Could the 'railcar' which recently entered experimental public service on the branch line between Stourbridge Junction and Town be a pioneer for a new class of rail travel? This is emphatically the view of John Parry, who has developed the vehicle with the backing of £1.5 million of shareholders' funds.

Operating for the present on Sundays only, the vehicle could, if parties agree, provide a daily service on the branch line at less than half the cost of the present Class 153 service. At a later stage the line could be extended beyond the Town station through Stourbridge town centre and operated as a street- running tramway. For this purpose, the vehicle floor (and railway platforms) would be lowered to 350mm and propulsion would be switched from the present LPG to electricity supplied when the vehicle is at rest.

This highly versatile rail transport has been developed by Parry People Movers Limited from a concept originated by design engineers JPM Parry & Associates, of Cradley Heath, West Midlands (John Parry is chairman of both companies). The distinctive feature of the Parry design is the incorporation of a ¾-ton flywheel into the vehicle's drive train. When the vehicle has to stop frequently, such as in urban tramway service, the flywheel is charged at passenger stops through a railside contact under the passenger-boarding platform. In longer-range operation as a railcar, power is provided by a two- litre LPG motor running at more or less constant revs: the motor is sufficient to maintain cruising speed, while surge power (eg for pulling away) is provided by the flywheel.

Trials on the Severn Valley Railway preceded
Stourbridge Town branch Operation.

through the hydrostatic transmission. And it is the highly flexible stowage arrangements allowed by hydrostatic transmission that permit the easy change of floor level when converting between railcar and tramcar operation.

Vehicles of the Stourbridge class will have about 22 seats and a maximum passenger capacity of 50 (the model will be known as the PPM 50). A 100- passenger 'twin' version (the 'PPM 100') is at the design stage.

The vehicles are thus comparable with buses in scale and capacity and distinctly smaller and lighter than the smallest railway stock or the current generation of tramcars. They are intended to offer appropriate capacity on the many routes now considered marginal or sub-economic for conventional rail or trams."All too often", John Parry says, "rail vehicles are simply too large for the traffic, with the result that frequency is reduced and even more customers turn to the roads. A smaller, affordable vehicle offering a more frequent service - especially a turn- up-and-go service - will bring back traffic not only for the branch but for the main line it feeds."

This may look like a niche market but John Parry sees it in the context of a potential wider renaissance of rail travel off the mainline network. There are many feeder lines, or lines which should be considered as feeders, where traffic could be revived with more frequent services or services at least matching the frequency on the mainline. Then there are what he calls the 'sleeping beauties': underused lines, often on preserved railways, which could have a more important role if properly employed and marketed.

One such sleeping beauty is the Bewdley to Kidderminster section of the Severn Valley Railway, where the PPM 50 was first tested. This could provide a commuter and shopping service to central Kidderminster. Travellers from the Bewdley area to Birmingham could park at Bewdley and be carried swiftly to Kidderminster station, avoiding the uncertainties of both congestion in the town and parking at the mainline station.