There is a Birmingham RCW/Drewry unit of 1954 vintage standing at Limbe workshops in Malawi (formerly called Nyasaland). It is not usable immediately, but perhaps worth saving, although transport for this one could be a problem in view of the long distances, floods, etc.
Geoff received some pictures and details of the Drewry railcar from Bradley Knapp. CEO of Central East African Railways, operators of Malawi Railways:
"In response to your last e-mail, attached are some images of Malawi Railways DRC2, currently stored at Limbe. If I recall, this last operated in 1990.
CMO Nkana advises that at the least this unit will require re-engining (last with a Leyland engine), and is obvious from the photos, there is quite a bit of external and internal work to be done. Actually, in this case, the photos probably make the railcar look better than it really is. This was not an asset that was transferred to CEAR, so it still owned by the Malawi Government. I hope we can find some way to make the purchase and rehabilitation economically feasible, but there are no resources available now (time and funds) to deal wish it. It would make an ideal tourist / inspection / customer relations vehicle. I would be open to some joint venture if interested parties could be located.
The photos are:
1) external, of the "first class" end
2) internal, the first class section from the center (2/1 seating)
3) the operators cab from the first class section
4) the "second class" section (2/2 seating)
The kitchen area in the center, which was too small to photograph, needs a lot of
work"
The vehicle is noted as using a number of proprietary parts. the droplights for instance look the same as those in suburban coaches supplied to SAR as are the hand rails. Obviously the units built for BR used standard large side windows etc giving a much lighter interior. This would have made them much hotter in African conditions, perhaps another reason they were not fitted. There was incidentally another unit which was reported as burnt out in 1985 and later apparently cut up for scrap.
The layout is a strange configuration, being single ended with seemingly no control desk at one end, as the plan above shows. If anyone can help with additional info, drawings etc., Geoff would love to hear from you.