The Pacerailer was a prototype

railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...

, a vehicle consisting of a bus-style body on a four-wheeled railway-vehicle chassis, built by Charles Sadler Ashby's Sadler Rail Coach Company (SRC) in the 1960s. Following the closure of Droxford station, on the

Meon Valley Railway The Meon Valley Railway was a cross-country railway in Hampshire, England, that ran for 22 miles (36 km) between Alton and Fareham, closely following the course of the River Meon. At its northern (Alton) end, it joined with the Alton Line from ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, both it and the track south to Wickham station were leased by SRC, who used the line to demonstrate the Pacerailer to potential buyers. A section of the line was rebuilt with a 1:10 incline to demonstrate the vehicle's abilities on steep gradients. There were problem with vandalism at the site, with the tracks intentionally blocked and points jammed in an effort to derail vehicles, and on 4 May 1970 the ''Pacerailer'' prototype was burned out and badly damaged. Ashby was in advanced negotiations to reopen the line between

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

and

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

on the Isle of Wight using Pacerailers. It was alleged that one of the Isle of Wight's bus companies was behind the vandalism and arson at Droxford. The underframe survives; as of 2022 it is currently located on the

Isle of Wight Steam Railway The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is a heritage railway on the Isle of Wight. The railway passes through of countryside from to station, passing through the small village of Havenstreet, where the line has a station, headquarters and a depot ...

, used as the structure for a pedestrian bridge. Ashby died in February 1976 and SRC was dissolved in December 1976, having failed to sell the Pacerailer to any railway company. A similar concept, the Pacer, was successfully developed by British Rail in the 1980s.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* - Film of the Sadler Pacerailer by British Movietone News, Issue 1964 23 January 1967
Getty Images photograph
of Ashby with the Pacerailer
2007 newspaper letter with details of the arson incident
{{British Rail DMU Railcars of the United Kingdom Prototypes Scrapped locomotives Train-related introductions in 1967