November 2025: Track Inspection Vehicles

November’s Object of the Month features STEAM’s trio of Track Inspection Vehicles.  These small rail vehicles were used by permanent way staff to travel quickly and efficiently along sections of the railway line to carry out track inspections and light maintenance.

Prior to the introduction of the track inspection trolley, track inspections were carried out by men walking along the length of a railway line by foot.  This was slow and dangerous work.  By the late 1800s small manually operated trolleys were used that could whizz up and down a line, carrying staff and tools.

Two handled pump trolley

STEAM’s two handled pump trolley dates from the early 1900s.  It was operated by hand and had enough room for up to four workers and their tools.  This type of trolley has featured in Westerns and comedy films, with characters frantically pumping to try to get out of the way of a looming locomotive.

Three wheeled trolley

The three-wheeled tricycle style trolley, known as a velocipede, was hand powered by one person and could take a passenger on the back.  This type of trolley also had its staring moment when one featured in the film The Titfield Thunderbolt.

Wickham trolley

The small petrol operated car, with its British Railways logo, is a ‘Type 4’ track inspection vehicle built by Wickham and Co during the 1950s and 1960s.  Only about 30 of this type were built.  This particular vehicle was used on the Tetbury Branch line.  Wickham Trolleys, of various types, were used extensively across British Railways for many years.

Track inspection vehicles were designed to be light enough to be lifted by hand and moved off the railway line to allow a train to pass by.

STEAM’s three track inspection vehicles are on display in the permanent galleries next to the Signal Box.