Steam Rail Cars.

Hand-in-hand with the improvements now being recorded in long-distance passenger train services in Britain, much attention is being devoted to the betterment of short-distance transport. Cheap fares and frequent services maintained by steam and petrol-driven rail motor cars are doing a great work in keeping to rails much business which once threatened to pass to road. Among the several types of equipment favoured for branch line operation, an especially interesting type of steam rail car is the new “Sentinel Cammell” vehicle now being introduced in considerable numbers on the L. and N.E. line.

Each of the new cars comprises a driving compartment, with boiler, engine, tanks and bunkers, a passenger compartment giving seats for 59 travellers, and a small section for the use of the driver when the car is operated in the reverse direction. The cars are 62 feet long over all, and are mounted on two four-wheeled bogies with wheels of 3ft. 1in. diameter. The power unit comprises a vertical, two-cylinder, double-acting engine driving by means of chains to the second axle. The boiler has a working pressure of 2751b., and has an output of approximately 23001b. of steam per hour. The cylinders are of 6 3/4in. diameter and 9in. stroke, and the weight of the complete vehicle without coal and water works out at approximately 26 tons.

The seats in the new L. and N.E. car are of the walk-over pattern, and straps are also provided for 20 standing passengers. The interior of each car is finished in mahogany, and the cars are steam-heated and lit by electricity. Each of the cars has been given a distinctive name, which it carries on the exterior side panels. The titles have been adapted from those once given the horse-drawn stage-coaches of the pre-railway era, and include such names as “Tally Ho,” “Highflyer,” “Transit,” “Red Rover,” and “Trafalgar.” In the interior of each car there is displayed a framed notice giving particulars page 19 of the running of the old stage coach after which the vehicle is christened, and offering five shillings reward for supplying to any stationmaster hitherto unpublished data relating to the old horse coach.