Sc79979 was the first railbus to enter Scotland on the 8th August 1958, and a special stop was made at the border sign at Gretna for photographs. On the journey (left to right) were: C Ross Campbell, Motive Power Superintendent ScR; CW Stewart, Assistant General Manager ScR; James Ness, General Manager ScR; and MG Maycock, Chief Civil Engineer ScR.

ScR

On the 15th September '58, the start of the winter timetable, 79979 commenced operations between Gleneagles, Creiff and Comrie, providing a more frequent service of nine trains each way between Gleneagles and Creiff, with three extended to and from Comrie. Previously there were seven steam services, of which only two extended to Comrie. Some of the connections at Gleneagles were still very bad, with up to 30min waits for passengers travelling to/from Glasgow. The vehicle was stationed at Creiff, and manned by Creiff drivers and guards. It was stabled at Perth over the weekend, working a 21:00 SO from Creiff.

The fitting of the folding steps allowed stops to be made at local crossings etc. New halts were opened at Strageath (one mile north of Muthill) and Pettenzie (700 yards east of Creiff) level crossings. No platforms were added. The services brought in a marked increase in traffic despite the fact that connections at Gleneagles with main-line expresses were not too good. But the services ultimately proved unremunerative and were withdrawn from July 6th 1964, after a long period when steam trains had again been used on the branch.

The vehicle moved to the Lugton to Beith branch, replacing the Bristol railbus 79958 by mid-May '59. The vehicle performed well on this, but it only had a weekly mileage of 520! The line was covered at the start of 1961 by Park Royals 79974 then 79971, thought to be because 79979 was in works. This service also proved unremunerative and was withdrawn from the 5th Nov. 1962.

The car most likely then stayed in the Ayr area working on services to Dalmelington and some services to Kilmarnock.

WR

79975 was noted at Southall on 12/7/58, and 79976 was working the Kemble to Tetbury branch 1/8/58.

Noted in Swindon diesel on the 15th March '59 were 79975/7.

79976 ran over the Tetbury branch on the 16th September '58 for driver training. At this time it was thought the branch would change to diesel early in December '58. It was planned to re-open Culkerton and provide two new halts. The potential for the line was not as great, Tetbury was a small market town with under 4,000 people, and Kemble, although a very busy junction, it was just a village, and the main local traffic was dealt with by buses to Cirencester, Stroud and Bristol.

The other three railbuses at this time would also be based at Swindon, one to be used on the Cirencester branch.

On Sat 31st January a Swindon crew brought a railbus to Kemble to start the service the following Monday morning. Their return working was 5804 and one coach, which had just worked the last steam  service from Tetbury. This train made an unofficial stop at the new Trouble House halt, where many passengers visited the local hostelry. The 30 min stop would no doubt have been longer had the crew change not to be made!

The last steam passenger train on the Cirencester line was on Sun 1st Feb, and the train crew also had to return to Kemble to bring back the railbus to start the service on the Monday morning. The vehicle, 79975, failed on one of it's first services with electrical trouble, but this was soon rectified.

On the first day 79978 was working the Tetbury line and carried about fifteen passengers on the 11:55 from Kemble, most of whom were railway officials. A large crowd had gathered at Tetbury station, but apart from four, all were just sightseers. The Cirencester branch was much busier, with 79976 doing the honors. Patronage increased as the week went on, and apparently by the Saturday on one afternoon trip from Cirencester the 46-seat vehicle carried 97 passengers. Special cheap day tickets were introduced between all stopping-places on both branches, as well as to Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham. All intermediate bookings were taken by the guard, who had a "setright" ticket machine, similar to the type that was common on buses at the time.

The other four (that had delivery delayed due to the fire) went to the WR, and allocated to Swindon, although only two were required for services each day, on on the branches from Kemble to Cirencester and Tetbury. They were normally stabled overnight in the engine sheds at Tetbury and Cirencester, although each ran to Swindon each day for refuelling. Tetbury shed was only just long enough to take a vehicle, there was only inches to spare.

They took over the passenger operations on Monday the 2nd Feb. '59, with a greatly increased and improved timetable. The service on the Tetbury branch was increased from five to eight return trips, with one extra on Saturdays, similarly the Cirencester line now had fourteen return workings (two more on Saturdays) in place of the former ten. The Sunday evening services remained as before.

