Buckfastleigh - 5542 between two auto trailers

The Autotrain was a type of passenger train used in the early 20th century, where the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

could be remotely controlled from the rear of the train. This meant that the engine would not have to run-around at the end of a journey before returning. These trains were also known as motor trains or railmotors at the time, but the term

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 ...

is now used to refer to trains where the steam engine was integrated into the coach. A driving cab in the rearmost coach (known as an autocoach or auto trailer) has controls to allow the driver to operate the regulator, brake and whistle when driving the train 'in reverse'. The

fireman A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

would remain on the engine in order to stoke the fire and to take off the brakes, as the driver could only apply them. Autotrains could operate with one or two coaches: either with the locomotive at the front or rear of the formation, or sandwiched between the two driving coaches. Autotrains were being used by most rail companies in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

by the 1920s, and were particularly common on

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

services. They remained in widespread use until the 1950s and 1960s, when they were replaced by

diesel multiple units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

(DMUs). They were in effect the ancestor of the modern driving trailers.

See also