South African Clayton Railmotor

The vertical boiler of the engine was located to the rear of the front driving compartment and had an outer cylindrical shell and an inner firebox, with the middle portion of the firebox pressed into a square cross-section. The coal bunker and water tank were mounted on the power bogie and the bunker part was separate from the coach body to enable it to swivel with the power bogie. The engine unit had two cylinders with piston valves which drove a spur gear on the driving axle, while the two axles of the power bogie were connected with coupling rods. For bi-directional operation, the railmotor had a second driving cab at the rear end of the coach.^[1]

The rear end of the railmotor rode on conventional passenger bogies. The coach had the capacity to seat 30 first class and 35 second class passengers in two compartments and it also had a baggage compartment immediately to the rear of the front driving cab and boiler.^[1]

The vehicle was equipped with the old Johnston link-and-pin couplers instead of the new AAR knuckle couplers that were introduced in 1927. The reason was most likely that the commuter carriages in service at the time were all still equipped with the older couplers.

The railmotor was initially placed in service on the Milnerton line for a brief period and often operated with a passenger carriage in tow. When this line was closed to regular traffic on 31 July 1930, the railmotor was transferred to the Cape Flats line.^[1][2]

The railmotor fleet was reported as giving good results and accomplishing the objects of economical working and speedier and more comfortable travel compared to steam train services, since mixed trains on branch lines usually resulted in slower passenger service as a result of frequent stops to load or unload goods.^[3]

The Clayton railmotor was later used on the Overberg line to Caledon. No more steam railmotors were acquired, however, and all subsequent railmotor models on the SAR were petrol-driven vehicles.^[1]