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Restoring a rare railbus is 'long-term project'

Steve KnibbsWiltshire
News imageBBC Railbus W79978 pulled up next to the platform at Blunsdon station. The rail bus is dark green with a yellow triangular shape painted on the front. The sign on the top front of the railbus reads 'Kemble'.BBC
A group of volunteers are working to restore Railbus W79978

The team renovating a rare diesel railbus say it could take at least five years to be fully restored.

Railbus W79978 was part of a fleet of four that ran on the Tetbury to Cirencester branch line in Gloucestershire from 1959 to 1964.

The Swindon and Cricklade Railway in Wiltshire acquired the railbus in 2019.

Martin Rouse, a volunteer at the railway, said: "It's going to be a long-term project, it's probably at least another five years before it's anywhere near done."

The railbus was seen as a cost-effective mode of transport when it was introduced in 1959.

A guard would sell tickets on board and pick up passengers at "halts" - small unstaffed stops where people could flag down the railbus.

Railbus W79978 is the last working railbus of the fleet from the branch line which closed as part of the Beeching cuts in 1964.

News imageMartin Rouse sits on a seat on the railbus. He has short brown hair and is wearing a grey-blue polo shirt under a purple jacket. He is sitting on a red seat with a floral design.
Martin Rouse is part of the team restoring the railbus

Mr Rouse said volunteers have discovered corrosion on the railbus.

"To get to the bits that are corroded you've got to take everything out, seats, the whole lot and all the windows, all the panels and then replace the rotten bits and refit everything," he added.

The aim is to restore the railbus to as close to its original condition as possible.

News imageThe interior of the railbus. The bus seats have been replaced with new burgundy seats which appear to be made of a mixture of leather and fabric. The bus is empty and has a fire extinguisher hanging on the right wall.
The seats inside the railbus have been restored with an exact match of the original material

Volunteer Stan Scott has been working to restore the seats with material that was an exact match to the original.

"Overall we had to do quite a lot of repairs.

"A lot of the timber work inside had rotted away, in particular the two end bays were completely disintegrated from rot," he added.

News imageA vintage railbus travelling on a single-track railway line in a rural setting. The front destination sign reads 'Tetbury'. The black-and-white picture shows the railbus approaching a small bridge, with fields and trees in the background.
BBC footage shows the Railbus W79978 in 1959

The BBC has found news footage on 16mm film from 1959 of the railbus in operation, picking up passengers from the "Trouble House Halt" which was near the Trouble House inn near Tetbury.

News imageInterior view of a vintage railbus with passengers seated on patterned benches and chairs. The design features large windows, metal handrails, and a narrow aisle leading to the front of the vehicle.
Passengers travelling on Railbus W79978 in 1959 as seen in the BBC footage

The Swindon and Cricklade Railway team watched the film in their newly restored cinema coach.

Tina Rouse, Martin's wife and another volunteer, said: "It's brilliant to see it. When we bought the railbus I didn't realise how much history was behind it.

"We've heard stories from so many people who used to travel on it to get to school and other places."

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