The Derwent Valley Light Railway was a pioneer of the light railcar concept. In 1924 it acquired a pair of 18-seat rail cars built on Ford one ton truck chassis fitted with flanged wheels. They could operate back-to-back as a double-ended unit, or individually using turntables at either end of the line. Even such frugal methods of operation were unsuccessful in sustaining the line’s passenger service and the pair were sold to the County Donegal Joint Railway Committee in the west of Ireland for conversion to three foot gauge.
This fictional image supposes that the Ford railcars were retained by the DVLR and ultimately replaced by a single, larger unit. It is based on a photograph from bodybuilder Charles H Roe of Leeds. The 20-seat body was fitted to a four-wheel chassis built by Hudswell Clarke & Co and fitted with a Dorman four-cylinder (petrol?) engine. It was delivered in 1933 to the Spurn Point railway in East Yorkshire, operated by (what was then) the War Department. Presumably it had a driving cab and passenger door on opposite corners at either end. The half-cab arrangement is unusual on a rail vehicle, the opposite end having a conventional flat face. DVLR livery details are unclear, the impression from the Ford railcars being of a single dark colour, possibly maroon or brown (22-Aug-11).
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