Bulleid Wedgehead Railcars ( AEC / Inchicore )

[Mol_PMB]

I have found myself going down a rabbithole looking for photos of these in the early years, while they still retained their driving cabs. I've got a fair number now, so I thought I would share the list of references.

 

In this post I'll give a description and some 1957 photo references.

 

The six railcars 2660 to 2665 were built at Inchicore and introduced to service in 1957. 2660-2662 are recorded as being completed in February, 2663 in March and the remaining two in April 1957.

As with the AEC / Park Royal built cars, they had 12 first class seats, 32 second class, a toilet and a guard's van. Even-numbered cars had a steam heat boiler in the guard's van. The layout of the accommodation was the same as the AEC / Park Royal built cars.

Visually they were rather different:

• Most obviously, the cab front was an angular wedge-shape rather than the smoothly rounded shape of the main fleet.
• The carbody was slightly taller and had flatter sides (though there was still a small curve in the lower bodyside).
• The windows had rounded corners, being similar to those fitted to the Inchicore-built carriages.
• The arrangement of vents on the roof was different, and with a smaller type of vent.

They entered traffic in a dark green livery, with no lining. Class designations 1, 2 and GUARD were on the appropriate doors.  Bogies were silver, and I think the roof was black. The toilet window was white.

 

The clearest photo I've found in original condition shows 2664, brand new at Inchicore in 1957. This is in 'Bulleid and the Turf Burner' (Shepherd) p73.

Another good photo shows 2663 at Cork Glanmire Road on 14th July 1957. This is in 'Irish Railways 40 Years of Change' (Boocock) p23

There is one IRRS photo dated 5th June 1957, at Inchicore, which shows 2664: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511297171/

The only colour photo I've found in original condition shows an unidentified car at Kingsbridge in 1957, viewed from the other side compared to the three above. This is in 'Irish Railways in Colour' (Ferris) vol.1 p87

Finally for 1957, there is a photo of an unidentified car in a train at Clonakilty Junction. This appears in 'Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway' (Shepherd) p38 and 'The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway' Vol.3 (Creedon) p67

 

[Mol_PMB]

Photos from 1958 and 1959 showing these vehicles are as follows:

This IRRS photo at Inchicore dated November 1958 shows just part of the bodyside - who parked that kettle in the way? https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53506816536/

There's a photo of another wedgehead car at Harcourt Street in December 1958, this is in 'Rails around Dublin' (Murray) p59

2664 is seen at Enniscorthy in August 1959, in 'Railways in Ireland part 3: DSE/MGW' (Bairstow) p26, and the same car is also seen at Wexford North on p28 of the same book.

An undated photo of 2661 in original condition at Newcastle West can also be found in 2 books: 'The Waterford, Limerick & Western Railway' (Shepherd) p29 and 'Railways in Ireland part 4: GS&W' (Bairstow) p45. Considering the railcar's condition, this photo is likely to be late 1950s.

 

All the photos in the 1957-1959 period show the headlights in the low position just above the buffers. Later, they were raised. [The AEC / Park Royal railcars also had several different headlight configurations over their life.]

 

You may have noticed that this thread is a bit short of photos actually linked in the thread. Sorry! There will be some later...

[Westcorkrailway]

 

[Mol_PMB]

Moving into February 1960, this NLI photo shows a wedgehead car being overhauled in Inchicore. The headlights have been removed from their low position: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304878

This undated IRRS photo shows 2662 at Cork Glanmire Road. The headlights are in their higher position about mid-way between the bufferbeam and the cab windows. The car number has been repainted in large figures. However, the car still seems to be in unlined dark green with white toilet window, so I suspect that only the cab front was repainted: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510559287/

This undated IRRS photo at Tivoli (by the same photographer) is probably the same car: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511772644/ It certainly has the same missing panels on the underframe.

A photo of 2661 at Listowel appears in 'Rails Through North Kerry' (Beaumont/Carse) p75. It is dated summer 1961 and has its headlights in the higher position, but retains its small numbers and the car still seems to be in unlined dark green with white toilet window. There is a suggestion of patch painting around the old headlight position.

 

So it appears that both 2661 and 2662 received their headlight modifications in early 1960 but retained their original livery.

However, 2660 received a full repaint in 1960 to accompany its modified headlights. It was used on West Cork lines in their last few months including the very last train, so it became a bit of a celebrity and appears in several photos in this condition. @Westcorkrailway has gazumped me in the post above, which is perhaps the nicest view of its bright green livery with large running number, waist line and snail. Note also the black roof including the upper part of the front wedge. That photo from Ernie is at Cork Albert Quay on 12th September 1960.

