Motorail Letting the train take the strain

A history of Motorail - how it started, how it grew and how it faded into history. Could it make a comeback?

[@stephenclarke7857]

Great idea for the modern electric car motorist, where you can charge your car on route, if you set up charges in each carriage, fully charged when you arrive at your destination. Certailny a greener alternative form of transport for the future.

[@fetchstixRHD]

Coming to think of it, that way you don't really need BEVs to have large ranges (and hence batteries and weight) either, they can have batteries sized for local-ish trips and for anything longer distance, you could just take one of these trains. That said, I wonder whether it would be practical to have them charge (from an electrical standpoint), and how much extra load it would add... 🤔 (And that's before considering any other points of course - would be surprised if anyone would pay almost £500 for such a service out of necessity!)

[@mickymondo7463]

I agree, for long distance electric vehicles it would make sense a far easier option than stopping and having to try and recharge during the journey, which is a nightmare

[@jasonsawdy6121]

This was my very thought as soon as I saw it, I’m not sur show I never knew about Motorail! I guess I am just too young to remember it as a thing and very naive to think we only moved new cars from port to stock yard now or Eurostar. But HS2 would be a great opportunity to reinvent the service as a green option to travel from south to north with your car/EV by rail. But it MUST be competitive with fuel costs or people will just carry on flying and hiring.

[@5688gamble]

Just build a decent rail network and fewer people will need cars, get rid of your car entirely and rent the required vehicle on the other side. Many times I can't get abike on the train, why should space be made to accomodate the termially lazy who spread injusry, anxiety and respiratory disease wherever they go? Even if you eliminate the asthma- you still bring danger to our neighbourhoods- very offensive sway to travel a car is!

[@Skorpychan]

@@fetchstixRHD Yes, further limit personal mobility by tying long-distance travel to the vagaries of the rail unions.

[@markylon]

The other service was the British Rail Parcel Service "Red Star", you could take your parcel to any station ready for collection at any other station. WAS AMAZING.

[@sglenny001]

Seems fantastic

[@train4905]

Agreed😊

[@AndrewG1989]

I do remember Motorail. I remember it very well.

[@lordpitnolen2196]

We 4 (adults) travelled by Motorail in the early 1970s. I drove my Citröen Dyane 4 on to the open, wooden decked platform wagon. As can be seen in the video they were held ny simple wedges. We had to leave the ignition key in and doors unlocked. We enjoyed the sleeper accommodation to the London terminus. We did not have to rise early as BR staff would drive cars onto a reception area. However, due to the Citröen not being "normal" to BR staff, they had left ignition switched on and flattened the battery. They had (presumably) pushed the car to unload and park it. When we complained they arranged a jump lead to let us get going, greatly delayed. We were heading for a fortnight in France but that's the another story😊

[@stuartball4639]

Excellent video 👍 I would definitely use Motorail to the West Country 😊 like the convenience of my own car at the destination.

[@jennyd255]

Please someone bring this back. Glasgow to London without the 8+ hour slog down the M6 and M1 would be heavenly, and with current fuel prices, it might even work out competitive too.

[@terrymoney9718]

Should bring it back

[@scotiajinker8392]

That’s what I thought eurocentral was going to be (back end of Motherwell), turns out to be a fancy name for a industrial park

[@sglenny001]

Ezacky

[@moonshinepz]

it would certainly be quicker.

[@train4905]

Agreed😊

[@markcampbell-hd3wv]

We used to travel from Olympia to Fishguard in the early 1970s ,catching the ferry to Rosslare. It was a great service, wish it was still in operation today.

[@pfamartin1969]

i remember the motorail service as I lived in Newton Abbot when I was younger, and used to watch the trains going through Teignmouth by the seaside. Thank you

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

With the state of the roads today and the cost of fuel, this would be an attractive option to a lot of people.

[@stephensmith4480]

When I started on The Railway in 1990, those Car flats were being used to transport New Cars from Fords at Halewood in Liverpool.

[@stevehutchinson5399]

Travelled on the Paddington to Penzance (and return) motorail in 2003. It was amazing. Also travelled extensively in Western Europe on motorail trains up until 2008. They've definitely got something!

[@moonshinepz]

I frequently travelled on that train, minus car.

[@Liddy37]

What a superb film, great footage, intelligent, informative script.

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

To be honest, it probably isn't a bad thing for Motorail terminals to be in out of town locations - saves adding to congestion in city centres

[@dukeofdevon5608]

Living in Devon this would be a brilliant idea to bring back as everything seems so far to drive

[@saltspringrailway3683]

We've had motorail from the very beginning of railways. The rich could sit in their coach on a flat wagon rather than mix with the rif raf!

[@philbeckett8620]

Please, please bring it back!

[@grahamariss2111]

A crowded network and the growth of car hire will continue to consign Motorail to history, the cost moving your car will cost much more than picking a small car at the station hire desk.

[@frenchsteam7356]

I travelled on the overnight Newcastle/Sheffield-Newton Abbott Car Carrier and return the next night, It had Mk1 sleepers and a BSO next loco and I didn't have a car -work that out!

[@train4905]

I really enjoyed thus thanku😊

[@freebeerfordworkers]

Even with the motorway the journey from Northwest England to the west country was no fun in the early 1970's. The reason it got easier was the rise of cheap package holidays with guaranteed weather brought a drop in traffic. In 1974 we had 10 days in a hotel in Ibiza for the same price as a week in a boarding house in England and in 1985 we were washed out of our caravan in Devon in July! Sadly places like Torbay which had every kind of entertainment back then are a pale shadow of what they were.

