal combustion rail car around?

o anderson · **Posted:** Wed Mar 18, 2015 12:20 am

Ummm 1993? I recall that some of these had been restored, however I am no longer a member of the FEBT and don't think about it all that much. Unless I am missing something, the very dated Chris Coleman site is the best reference of EBT info. It would be nice if there was something else to check up with ongoing activities there.

Except now I see that the FEBT site has restoration work reports up to about mid 2011.

One lunger engines date back to the late 19th century so I had no idea how old these things could be.
Cheers!

70000 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 14, 2018 1:33 am

Ed Walters wrote:

How about the 1903 North Eastern Railway Petrol-Electric, surviving in the UK?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1903_Petro ... ic_Autocar

As an update, this 1903 railcar is now operational and is currently undergoing braking tests on the Embsay Railway in Yorkshire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2mz-0Rlg9E

70000 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:41 am

The North Eastern Railway 1903 built "Electric Autocar" made a relatively unannounced appearance at the Great Central Railway (Loughborough, UK) Winter steam gala yesterday.

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I managed to get a ride on it as it was substituted at fairly short notice (the day before...) for one of their 1950's former BR DMUs. The Autocar was visiting the railway for some mechanical certification work, so the opportunity to use it was too good to miss!

Originally Petrol(gas)-Electric, it's now a Diesel-Electric, with a modern engine, but I was very impressed with it for both ride quality and noise levels - better than some of the new units that have been introduced on the rail lines in East Anglia in the last 12 months!

Nice wood paneled interior with trolley style (but with moquette) reversable seats in the passenger saloon. Unfortunately it was so crowded with passengers on all its trips, I wasn't able to get any interior photos!

Decent view out of the front through the drivers cab as well....

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70000 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:12 am

A YouTube feature on the NER Autocar has appeared online in the last few days......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARlC8VHl9rs&t=1s

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Tue Sep 06, 2022 5:47 am

YT clip introduces some interesting ideas for a replica daily operating version of EBT M-1.

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2230

The 'silent chain drive' in the McKeens is just early Morse chain - the kind with the guide fins between the links. This can be hard to see in some of the early pictures of the McKeen drive truck, but it is well described in early references.

Morse silent chain was cutting-edge industrial drive technology when McKeen specified it.

70000 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:41 am

Posted today by the GCR on YouTube showing the Autocar in action last weekend...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frs9JXJ4NeU

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The oldest internal combustion rail car around?

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