New halts were opened at Chesterton Lane on the Cirencester branch, half a mile short of Cirencester Town station and at Church's Hill and Trouble House on the Tetbury line. These were merely rail level platforms, formed of sleepers, at which the passengers boarded and alighted from the railbuses by the retractable steps, operated in conjunction with the sliding doors by the driver. On this line the station of Culkerton, closed three years previously, was also reopened as an unstaffed halt.

It had been intended to provide through trains to Swindon from both branches, but as the lightweight cars would not operate the track circuits this was not possible, and some difficulty was experienced in maintaining good connections from each branch with both up and down trains at Kemble. Most problems were soon resolved and the services were initially very successful.

After 3½ months, on the 9th May 1959, a typical days loadings were: 79977 carried thirty passengers on the 15:55 from Cirencester to Kemble, the guard issuing tickets with a 'Setright' machine, day returns to Tetbury being 2s 5d. At Kemble 79976 had 36 passengers when it left for Tetbury. A passenger got on at Rodmanton Halt, one got of at Church Hill and another at Culkerton. Trouble House was passed. The 18:05 carried six passengers all the way, none alighting/boarding at halts. At Kemble fourteen passengers boarded on arrival, mainly coming of a local from Swindon. At this time the Tetbury branch was not as well patronised as had been expected, the early morning, midday and early evening services doing better than the remainder, and very few passengers used the intermediate halts.

The Cirencester branch was doing better, and the 14;35 from Kemble was often so overcrowded on Saturdays (up to ninety passengers) that about April '59 it was retimed to leave at 14:16 (SO), returning and making another trip at 14:45. The 14:05 from Tetbury was also altered to 13:50 so giving a connection to Cirencester on the 14:16.

From the beginning of May '59 there was a modified system of servicing and maintenance. Only one vehicle now went to Swindon daily, the cycle being as follows: a serviced vehicle was put in the bay at Swindon station each morning and left at 11:05 for Kemble with a Tetbury driver; it worked the rest of the day on the Tetbury branch and the following morning did one return and one single Tetbury to Kemble, arriving at the latter at 09:39. It was then transferred to the Cirencester branch and the Tetbury driver took the Cirencester one to Swindon, left it in the carriage sidings, and picked up the serviced one. A small emergency supply of fuel was kept at Cirencester.

On the 13th May '59 79975 gave some trouble whan it was due to leave Swindon, and although this was soon rectified, a fitter was sent to Tetbury the following morning to make sure that the service would not be interrupted.

The summer '59 timetable from June gave a few minor alterations of a few minutes. There was still no sign of the service being extended to Swindon, with the track circuit problem being mentioned.

Another new halt at Park Leaze on the Cirencester branch was opened on the 4th Jan. '60, and passenger traffic increased to such an extent that overcrowding became a problem and it was suggested that a 'bubble' car might be more suitable, although this would increase operating costs and interfere with the cyclic working on the two branches. Despite this promising start the services ultimately proved unremunerative and were withdrawn on April 6th, 1964.

The four WR vehicles then gravitated to former Southern Railway branches now forming part of the WR. Two were soon found employment on a shuttle service to Bodmin North from June 14th '64, connecting with trains from Wadebridge to Bodmin Road at newly opened exchange platforms at Boscarne Junction. This service, which also incorporated certain trips to Wadebridge, was withdrawn on January 30th 1967. The other two commenced work on the Yeovil Junction - Yeovil Town branch on December 28th 1964. After this service had survived several attempts at withdrawal, Yeovil Town station was closed on October 3rd 1966, and the railbuses ran to Pen Mill station, although they were still used to carry parcels between Town and Pen Mill stations. Soon after this the railbuses were replaced by larger cars and in February of '67 all four vehicles were transferred to the ScR.

The ScR had hoped to start railbus operations on the Larbert - Alloa and Falkirk Grahamston branches from 7th Nov. '66 but the withdrawal at the time of six ScR railbuses meant this had to postponed until the arrival of the WR cars. Two were allocated to these services, the other two sent to assist the G. S. W. Services around Ayr and Kilmarnock.