[@specto1]

Amazing video thank you

[@porkscratchings5428]

Loved Motorail, this was ideal for us as we lived by Kensington Olympia where the cars would board, up to Inverness then another 2 hour drive to Ullapool back then. Hated going Scotland for the summer up there but had thousands of acres to our disposal for sport. Journey back was nice. I remember we went from Glasgow once back to London as we were heading that side of Scotland coming down visiting relatives along the way. Good old days and nice memories seeing this 👍🍻

[@JanicefromKansas]

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸

[@fuzzylon]

Thank you for this video - I'd wondered what happened to Motorail. I used to live near the terminal at Olympia and some of the signage was still there. I can see the appeal. I groan at the thought of some of the road journeys my parents and grandparents used to do before the motorways were built. I really wish these services still ran. There are places I'd like to go, but they are a long way to drive - the train train would be much better and then I'd have my own car to drive around the local area while I'm there. Perhaps the love affair with motorway driving - particularly driving hundreds of miles - is on the decline and Motorail could be successful again.

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

I'm too young to remember these services - the nostalgist in me thinks that it would be great to see them again, but the realist says that there probably wouldn't be much of a market for them. These days if people don't want the hassle of driving long distances but still want the use of a car once they reach their destination, they can just hire one

[@fuzzylon]

@@Inkyminkyzizwoz You're probably right - it just isn't going to happen. Hiring a car isn't cheap, though. When I go to visit my family I just hire a car, but it is the most expensive part of the whole trip (more than airfare and a couple of nights in an airport hotel) while my own car sits idle at home.

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@@fuzzylon Mind you, neither was Motorail!

[@train4905]

Exellent😊

[@greenr369]

My parents and grandparents used to use this service going to Scotland during the early 70s I went with them but unfortunately was to young to remember.

[@philipblick8887]

Great video congratulations from Aotearoa New Zealand 👏

[@TheSynthnut]

Would gladly use this between London and Scotland if they brought it back. A hire car is no good to me as even if I could get a suitable one as such as a Defender because I need to take too much kit for flying or passenger train.

[@irishsixtysixfanGbrf66739]

First started in America in the 1960s later taken over by amtrak it had been started by a private company before amtrak to florida

[@augnkn93043]

interesting. thanks.

[@outmodeR_]

more content please! Top video

[@HighlandSteam]

I used the motorrail in Nov 1989 from Euston to Inverness. I wonder if I was on one of the very last to run that route?

[@kenstevens5065]

Doomed to failure like sleeper trains because of the cost of fares particularly when the sectorisation of BR took place prior to so called privatisation. Le Shuttle can offer a car service now at acceptable cost under the channel. The dreaded internal market BR had to work under made that impossible in their day.

[@markylon]

Why hasn't the likes of Virgin brought this back? They would sell tickets like hot cakes, with the green credentials, and the increase in fuel prices it's a no brainer not to bring this back. I used a similar service from Paris to the South of France, you leave your car and get the night train, and you arrive in the morning can your car is there ready and waiting. Amazing!!

[@horsenuts1831]

Can't see it coming back. In the 1970s before even the smallest village was given a bypass, it could take a whole day to go the same distance as you can do in a couple of hours now. I can get from London to Penzance in less than 4.5 hours when the roads are quiet, but as recently as the 1980s, this might have taken 12 hours during the day and this at a time when cars were unreliable.

[@andrewjones-productions]

If the government had any vision whatsoever, they would have made sure that the new HS2 line was also compliment with the carriages used for the Channel Tunnel. Thus allowing both passenger and car carrying trains to travel. As some have pointed out, this would be ideal for EVs with their limited ranges and limit congestion at the Folkestone Terminal. Those travelling from Scotland and other more distant destinations would need to have carriages to sit however as sitting in your car in a train for more than 90 minutes isn't really practical. Still, this concept already exists in the form of the HGV trains where the drivers move to a carriage so would only need to be an adaptation or a variation on the theme.

[@Skorpychan]

It'd be great if they offered this for motorbikes. That would almost completely eliminate the need to take three days to get up to the NC500 from the south of england while avoiding deathtrap motorways and crime-ridden scottish city centres. Of course, they'd have to have significant insurance in case the bike 'mysteriously' vanished en route.

[@jakeblair4215]

This should be brought back, less cars on road, more efficient etc and fits green narritive

[@htimsid]

Or just do away with the car and take train / public transport.

[@C.I...]

@@htimsid or just do away with your comment and stay quiet instead of saying something idiotic.

[@dunebasher1971]

@@htimsid What if your intended final destination is one of the very many places in the UK with little to no public transport? I'd love to be able to travel up to Inverness from East Anglia with my car on a train.

[@shineybikecars]

Motorail merch 😂

[@chrishenniker5944]

What about bringing back air ferries? Drive your car to Northolt, load it on a plane, then fly to your destination.

[@archstanton5603]

Used to travel via Silver City Airways between Lydd & Le Troquet.

[@chrishenniker5944]

@@archstanton5603 Was it any good? I think this could be good for transatlantic and services to Australia and south East Asia.

[@Skorpychan]

Modern cars are way too heavy for this to be practical. In the 1970s, a car weighed less than a tonne. Now, your average SUV weighs two or more.

[@ForburyLion]

If Electric cars are the future then that's alot more weight to carry on a train, would be great if your car could be charged up on the train though.

[@admaneb]

Shortsighted to remove this

[@urbansnipe]

Annoyingly if the beeching cuts to the railways and the system was looked after and ticket prices were not so ridiculous we wouldnt even need a car just get the train to your destination would be much fewer cars on the roads the CO2 savings would be insane i mean ffs we cant even maintain the roads nowadays 😂 the muppets calling the show are literally dragging us into the mud

[@henreereeman8529]

this is a bad idea, cars are a horrible waste of space and pollute way too much. We should try to limit them wherever possible