Vehicle 79976
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
| Sep-58 | New to | 82C (Swindon) | |
| Mar-64 | Stored | ||
| Oct-64 | Reinstated | 84A (Laira) | |
| Jul-66 | Transferred to | 82A (Bristol Bath Road) | |
| 29/01/67 | Transferred to | 66A (Polmadie) | |
| 05/02/67 | Transferred to | 67C (Ayr) | |
| 01/02/68 | Withdrawn from | 67C (Ayr) |
Disposal
Preserved - more details.
Images:
22nd October 1959
AC Cars railbus W79976 at Kemble on the 22nd October 1959. Mike McDonald Collection.
9th April 1961
AC Cars railbus W79976 stabled on Swindon shed on 9 April 1961. Stuart Mackay Collection.
4th April 1964
W79976 leaving Kemble on the 2.20 to Cirencester Town on the 4th April 1964 Robert Thomas.
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 However it did not last long in service and in January 1968 it was officially withdrawn.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.
The vehicle is mentioned in the following images:
Date: 4th April 1964
W79977 in loop at Kemble having arrived from Swindon to replace W79976 on the Cirencester branch for the afternoon of 4th April 1964 the last day of service. Robert Thomas.
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.