Dapol 4D-011-001D

Great Western Railway Railcar Gloucester 12 Great Western Railway Chocolate & Cream

Contents

Class & Prototype

  • Running Number: 12

The Great Western Railway Railcars were Britain's pioneering diesel multiple units, with 38 vehicles built between 1933 and 1942 across three distinct phases. Park Royal Vehicles constructed the first four streamlined express railcars (Nos. 1-4, 1933-1934), including twin-engine examples with buffets that inaugurated Britain's first diesel express service between Birmingham and Cardiff. Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company produced fourteen refined streamlined variants (Nos. 5-18, 1935-1937) with progressive improvements including toilets and, crucially on No. 18, standard railway buffers enabling freight haulage. GWR Swindon Works built twenty angular "Razor Edge" railcars (Nos. 19-38, 1940-1942) featuring practical wartime construction, Vapor Clarkson steam heating, and standard bufferbeam equipment. These railcars validated diesel traction for British branch lines and suburban services, with their Wilson pre-selective gearboxes, AEC engines, and electro-pneumatic controls becoming standard BR DMU equipment. Three survive in preservation: W4W at STEAM Swindon, operational W22W at Didcot, and W20W under restoration at Kent & East Sussex Railway.

Operator & Livery

The Great Western Railway (1835-1947) was Britain's most innovative railway company, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with his revolutionary 7ft ¼in broad gauge system. Known affectionately as "God's Wonderful Railway" and the "Holiday Line," the GWR connected London Paddington with the West Country, Wales, and Birmingham through 3,800 miles of superbly engineered routes.

Renowned for its Brunswick green locomotives, chocolate and cream carriages, and engineering excellence centred at Swindon Works, the GWR pioneered advanced steam technology under chief mechanical engineers Daniel Gooch, George Jackson Churchward, and Charles Collett. The company's legendary locomotive classes—including Castle, King, Hall, and Manor—established performance standards that influenced British locomotive design for decades.

The only "Big Four" railway to retain its original identity through the 1921 grouping, the GWR maintained its distinctive corporate culture until nationalisation in 1947. Today, the company's engineering legacy lives on through extensive preservation efforts, heritage railways, and detailed model railway recreations that celebrate the finest traditions of British steam railway operation.