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Description
In 1933, two London-based companies better known as bus manufacturers began building streamlined diesel railcars for the Great Western Railway (GWR), which needed something more efficient than a locomotive and coaches for some of its passenger trains. All 38 GWR "Flying Banana" railcars (nickname inspired by the Flying Hamburger of Germany?) were powered by one or two AEC engines of 105 or 130 horsepower each, and the first batch had bodies built by Park Royal (and tested at while the second batch had Gloucester bodies and the third had Swindon bodies. Capacity ranged from 44 to 70 passengers except for the parcel vans which lacked passenger cabins, and speed ranged from about 60 to 80 mph or 100 to 130 km/h. GWR 4 (Park Royal / AEC, 1934), later British Railways W4W, was the last member of the first batch and was fitted with a buffet and two 130hp engines. It operated until replaced by BR DMUs in 1958, and sixty years after its retirement I saw it wearing chocolate-and-cream livery with a GWR "shirt button" logo on the nose when I visited the National Railway Museum in September 2018. This has been far from the only time railroads have bought railbuses or DMUs from auto/truck/bus makers -- see also Renault, Bugatti, Fiat, Piaggio, De Dion-Bouton, Leyland, Mack, Subaru, and many others.

Description
In 1933, two London-based companies better known as bus manufacturers began building streamlined diesel railcars for the Great Western Railway (GWR), which needed something more efficient than a locomotive and coaches for some of its passenger trains. All 38 GWR "Flying Banana" railcars (nickname inspired by the Flying Hamburger of Germany?) were powered by one or two AEC engines of 105 or 130 horsepower each, and the first batch had bodies built by Park Royal (and tested at while the second batch had Gloucester bodies and the third had Swindon bodies. Capacity ranged from 44 to 70 passengers except for the parcel vans which lacked passenger cabins, and speed ranged from about 60 to 80 mph or 100 to 130 km/h. GWR 4 (Park Royal / AEC, 1934), later British Railways W4W, was the last member of the first batch and was fitted with a buffet and two 130hp engines. It operated until replaced by BR DMUs in 1958, and sixty years after its retirement I saw it wearing chocolate-and-cream livery with a GWR "shirt button" logo on the nose when I visited the National Railway Museum in September 2018. This has been far from the only time railroads have bought railbuses or DMUs from auto/truck/bus makers -- see also Renault, Bugatti, Fiat, Piaggio, De Dion-Bouton, Leyland, Mack, Subaru, and many others.