Road-Rail vehicles
The SVR uses Road-Rail vehicles, also referred to as RRVs or 'road railers', for permanent way work. RRVs are modified versions of road vehicles which retain their normal method of road propulsion, ie caterpillar tracks or wheels with rubber tyres. They are also fitted with additional flanged steel wheels which can be raised and lowered as required, enabling them to run on rails.
They can operate with a variety of buckets for digging or levelling work, as a crane for lifting tasks or with a brush cutting flail for clearing lineside vegetation. They are often paired with a trailer when in use.
Trailer 010728-2 at Highley, May 2025
Current Road-Rail vehicles[edit | edit source]
Komatsu PC138 Road Railer[edit | edit source]
Komatsu PC138US-2RM 2E1 Tracked Rail Excavator was manufactured in 2008. Its plant no is RR301, serial no 7809 and EVN/RIV number is 99709 911263-0.[1] It does not carry a DVLA registration number. Unlike the SVR's other former and present RRVs, it is fitted with caterpillar tracks rather than tyres.
Photographs show it operated in the Readypower Rail Services Group fleet in Watford (2012), Coalville (2015) and Kingston-on-Soar (2017).[2] It was offered for sale in the summer of 2024 from a location in Ely, Cambridgeshire.[1]
It was purchased by SVR(H) and arrived at the SVR in October 2024.[2] At the time of purchase it was a more modern unit than the existing plant it replaced, Case Poclain Road Railer Excavator and trailer L696MRM. It joined the SVR's existing Komatsu 160 RRV H 55146]], which arrived in 2022[3].
Komatsu 160 Road Railer[edit | edit source]
Road Rail Vehicle Rexquote Komatsu PW160 Megarailer Type 9B and trailer arrived at Kidderminster on 16 November 2022 having been acquired from L&W Contractors Ltd in Sussex, at a cost of £66,355.[4] Like the Case Poclain and Rexquote Road Railers it has tools for a wide range of tasks including lifting, excavating and moving spoil or ballast and flailing for clearing trackside vegetation.
Its EVN/RIV number is 99709 940711-3 and its Komatsu serial number H55146. It was also assigned Rail Axle/Rexquote number 2305 and L&W fleet number RRV126. It does not carry a DVLA registration number.
The type has a boom of 5.15m and an arm of 2.1m.
At the time of purchase it was a more modern unit than the existing plant, with Network Rail Engineering Conformance to June 2024.[5] Financial support was given by the SVR Guarantee Company and the SVR Charitable Trust. It is owned by SVR(H). In August 2023 the P-Way team painted and added SVR logos to the road rail vehicles and trailers, to improve the public image.
The Komatsu 160 with its trailer at Highley, December 2022
Former Road-Rail vehicles[edit | edit source]
Case Poclain 688[edit | edit source]
1994-built Case-Poclain 688-BP Excavator No 489 (DVLA Registration L696MRM) was first recorded on the SVR at Kidderminster on 9 June 2007.[6] Despite its age, its simple nature meant it provided useful service to the Permanent Way team. When rail-mounted it could be used either 'stand-alone' or paired with its trailer vehicle as seen below. In August 2023 the P-Way team painted and added SVR logos to the road rail vehicles and trailers, to improve the public image.
No 489, L696MRM at Highley (2015)
L696MRM with its trailer vehicle at Kidderminster, April 2021
It was replaced in October 2024 by Komatsu PC138 RR301 (see above).[7]
Rexquote Super Railer[edit | edit source]
Rexquote Super Railer, fleet number 4199, is based on the Case 988 Super Railer.[8] It does not carry a DVLA registration number, but is allocated the UIC Number 99709 940193-4.
It was formerly owned by TXM Plant.[9] It was acquired by the SVR in 2017.[10] It was sold in November 2022 to the Ribble Valley Railway after the purchase of the Komatsu 160 Road Railer, and left the Railway on 24 January 2023.
Former Rexquote Super Railer at Highley with No 489 behind (2018)
Liebherr 902ZW Road Rail 360[edit | edit source]
K890OLV, a 1993-built Liebherr 'Road Rail 360', arrived on the SVR in February 2004. The Liebherr 902ZW diesel hydraulic-powered excavator can be used with various buckets, a flail head, a tamping head, or as a crane with a 6-tonne load. The previous owners were William Bradshaw Limited.[11]
It was last recorded on the SVR in July 2017. By February 2018 it had been sold and had moved to Titley Junction where it was still present in May 2022[12].
Liebherr 'Road Rail 360' (2015)
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Readypower Rail Services Group July 2024 Online Auction Catalogue (Retrieved 16 November 2024)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 RR301 Komatsu PC138 on ontrackplant.com (Retrieved 16 November 2024)
- ↑ Branch Lines November 2024
- ↑ SVRH Report and accounts up to 2 January 2023
- ↑ Engineering Conformance certificate 23 June 2017
- ↑ OnTrackPlant.com (requires login to view sightings history)
- ↑ Branch Lines November 2024
- ↑ Wikimedia Commons
- ↑ OnTrackPlant.com
- ↑ Presentation at SVR(H) AGM, June 2018
- ↑ SVR News 147
- ↑ OnTrackPlant.Com (requires login to view sightings history)