Wickham trolley

The Wickham trolley was a railway engineering personnel carrier, used on British Railways as the type No.27 Gang and Inspection trolley. It was introduced in 1948 and over 600 were built between then and 1990, of which 25 went to the Ministry of Supply / MoD between 1954 and 1960. One was featured in 1966 film The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, filmed in part on the Longmoor Military Railway.

Standard gauge Wickham trolley, at Locomotion museum, Shildon

Versions
A narrow gauge Wickham trolley. The subject is ex-MOD and is based at the Amberley Museum Railway, Sussex

Some versions did away with the rear passenger carrying area and used this section for tools and even a diesel generator or air compressor. It was capable of pulling a trailer wagon with tools, but was then restricted to a two-man crew.

In New Zealand, two 4 man trolleys were built primarily as track inspection trolleys, one dedicated to each island.[1]

Powertrain

Early models of the permanent way maintenance ganger's trolley used a vee-twin JAP engine. This drove through a large flat flywheel and a friction drive.[2]

On later models a standard four-cylinder motor car engine, e.g. the Ford Anglia car 100E engine, provided power through a standard three-speed gearbox to a final chain drive transfer gearbox which included the forward and reverse selection.

Other products and services

General engineering
Queen's Pier Trolley

Early products and services provided by D Wickham & Co included castings (e.g. manhole covers), brewery equipment and car repairs.[3] Wickham built their first railcar, for the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge Taltal Railway in Chile, in April 1922.

Their last was outsourced in 1991. Including a few railcars built by their successors in the 1990s, nearly 12,000 vehicles of many varieties were produced to their designs.

Railcars built for British Rail included:-

Isle of Man
Wickham Railcar, Laxey

There are two extant railcars based on the Isle of Man Railway, one of which is in operational condition and based at Douglas Station, used for annual transport galas; the other vehicle is stored out of use at Castletown Station. These two examples are both 3 ft (914 mm) gauge. Further examples (of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge) were used on the Snaefell Mountain Railway by the Civil Aviation Authority to access masts at the summit, and one version with toastrack seating from the Queen's Pier Tramway in Ramsey which was to 3 ft (914 mm) gauge. 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. It was later scrapped by the railway in 1978.

The company

Dennis Wickham founded the company in 1886 as Motor Car and General Engineers. He came from a brewing family and an early product was machinery for breweries.[4]

The company operated as D Wickham & Co. Ltd of Ware & Stevenage (Hertfordshire, UK), Wickham Rail Ltd of Suckley & Bishop's Frome (Worcestershire, UK) and Wickham Rail Cars of Goodyear (Arizona, USA).

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References
  1. "Wickhams in Australia & New Zealand". Nic Doncaster's Web Pages. 3 January 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  2. "Wickham Motor Trolley". South Devon Railway. 5 April 2013.
  3. Ford (2003), p. 10.
  4. Ford (2003), p. 9.
  • Ford, L.G. (2003). Wickham of Ware. The Rockingham Press. ISBN 1-873468-40-7.
  • Gunner, Keith (2004). The Wickham Works List. Dennis Duck Publications. ISBN 0-9549199-2-0. Archived from the original on 4 November 2010.
  • "Wickham Trolley". PPS Models. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved May 2010. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  • "Wickham Motor Trolley". South Devon Railway. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved May 2010. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  • "Wickham Trolley". Yorkshire Dales Railway Museum Trust. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved May 2010. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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