Vehicle 79978
AC Cars Railbus
Builder: AC Cars
Layout: Railbus
Length: 36ft
Coupling Code: None
Coupling Type: None
Gangway Type: None
Lot Number: 30479
Diagram: 614
Allocations
| 4w/e 27/12/58 | New to | 82C (Swindon) | |
| Mar-64 | Stored | ||
| circa Apr-64 | Reinstated | 84B (St Blazey) | |
| Apr-66 | Transferred to | 84A (Laira) | |
| 29/01/67 | Transferred to | 66A (Polmadie) | |
| 05/02/67 | Transferred to | 65F (Grangemouth) | |
| 03/02/68 | Withdrawn from | 65F (Grangemouth) |
Disposal
Preserved - more details.
Images:
January 1961
AC Cars railbus W79978 seen on Swindon shed in January 1961. Stuart Mackay Collection.
5th August 1963
AC Cars railbus W79978 leaves Cirencester with the 2pm service to Kemble on 5 August 1963. Michael Mensing.
5th August 1963
AC Cars railbus W79978 is seen on the Circencester branch working the 2.20pm Kemble - Cirencester service on 5 August 1963. Michael Mensing.
4th April 1964
W79978 waiting to leave Kemble for Tetbury on what I think was the 10.20(SO)to Tetbury on 4th April 1964 the last day of service Robert Thomas.
4th April 1964
W79978 arriving at Kemble on 4th April 1964 on the 4.25 from Tetbury the last day of service. Robert Thomas.
4th April 1964
W79978 arrived at Tetbury on the 5.00 from Kemble on 4th April 1964 the last day of service. The photographer as a youth of 17 was interviewed on the train for radio by Tom Salmon of BBC west. Robert Thomas.
4th April 1964
W79978 waiting to leave Tetbury on the 5.58 to Kemble on 4th April 1964 the last day of service. Robert Thomas.
1967/8
An former Western Region AC Cars railbus, presumably 79978, at Falkirk Grahamston. Date unknown, but 1967 or 1968. Stuart Rankin.
29th January 1968
The final day - 29th January 1968, and W79978 waits in Grangemouth station, and it would be the last railbus to operate in BR service. Hamish Stevenson Collection.
The vehicle is mentioned in the following images:
Date: circa January 1967
An AC Cars railbus travelling north at Leominster. This was not a normal operating area for them, the three crew in the front and no sign of passengers suggests an empty move. This is likely one of the Western Region vehicles on transfer to Scotland in January 1967. Of these three still had whiskers - 79975, 79976 and 79978. Stuart Mackay Collection.
Date: circa 1967
Two railbuses in Grangemouth station, circa 1967. The dent on the Park Royal identifies it as 79971, the AC Cars vehicles is probably 79978, its partner on the branch ('77) had a yellow panel before leaving the Western Region. AndrewHA Collection.
Date: 10th August 1969
W79976 was built by AC Cars in 1958 and delivered to the Western Region for staff training in August of that year. Alongside classmates W79975, W79977 and W79978, it was put to work on the Kemble-Cirencester Town and Kemble-Tetbury branch lines from February 1959 until closure in April 1964. W79976 and W79975 were used on services between Yeovil Town and Yeovil Junction starting from December 1964. When Yeovil Town closed in October 1966 the services continued through to Yeovil Pen Mill but the railbuses soon found themselves displaced by larger DMUs. As with the other AC Cars railbuses, W79976 was transferred to Scotland in January 1967 and operated around Ayr, chiefly on the branch line to Kilmarnock. However it did not last long in service and in January 1968 it was officially withdrawn. This Agfachrome transparency I took at Ayr TMD on 10th August 1969. Following withdrawal from BR and storage at Ayr TMD it entered preservation. Gordon Edgar.