The Altcar Bob was a train service introduced in July 1906 by the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

on the Barton Branch of the

Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway The Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway was formed in 1884, and totaled 7 miles. In 1897 it became part of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and on 1 May 1901, its northern terminus switched from to . It connected the West Lan ...

. The service was so named because it terminated at , though from 1926 it only went as far as . The Bob was a diminutive steam

railmotor Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it. Steam railcars Overview In th ...

: a locomotive attached to a single coach. The coach was supported by only a single bogie at one end, and the locomotive at the other. Remote controls located at the rear of the coach meant that the vehicle did not require turning. The origin of the term "Bob" is uncertain. Old railwaymen claim that it was named after one of the original drivers, while others insist that this was a common term given to many small locomotives. Another theory is that it relates to the cost of a journey in the early days of the service, "bob" being a slang term for a

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

coin. The service ceased when the line closed to passengers on 26 September 1938.

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

, p.153 The railmotor was one of a class of 18, built for the L&YR between 1906 and 1911. The last survivor (it is unclear if this was the railmotor used for the Altcar Bob) was numbered 10617 by the

LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Lenz ...

. Although allocated a new

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

number of 50617, it never received this and was withdrawn in 1948. 10617 was built in June 1907 at Horwich Works with L&Y works number 18. It was allocated to Bolton Shed (26C) and remained on the Horwich to Blackrod branch line for its entire working life until withdrawn and scrapped at Horwich Works in March 1948. It was affectionately known as the 'Horwich or Blackrod Jerk'.

Notes

References

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External links

"On The Track of Altcar Bob"
written by John Ashcroft 1972
"Our Ticket to Ride"
newspaper article {{British Railmotors Railway services introduced in 1906 Railmotors Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Historic transport in Merseyside Historic transport in Lancashire