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NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:47 pm
by Autocar Publicity
As some of you may have heard, there are plans to restore the surviving NER petrol-electric autocar in the near future. We think this vehicle is rather important in heritage terms as it was the first in the world to use an internal combustion engine to generate electricity for its traction motors and is the forerunner of most of todays passenger trains.

A trust has been formed to restore and operate this pioneering vehicle, together with a trailing autocoach, and we invite any interested members of the forum to join us. (Further details are at www.electricautocar.co.uk) We currently have a small but growing membership and are seeking other interested people to join us. To restore 3170 to service will require a variety of skills, from woodwork and mechanical engineering to web-site expertise and hard-copy clerical administrative work. Financial contributions would not be unwelcome either!

Details of the autocars are available elsewhere on this web-site, so I won't try to repeat that information. To give you the current situation, the autocar is in storage whilst we draw up detailed plans for restoration. Many of the bits we need have been sourced and we have taken advice on motive power issues. Because of safety issues and severe problems in sourcing a suitable petrol engine, we intend to use a new-build diesel to maximise efficiency and minimise emissions. The Lottery Fund have encouraged us and we have passed the first stage (of two) in our application for a sizeable grant. The NER coach group at the NYMR have kindly agreed to donate their autocoach to the [Autocar] Trust, allowing us to contemplate running a unique two car 'DMU' - actually a DEMU - in a few years time. Other groups and individuals have been supportive and helped us in a variety of ways.

The project is being led by Stephen Middleton, the owner of 'Stately Trains', based on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway in Yorkshire. Stephen has restored seven vintage carriages from the Victorian and Edwardian period, including a couple of GER six wheelers and an East Coast Joint Stock carriage. The autocar is wooden-bodied with large windows, giving passengers superb visibility, and contemporary accounts suggest they were very popular with passengers.

This is the first time I've posted on the forum (though I have used the information elsewhere on the web-site and found it very helpful) so I hope I've posted in the right place. As well as appealing for assistance with the restoration, I thought I would try to keep you informed and hope members find the news of interest. If there is the interest and my technical skills are up to it, I may post some pictures of our progress later.

Time for lunch!

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:07 pm
by richard
Yes, right place and thanks for the information!

I don't know if you searched through the forums, but there is quite a bit of interest in this project. You are more than welcome to post news updates in the "LNER News" folder.
(if you also email me significant milestones, I can update the NER Autocar page accordingly)

Good luck!

Richard

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:10 pm
by Autocar Publicity
Thanks for that. It's good to hear there's some interest. As I mentioned earlier, I've used the site before, but am a newcomer to the forums and am still finding my way round. I'll try to keep forum members informed. We have a list of organisations, newspapers and periodicals that we send press releases to, but it might take a while for such as Heritage Railway, the Scarborough Evening News or NERA's Express to reach Texas... When I send press releases out, it'll be easy enough to put a message onto the forum as well. If we succeed in attracting someone with enough electronic expertise, we'd like to update our web-site every few weeks as well. At the moment that is an area we are weak on. :(

If I've done this right, there should be a picture below of 3170 freshly painted in LNER brown before operating around Harrogate during the summer 1923 timetable. (If not I'll try again another day!)
NER Autocar 1923
NER Autocar 1923

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:13 pm
by Autocar Publicity
PS.

I should have said the picture is courtesy of the Ken Hoole Study Centre. They have been very helpful with our research.

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:17 pm
by 52D
ive had a newsletter and joining form for months but keep forgetting to post it off will do it b4 weekend

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:03 pm
by Autocar Publicity
We've aimed to keep the membership fee low (£8 pa) to encourage people to join us - and then we twist their arms to volunteer their skills and services! Seriously, we appreciate people have other calls on their income and we don't want to become a small clique by pricing membership at an excessive figure. This is an important project and I think it's right that we share it with people and give fellow enthusiasts the opportunity to get actively involved.

There is a quarterly newsletter, including progress reports and some history, we've had two and the third is imminent.

The last four years have seen quite a lot of 'behind the scenes' activity. Nothing much appears to have happened, but there has been a lot of planning, sourcing of parts and consulting engineers. Now everything is starting to get interesting and (touch wood) it will not be long before we start to make visible progress. I'll keep looking in on the forum, so if anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them.

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:54 pm
by richard
Thanks to Simon Gott (aka Autocar Publicity) for arranging for photographs and diagrams for the NER Petrol Electric Autocar page:

http://www.lner.info/locos/IC/ner_petrolelectric.shtml


Richard

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:51 pm
by davidwilliam
This is my first posting on the Forum. It covers the Gauge 0 modelling of the NER 1903 Petrolelectric Autocar to Diagrams 102&176 .The built model is subject of an article in AUTOCAR Newsletter No.23-Summer 2014 & the full construction is described in Gauge 0 Guild Gazette, dated November 2014. The Autocar is self-propelled using a single bogie axle using a unique motor/gearbox. To cope with the weight of an Autocoach (per the Embsay & Bolton Railway restoration task) the Autocar had to be converted to introduce a 2nd motor gearbox,just like the prototype.The basic Autocar brass body & chassis were provided by Worsley Works... it`s a 7mm conversion of an established 4mm kit. I`m willing to post more details of the Autocar & the related Autocoach build plus photos.

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:03 pm
by Autocar Publicity
Hi David. Richard has built the Medley Models/LNER Days kit (previously serialised in our newsletter) and I know Alan has produced brass etches in 3 & 4mm scales, though I've not seen any built yet. I think pictures & details would be of interest to our members, though perhaps if you could post a new thread in the modelling section? I suspect there may be various questions & they're probably best separated from the restoration thread, though I suggest one of us posts in that thread to point any interested newcomers to your new thread? Thanks.

Re: NER Autocar Restoration

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 2:30 pm
by richard
DavidWilliam: I assume you're the "David Hoskins" that wrote the back page on the latest "North Eastern Express"?
Thanks for both of the mentions. Just a minor correction: My model is 7mm too - not 4mm.

The yellow (?) lettering on your model looks much better than the gold that I used. I found a mention of gold somewhere, but after decalling, found it just didn't show up against the vermillion.