There are more photos of 2660 around Cork in this period:

From Roger Joanes, 15th September 1960 at Bantry:

IRRS photo at Albert Quay on 12th August 1960, also a colour image, which in comparison with Ernie's photo shows how the same shade of green can look quite different! 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511728190/

Here is 2660 in colour again, at Drimoleague in September 1960: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419890835/

And 2660 did sometimes escape the CBSCR, here probably heading for Cobh at Myrtle Hill:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511620958/

 

2660 in this condition also appears in books on the CBSCR: Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway (Shepherd) p136, The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway Vol.3 (Creedon) p128, p129, p131.

 

So far, that's all I've found of these cars with their Wedgehead cabs. In 1961 they were rebuilt into powered intermediate cars, losing their cabs. The cars without boilers also had their guard's vans replaced with more seating.

This NLI photo dated 15th April 1961 shows three of them at Inchicore being rebuilt. The nearer one is still in unlined dark green livery:

https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305443

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

The powered intermediates seem to have entered traffic in light green livery, just before the black and tan livery was introduced. 

The rebuilt cars were all second class, and their lined light green livery had a snail each side. Another difference from the unrebuilt cars was that the main part of the toilet window was painted green rather than white - this was also done on many of the AEC / Park Royal cars.

It's important to note that there were 9 of them - 6 converted from the Wedgehead cars and 3 from AEC / Park Royal cars which had been accident-damaged. As far as I can tell, the rebuilds of the AEC / Park Royal cars replaced the windows with the same style as the Wedgehead cars, so that they were not so obviously different as one might think.

To close out the Wedgehead story, here are some photos of the rebuilds in when new and whilst they retained their green livery:

https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305631

https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305580

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53447301370/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511772699/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510557012/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511453281/

There's also a colour photo in 'Diesel Dawn' (Flanagan) p101

 

As with the main AEC railcar fleet, they were converted into push-pull cars and 2664 (as 6316) was one of the last survivors in 1987.

Edited Saturday at 20:09 by Mol_PMB

[jhb171achill]

Superb stuff, Mol; an AEC set just has to be the next big thing - they were the ICRs of their day, and no 1950s / 60s layout is complete without one.

[Mol_PMB]

8 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Superb stuff, Mol; an AEC set just has to be the next big thing - they were the ICRs of their day, and no 1950s / 60s layout is complete without one.

While I was trawling books and websites for the Wedgeheads, I have also made a much longer list of photos of the AEC / Park Royal railcar fleet, again focusing on the green livery period. I may analyse that in a similar way in due course - there are some interesting variations in buffers and headlights as well as liveries. I've found about 50 colour photos of them in various shades of green, as well as a couple of hundred monochrome photos.

The book 'Diesel Dawn' (Flanagan) includes a list of the coaches through-wired to work with them, which include:

• 10 pre-GSR coaches, the oldest from 1902
• 9 GSR coaches
• 51 CIE-built coaches
• 12 Park Royals
• 6 Cravens

So now I have a challenge of finding photos showing each type in a railcar set. I've already found two photos of the clerestory diner which is one of the most distinctive.

I am not sure whether the list in the book is thought to be complete For example it only lists 2 driving trailers, but I thought there were three. I may be mistaken. 

[jhb171achill]

Unwieldy though these things looked, it often occurred to me that they'd be much easier to scratchbuild than a "conventional" AEC car, with all its subtle curvature.....

[Mol_PMB]

7 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Unwieldy though these things looked, it often occurred to me that they'd be much easier to scratchbuild than a "conventional" AEC car, with all its subtle curvature.....

I agree.

Considering the main fleet of AEC / Park Royal cars, there’s already a Silver Fox RTR model, although it has had mixed reviews. Worsley Works also make a basic set of etches but the distinctive cab curves are left to the builder to work out. IRM will probably (hopefully) make a top-quality model eventually. So there doesn’t seem much point scratchbuilding one. 
 

But the Wedgeheads were short-lived in their original form, only existed in small numbers, and their distinctive looks weren’t pretty. So an RTR or kit model is far less likely to be produced. This would make a scratchbuild more worthwhile. I am mulling over the idea of an etch. 

[StevieB]

12 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

While I was trawling books and websites for the Wedgeheads, I have also made a much longer list of photos of the AEC / Park Royal railcar fleet, again focusing on the green livery period. I may analyse that in a similar way in due course - there are some interesting variations in buffers and headlights as well as liveries. I've found about 50 colour photos of them in various shades of green, as well as a couple of hundred monochrome photos.

