The ‘railbuses’ were an innovative idea dreamt up by British Rail as a cheaper and faster way to serve smaller, more rural towns and lines that didn’t need as large a service. But now, six decades on, model W79978 is the only surviving complete example, so it will be receiving a full homecoming when it arrives in the Cotswolds.
The train, currently based at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway, where it is under restoration, has been transported to the town by specialist low-loader and carefully positioned on a newly laid track beside the station’s original platform.
Cirencester is really rolling out the red carpet (or rails) for the old train, with its arrival marking the beginning of the town’s history festival. Speaking to the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, the train’s owner Martin Rouse was especially keen to see it back at the old Cirencester station, “When Jess and Jonathan contacted me about involving this railbus, I didn’t hesitate,” he said.
Going on to stress its rarity, he added: “It’s a rare survivor of British Rail’s experiment with lightweight rail vehicles. Bringing it back to Cirencester is more than symbolic – it’s a living piece of transport history.”
The return forms part of an ambitious project to revive the former Brunel-era station, which closed to passengers in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts. The site has been gradually restored in recent years, and the history festival will feature guided tours, archive exhibitions, and even a virtual reality recreation of the station created by students from the local college.
Speaking to the local press, Jonathan Rixon, the architect leading the restoration, said: “The station itself is a remarkable piece of industrial heritage, but to bring back the last surviving railbus of its kind, on the very same platform it once used, is something few thought possible.”