Single vehicle passenger trains from ....

[whole diary]

[grahame]

In 1961, the Isle of Man Railway purchased two railcars from the County Donegal Railways and they became IMR numbers 19 and 20 in their fleet. No. 3 looks like one of those vehicles but the location of the photograph is not the Isle of Man. We shunned them in the early '60s on the now long closed Peel line as they were 'dirty diesels' as as opposed to our beloved Manx Peacocks - one of whom shares our family name. The railcars have quite a cult following and I now regret not having had the experience of travelling in them. The driving cab - motor car part was built in Wigan - the carriage articulated bogie in Ireland.

I have seen No. 2 photo before and I believe it is on trial somewhere around Oxford but I haven't yet found my correct book.

I was updating while you wrote ....

1 - Madagascar
2 - France
3 - Ireland (Country Donegal)
4 - USA
5 - Switzerland (Lausanne)
6 - No guesses yet Stop press - not Oxford
7 - Not Germany; not UK^▸ (United Kingdom) either

The Ireland picture is Killybegs - 99.9% sure.  Pity they gave no more than a stay of execution to the Peel and Ramsey lines on the Isle of Man which remains a railway Mecca in spite of those losses.

[Bmblbzzz]

Are we sure 2 is France? It has English writing on the side (with American spellings).

[grahame]

Are we sure 2 is France? It has English writing on the side (with American spellings).

No, well, I am not sure.  I had "most likely" in my mind for USA initially, but accepted the authority of members who know more than me to swing the pendulum to "probably" for France.  Jury still out.

[stuving]

Are we sure 2 is France? It has English writing on the side (with American spellings).

No, well, I am not sure.  I had "most likely" in my mind for USA initially, but accepted the authority of members who know more than me to swing the pendulum to "probably" for France.  Jury still out.

Well, I did rather sneakily say it was from France. If you look at the disused stations page I linked to, it says, under a similar picture:

The above image shows the Type 9 railcar at Ascot, Southern Railway. It is known to have also operated in the Leamington Spa area and between Oxford (Rewley Road) and Bletchley. There is no record of this particular railcar operating to Cambridge. The railcar was articulated with a six-wheel bogie at the front and, despite appearances, a four-wheel bogie at the rear (earlier examples had a single axle at the rear).

I think that four-wheel rear bogie is visible in the quiz picture.

[TonyK]

I have seen number 7 on another site, I think. Estonia or Lithuania?

[Bmblbzzz]

Are we sure 2 is France? It has English writing on the side (with American spellings).

No, well, I am not sure.  I had "most likely" in my mind for USA initially, but accepted the authority of members who know more than me to swing the pendulum to "probably" for France.  Jury still out.

Well, I did rather sneakily say it was from France. If you look at the disused stations page I linked to, it says, under a similar picture:

The above image shows the Type 9 railcar at Ascot, Southern Railway. It is known to have also operated in the Leamington Spa area and between Oxford (Rewley Road) and Bletchley. There is no record of this particular railcar operating to Cambridge. The railcar was articulated with a six-wheel bogie at the front and, despite appearances, a four-wheel bogie at the rear (earlier examples had a single axle at the rear).

I think that four-wheel rear bogie is visible in the quiz picture.

How sneaky. I thought the writing on the board was 'Running on Michelin pneumatic tires' but it's a bit blurry, maybe it is actually 'tyres'.

[TonyK]

7. Elektriraudtee , Estonia.

[grahame]

I have seen number 7 on another site, I think. Estonia or Lithuania?

7. Elektriraudtee , Estonia.

Hmmm ... I picked up as Lithuania ...  certainly the Baltic States.

[grahame]

I have seen number 7 on another site, I think. Estonia or Lithuania?

7. Elektriraudtee , Estonia.

Hmmm ... I picked up as Lithuania ...  certainly the Baltic States.

My apology, yes, Estonia!

[stuving]

The question asked for the countries these vehicles are from, rather then where the pictures were taken, so for no.2 which had been sent visiting some confusion is inevitable. Adding the place within the country is a bit more of a problem, so maybe it's as well that wasn't the question.

I had no. 6 down as Swiss, very, but was surprised by Lausanne. I had that as more of a trolleybus sort of place, though it turns out there is one extram line (to Bercher). That particular tram was made for Geneva but left after only six years, then spent 44 years in Lausanne and 23 on the Bex-Villars?Bretaye line. But its last 44 years have been in the Blonay-Chamby museaum, which is part of the (still extensive) extram system around Montreux-Vevey. It was restored as a Lausanne tram, but is it from Lausanne?

[grahame]

The question asked for the countries these vehicles are from, rather than where the pictures were taken ....

That's fair comment and a far woollier question, perhaps, than I should have asked.  Of course, the very point of trains (or single vehicles) is that they move around  and through their lifetime many of these vehicles have seen service in many lines and perhaps in many regions and even countries.

[Alan Pettitt]

6 - UK^▸ (United Kingdom) (Brush Traction Loughborough) pictured in Taunton.

[grahame]

6 - UK^▸ (United Kingdom) (Brush Traction Loughborough) pictured in Taunton.

Indeed ... we had to have a picture of Taunton.  Tricky one though!

[froome]

6 - UK^▸ (United Kingdom) (Brush Traction Loughborough) pictured in Taunton.

Indeed ... we had to have a picture of Taunton.  Tricky one though!

The bendy main street should have given it away. Indeed, my first thought when I saw the picture was that it looked just like how Taunton's main street must have once looked, there can't be many others that bend round quite as much.

[grahame]

From Wikipedia - the rise and fall of Taunton's trams

The Taunton and West Somerset Electric Railways and Tramways Company was incorporated in 1900 as a subsidiary of British Electric Traction. Despite plans to build a network to neighbouring towns including Wiveliscombe, Wellington and North Petherton it started small with a route from Taunton railway station to the town centre. This route of about 1 mile (1.6 km) opened on 2 August 1901. It became apparent that the large network proposed would not be built and so the company changed its name to the Taunton Electric Traction Company in 1903.

The company was notified that the price of electricity would rise. The company refused to pay this so a court order was taken out against them to nullify the agreement to supply them with power. The company offered to sell the tramway to the town but this was refused. Instead the electricity was cut off on 28 May 1921.

Were any other tramways so short-lived?

Should we arrange any sort of centenary wake?

Should trams be brought back to Taunton or anywhere else in the area?