Is It A Bus : Is Ir A Car? Is It A Train (2)

fbb suspects that both of the above were more about staff transport than public passenger use. If they were real trains, the income would not be viable, surely?

But is the Parry People Mover a Rail Bus?

This and its twin trundle happily up and down the short branch from Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town. They are powered by energy stored in a huge flywheel below the floor. Although Mr Parry worked tirelessly to promote his environmentally friendly “invention”, nobody wanted to buy and he company went bust when the piggy bank was finally found to be empty.

At about the same time the BR Railbus project was beginning to fail, the Stadler Pacerail appeared.

It seemed a goos idea at the time and was proposed for the Ryde Newport Cowes line on the Isle of Wight.

It failed, sadly

But the Pacer part of its name was to re-appear!

Difficult to say.? The description is usually reserved foe one car bogie passenger trains, usually diesel. The Great Westen Railway was an enthusiastic operator of various types on quieter branch lines.

They were strong enough to haul an extra carriage!

Like rail buses, rail cars were common throughout the rail networks of the world.

In GB one-car diesels were developed as part of the modernisation plan to o get rid of steam. For mysterious reasons they are nicknamed “bubble” cars.

Later, BT split two car “Sprinter” units apart, added a second cab and, tada, thus appeared TWO class 123s.