The book 'Diesel Dawn' (Flanagan) includes a list of the coaches through-wired to work with them, which include:

• 10 pre-GSR coaches, the oldest from 1902
• 9 GSR coaches
• 51 CIE-built coaches
• 12 Park Royals
• 6 Cravens

So now I have a challenge of finding photos showing each type in a railcar set. I've already found two photos of the clerestory diner which is one of the most distinctive.

I am not sure whether the list in the book is thought to be complete For example it only lists 2 driving trailers, but I thought there were three. I may be mistaken. 

I’m not sure that the Cravens were ever wired for working with railcars. That was the original planet but it never seemed to happen.

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

8 minutes ago, StevieB said:

I’m not sure that the Cravens were ever wired for working with railcars. That was the original planet but it never seemed to happen.

Stephen

A very small number were, but with their main use on main line trains at first, and at a time when railcars were being put on more secondary or suburban work, it seems that appearances of them in railcar sets were very rare and very short-lived.

Some Park Royals were used with railcars, but the vast bulk of railcar intermediates were various styles of laminates and earlier 1950s CIE coaches.

Edited Sunday at 09:18 by jhb171achill

[Mol_PMB]

There may be another thread to come on the AEC trailers. But not today - I’m just walking to Old Trafford to watch the last day of the test match. 

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, Mol_PMB said:

There may be another thread to come on the AEC trailers. But not today - I’m just walking to Old Trafford to watch the last day of the test match. 

This side of the pond, it's All Ireland day - Donegal v Kerry!

[Westcorkrailway]

Some photos from the 31st of march 1961. 2660 worked the West Cork Mainline in the final day so some good photos exist 

at Clonakilty junction heading to Cork 

just East of Bandon Station 

Crossing innishannon viaduct 

At Albert Quay 

final train to Bantry (Note GSWR 90 in the left foreground whistling the final train goodbye!) 

[Mol_PMB]

Excellent - nice to see some more pics.

 

I've been trawling through the IRRS archive again and haven't yet found any more good photos of the wedgeheads, though there are a few in the distance at the far end of a train.

I've found plenty more of them in later life as powered intermediates. Although the photo references a few posts upthread show some in green as PIs, I'm beginning to think that only the first 2 or 3 came out in green and the others were painted in black and tan after conversion. I'll probably add a couple more posts here once I've finished my photo trawl.

 

With Heljan GWR railcars at almost half price at Rails, I did have a look to see if they would be good conversion fodder. They're not. Although the bogie pivot spacing matches, the Irish cars had 10' wheelbase bogies whereas the GWR cars had 7' (early ones) or 8'6" (later ones). The overall lengths are different too, and there's no commonality of body style or dimensions even below the solebar.

[Westcorkrailway]

The last train on the harcourt street line was also a wedgehead I think. So those dates might be handy 

 

One is in this footage here 

https://youtu.be/JKLtyavDH98?si=mWEk92YeYLynAG7e

Edited Tuesday at 11:54 by Westcorkrailway

[exciecoachbuilder]

On 26/7/2025 at 8:35 PM, Westcorkrailway said:

 

A great photo. I knew absolutely nothing about these coaches. The coach looks a bit clumsy imo, and about as aero dynamic as my shed door. But well done to the lads in the carriage shop. 

[jhb171achill]

Note the opening bit at the top of the second window. What sort of thing is that?

[Mol_PMB]

28 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Note the opening bit at the top of the second window. What sort of thing is that?

The normal full-size windows have four sections at the top - the top corners are fixed, while the middle two are inset slightly and can slide behind the corner ones. That’s pretty standard. 
The narrower windows you’re asking about just have two sections at the top. The right-hand one is fixed, and the left-hand one is slightly inset and can slide behind the right-hand one. 
The narrower windows (but not as narrow as a toilet window) are unusual though - used here to suit the forward-facing rows of first class seats. 
 

Normal AEC railcars had the same basic arrangement but a different window style. 

[exciecoachbuilder]

I

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

The normal full-size windows have four sections at the top - the top corners are fixed, while the middle two are inset slightly and can slide behind the corner ones. That’s pretty standard. 
The narrower windows you’re asking about just have two sections at the top. The right-hand one is fixed, and the left-hand one is slightly inset and can slide behind the right-hand one. 
The narrower windows (but not as narrow as a toilet window) are unusual though - used here to suit the forward-facing rows of first class seats. 
 

Normal AEC railcars had the same basic arrangement but a different window style. 

