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Railcars used on the Great Western Railway

In 1933, the Great Western Railway introduced the first of what was to become a successful series of diesel railcars, which survived in regular use into the 1960s, when they were replaced with the new British Rail "first generation" type diesel multiple units.

The original design featured streamlined bodywork, which was very much the fashion at the time. The rounded lines of the first examples built led to their nickname: "flying banana". The preserved W4W is an example of the original, rounded body shape. Later "razor edge" examples, such as No. 27 (pictured), had much more angular (and practical) bodywork, yet the nickname persisted for these too.

The interiors of railcars No. 1 to No. 18 were heated by using waste heat from the engine cooling water. This system proved unreliable in service due to issues with the thermostatic valves employed. Later vehicles from No. 19 onward abandoned this system due to its unreliability and because their revised specification demanded that they be able to haul steam heated rolling stock. Railcars No. 19 onwards were powered by a modified version of the previous engine. This engine was equipped with direct injection and the bore diameter was enlarged to 120 mm, the stroke remaining at 142 mm. This engine produced a lower brake power output of 105 hp at 1,650 rpm.

Hornby Railways manufacture a model of the 1940 style railcar in OO gauge, using tooling acquired in their takeover of Lima. In late 2017, Dapol released an OO model of the streamlined 1936 Gloucester RCW railcars in a variety of liveries and numbers. Heljan manufacture a model of the 1940 style railcar in OO gauge, using new tooling, that includes internal lighting and front and rear lighting. Graham Farish produced an N gauge model (with various numbers, e. g. 19, 22, and 20), both before and after their takeover by Bachmann.