Wickham trolley

This long established firm introduced their rail trolley in 1922 as a lightweight track inspection and maintenance vehicle.

Dennis Wickham founded the company in 1886 as Motor Car and General Engineers with workshops in Priory Street, Ware.

Early products and services provided by D Wickham & Co included castings (e.g. manhole covers), brewery equipment and car repairs.

[2] The rail trolley idea started in the 1920s, but sales really took off in the 1930s with a large order from LNER, leading to their adoption across British Railways after it was formed in 1948.

Three 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge 58-seat railcars were ordered by Kenya & Uganda Railway in 1939 (though not delivered until 1946 due to World War II).

Other users of Wickham railcars were railways in Rhodesia, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Burma, Malaya and North Borneo.

The steel railways carriage frameworks were produced for Wickham by Metal Sections Ltd of Oldbury (a subsidiary of Tube Investments Ltd).

This was powered by a Dorman engine, and had two transverse bench seats with reversible backrest so the occupants could face forward when travelling in either direction.

Most early models of the permanent way maintenance ganger's trolley used a single-cylinder or vee-twin air-cooled JAP engine.

Within a type designation different body styles were available, either as a gang trolley with quick in and out access, or as an inspection saloon with protection from the elements.

In the early 1930s the London and North Eastern Railway bought a large number of type 17 rail trolleys.

Some versions did away with the rear passenger carrying area and used this section for tools and even a diesel generator or air compressor.

The development resulted in trolleys that were armoured (to protect them from shrapnel), powered by a 1,323 cc V-twin JAP engine with fluid-flywheel transmission.

This particular vehicle had open sides and was used in addition to a Planet petrol locomotive which remains extant at the Manx Transport Museum in Jurby whilst the railcar was relocated to the Isle of Man Railway in 1975 to provide transport when the lines to Peel and Ramsey were lifted.