Im sure that these carriages were the only CIE  carriages  that had single louver windows, ( I'm open to correction) . Also, windows on carriages were never called windows in the workshop. They were called side lights. The window that Jonathan is referring to is a single louvre that is closed. I'm fascinated with the front of this coach, it really is a home made job. 

[Mol_PMB]

A couple of extracts from the CIE annual reports which mention these six railcars.

This is from the 1957 report:

And this is from the 1958 report:

 

[Westcorkrailway]

3 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Note the opening bit at the top of the second window. What sort of thing is that?

I think that’s a windscreen wiper? 

[Mol_PMB]

While we're on annual reports, the 1962 report includes a fairly well-known photo showing the first train in the new black and tan livery:

On close inspection, 3 of the 'carriages' behind A6 are actually powered intermediate railcars, newly converted from the Wedgeheads. The other bogie coach is state saloon 351. 

It seems they scraped together anything in the new livery to pose for the photographer - it's certainly an unusual train formation!

The first few powered intermediate conversions were definitely outshopped in green (illustrations linked upthread) but it looks like the last few came out in black and tan.

[Niles]

24 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

While we're on annual reports, the 1962 report includes a fairly well-known photo showing the first train in the new black and tan livery:

On close inspection, 3 of the 'carriages' behind A6 are actually powered intermediate railcars, newly converted from the Wedgeheads. The other bogie coach is state saloon 351. 

It seems they scraped together anything in the new livery to pose for the photographer - it's certainly an unusual train formation!

The first few powered intermediate conversions were definitely outshopped in green (illustrations linked upthread) but it looks like the last few came out in black and tan.

great spot! I suspect your theory on scraping them together was the case.

[leslie10646]

31 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

While we're on annual reports, the 1962 report includes a fairly well-known photo showing the first train in the new black and tan livery:

On close inspection, 3 of the 'carriages' behind A6 are actually powered intermediate railcars, newly converted from the Wedgeheads. The other bogie coach is state saloon 351. 

It seems they scraped together anything in the new livery to pose for the photographer - it's certainly an unusual train formation!

The first few powered intermediate conversions were definitely outshopped in green (illustrations linked upthread) but it looks like the last few came out in black and tan.

Good find, @Mol_PMB! It goes to show that you can get away with almost any combination of your layout - it will have happened somewhere, sometime!

[GSR 800]

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

While we're on annual reports, the 1962 report includes a fairly well-known photo showing the first train in the new black and tan livery:

On close inspection, 3 of the 'carriages' behind A6 are actually powered intermediate railcars, newly converted from the Wedgeheads. The other bogie coach is state saloon 351. 

It seems they scraped together anything in the new livery to pose for the photographer - it's certainly an unusual train formation!

The first few powered intermediate conversions were definitely outshopped in green (illustrations linked upthread) but it looks like the last few came out in black and tan.

the white band on the coaches looks thick as all hell

[BSGSV]

20 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

Good find, @Mol_PMB! It goes to show that you can get away with almost any combination of your layout - it will have happened somewhere, sometime!

As the railcars were vacuum braked they could be loco-hauled, and were at times. From memory, IRN has pieces referring to use of railcars as loco-hauled coaches for a relief train from Waterford to Dublin, and on the final day of the Thurles - Clonmel line.

[Mol_PMB]

20 hours ago, GSR 800 said:

the white band on the coaches looks thick as all hell

Most of the railcars carried quite a thick white band, but it does seem to have been quite pronounced on some of the powered intermediates.

On the early repaints in black and tan, as well as having a thick white band, the tan band was shallower, and the vehicle number at waist height was on the black portion. Later the tan band was extended upwards a few inches. 

Here's an early 1960s photo showing 2603 and an unidentified powered intermediate (ex Wedgehead), newly repainted in this scheme:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510559317

There's another powered intermediate in the same scheme on the edge of these two photos of green K801:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255477235

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507224990

Normal AEC cars 2628 and 2630 also carried this 'shallow tan' scheme; there may have been a few more like this:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419865485

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419697329

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255514105

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53447301370

The last of those shows 2630 with a shallow tan band, followed by a green powered intermediate (ex Wedgehead), and then another powered intermediate (ex Wedgehead) with a deep tan band and a much thinner white band.

Some carriages carried the early version of the black and tan scheme too, like corridor standard 1340 here. Some of this batch were wired for working as railcar trailers, though I can't confirm if this one was:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53449371366

I'll finish with one of Ernie's pictures  of 2603 to illustrate the early version of the black and tan for those who don't have access to the IRRS archive. Tan about 4" shallower than normal, with the running numbers above it on the black (visible just behind the cab door handrail):