23/06/2026
A Wickham railbus which arrived at Shillingstone Station on this morning truly deserves to be called unique, and is set to become an important addition to NDR’s rolling stock when it goes into service as a 48-seater coach. But it didn’t start life carrying passengers, and that is what makes it unique.
Wickham & Co only ever built five four-wheeled railbuses for passenger use, none of which survives. However a sixth was built, specifically for the vital work of track inspection, and this now belongs to North Dorset Railway.
In the late 1950s automated track inspection was in its infancy and didn’t match the accuracy of manual measurement, which was time-consuming and held up normal rail operations. An electronics company, Elliott Brothers, came up with a design and the vehicle was then built by Wickham as a dedicated ‘Track Recording Coach’, going into service in early 1959.
The on-board equipment could record track measurements on special photo-sensitive paper and display the previous record alongside, making signs of deterioration instantly apparent, and all at speeds of up to 30mph. The railbus itself was very stable thanks to rubber mountings, springs and hydraulic shock-absorbers. It was entirely self-sufficient: self-propelled, with its own on-board engines providing heating, lighting and the power needed to run the data collection equipment. It was also economical to run.
While its passenger-carrying cousins didn’t survive the 1960s purge, the Track Recording Coach – later renamed ‘Laboratory 20’ – continued to be useful and was not withdrawn until 1991. Just a few years later it had gone to a heritage railway where it was mechanically restored and repainted. But the interior, stripped of its data recording equipment, remained empty, and it was not until 2003, at another railway, that it was fitted out with seats for the very first time.
It saw more than 20 years of carrying passengers, including more than a decade at the Lavender Line in Sussex, but in recent years it went into storage, looking a little worse for wear. Now at Shillingstone, the plan is to start restoration in spring next year. When the railbus is ready, the plan is to use it as a coach to start with. But if the mechanics prove suitable, it could then be used self-propelled. As much work as possible will be carried out by the ‘orange army’ of volunteers.
