Park royal driving trailers

[heirflick]

lads, just found out that some parkroyals were converted into driving trailers used on the waterford /tramore line- anyone got info on them?

 

[StevieB]

I believe that there is an HO gauge drawing in one of the back issues of New Irish lines - I can see a nice little conversion of one of the IFM Park Royals.

 

Stephen

[heirflick]

so can i! anyone got info or more pics?

[Riversuir226]

Yes

[Riversuir226]

1407 built in 1955 with seating for 82 , withdrawn in oct 1992..

Have a few pics of it, i ll scan them over the weekend for you.

Must admit i had thought about the conversion me self

Edited October 17, 2014 by Riversuir226

[Riversuir226]

 

Waterford Manor st

[Mayner]

The Tramore line got 3 AEC railcars and 2 Park Royal coaches all with bus seating. Two of the railcars faced Tramore the third faced Waterford. The driving trailer would allow a service to operate if the Waterford facing car was out of service.

 

One of the drawbacks was that on busy days busses were also needed to supplement the train even a 5 coach set seating approx. 500 could not cope with the crowds on busy days.

 

The Tramore railcars were sent to the Thurles Clonmel line on closure then to the Dublin suburban operations. The Park Royal driving car seems to have been converted back to an ordinary coach, boarding passengers through a single doorway would have been extremely slow.

[heirflick]

great info john and great pics Tom - thank you both. presumably they only ran in the green livery?

[josefstadt]

One strange feature is that the driving cab is on the 'wrong' side of the coach. Facing the direction of travel, the driving position is normally on the left-hand side, but in the case of 1407 it is on the right-hand side. This is all the more strange given that the platforms at both Waterford and Tramore were on the left-hand side for trains proceding towards Waterford, so the driver would have been sitting on the side away from the platforms.

[Mayner]

One strange feature is that the driving cab is on the 'wrong' side of the coach. Facing the direction of travel, the driving position is normally on the left-hand side, but in the case of 1407 it is on the right-hand side. This is all the more strange given that the platforms at both Waterford and Tramore were on the left-hand side for trains proceding towards Waterford, so the driver would have been sitting on the side away from the platforms.

 

The Waterford and Tramore was famous for only having doors on one side of its coaches as the platforms at Waterford and Tramore were both on the one side of the line. Curiously some of the UTA MPD units were built with drive on the RHS & some on the LHS.

 

Placing the driving controls in a cubicle on the RHS rather than in a full width cab would have followed in W&T tradition and importantly allowed passengers to board through the vestibule doors at either end without major structural alterations to the aluminium body framing.

 

Some of the 1904-1908 main line brake standards built in the early 50s were built with driving cabs for use on the AEC railcar worked Westland Row-Galway/Westport "Cu na Mara" express service to allow the train to split at Athlone. The use of the driving trailers was short lived as the train grew from a 4 to a 6 car set and Westport eventually got its own fast direct services.

[Noel]

The Waterford and Tramore was famous for only having doors on one side of its coaches as the platforms at Waterford and Tramore were both on the one side of the line. Curiously some of the UTA MPD units were built with drive on the RHS & some on the LHS.

 

Placing the driving controls in a cubicle on the RHS rather than in a full width cab would have followed in W&T tradition and importantly allowed passengers to board through the vestibule doors at either end without major structural alterations to the aluminium body framing.

 

Some of the 1904-1908 main line brake standards built in the early 50s were built with driving cabs for use on the AEC railcar worked Westland Row-Galway/Westport "Cu na Mara" express service to allow the train to split at Athlone. The use of the driving trailers was short lived as the train grew from a 4 to a 6 car set and Westport eventually got its own fast direct services.

 

I think I may have travelled on one of these during the 60s. I remember the train splitting and being able to see forward.

[josefstadt]

The Waterford and Tramore was famous for only having doors on one side of its coaches as the platforms at Waterford and Tramore were both on the one side of the line. .......... Placing the driving controls in a cubicle on the RHS rather than in a full width cab would have followed in W&T tradition and importantly allowed passengers to board through the vestibule doors at either end without major structural alterations to the aluminium body framing.

 

Of course! I'd forgotten about the doors on one side only tradition of the W&T. That probably explains it. Thanks John.

 

Some of the 1904-1908 main line brake standards built in the early 50s were built with driving cabs for use on the AEC railcar worked Westland Row-Galway/Westport "Cu na Mara" express service to allow the train to split at Athlone. The use of the driving trailers was short lived as the train grew from a 4 to a 6 car set and Westport eventually got its own fast direct services.

 

I remember these in service on the Dublin suburban during the early 70s, operating as normal stock with the driving controls disconnected. Great fun for the schoolkids of the time to play with the controls

 

I think I may have travelled on one of these during the 60s. I remember the train splitting and being able to see forward.

 

As far as I know, passengers couldn't see forward through the driving trailer's cab window. I'd suggest that you were probably travelling in the leading compartment of the rear AEC railcar in a two-unit set. When the train split in Athlone Midland you would have got the forward view through the driver's cab.

[Mike 84C]

How did the stock get moved to the Waterford and Tramore? and was it far? I have a mental picture of rails laid through streets with gangs of men picking up the rail as vehicles passed over and relaying in front but surely not!

[Riversuir226]

In steam days yes they were moved on temporary track along the quay via Waterfordsouth, in later years they got civilised and used a haulage truck with the rail vechicles on skates from Waterford south to the Manor where temporary track was attached to a siding for deliveries.

[BSGSV]

The two Park Royals for the W&T were 1407 and 1408. 1407 was fitted with 93 bus type seats, but was otherwise not altered. When the W&T closed in 1960, 1407 was returned to work on the Dublin suburban.

The driving trailer was 1408. As the photograph shows, there was a walled off driving position built into one end. The vestibule the other end was fitted out as a guard's compartment with double doors (presumably one side only?) while about half the main body of the carriage (probably the three-bay end) was partitioned off to make a space for mother & pram traffic. The remainder of the carriage seated 54 on bus type seats.

On closure of the W&T, 1408 was returned to Inchicore, and remained unused until 1966 when converted to Ambulance Coach AM15. This worked on Knock Specials and the like until 1984, when it was further converted to Brake Standard 1942.

[jhb171achill]

Mayner has (again) hit the nail on the head: I was told that years ago about 1408 in response to the same question.

 

Yes, all railcars and trailers on the W & T ran in the lighter green only, as per DCDR's TPO. (And C231, for that matter!)

 

Wouldn't a W & T based layout make a magnificent small shelf project? Nowadays they'd probably have a couple of 2600 sets and maybe nothing else!

Edited December 4, 2014 by jhb171achill