In 1925 New Zealand Railways decided to build two lightweight Railcars based on a one-ton Model T Ford truck chassis in the railway workshops in Wellington.

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The aim was that they would reduce the cost of operation on light traffic lines where there was only a limited number of passengers, as they could be run by one person against three for a train.

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After trails in the North Island, both vehicles were sent to the South Island to run in the Southland area (as far away from Wellington as possible!)

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Their launch came with a blaze of publicity in the Southland newspapers. The Southland Times has a ‘play on words’ in its headlines of 29 May 1926 ‘Come to Stay, The Rail Motor Trial Run On Glenham Line - A Signal Success’.

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It was only a matter of weeks later when the Superintendent of Railways in Christchurch wrote to the Railway Board with a number of comments about the Railcars including, “In my opinion, it is very doubtful if they will meet the requirements satisfactorily”

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They were not particularly popular with the travelling public either and had various nicknames such as “glass house”, “pie carts” and “tea” or “coffee pot” due to the motor often boiling due to large pannier bags for luggage that were placed on each side of the bonnet that stopped ventilation around the motor. When there was a crowd on board, children would sometimes have to ride in these bags.

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After running for nearly five years, the two Railcars were withdrawn from service in 1931 and disappeared. Recently, the Pleasant Point Railway came across the original body of ‘Rm’ 5, however, the original body of ‘Rm’ 4 still remains unfound.

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In 1981, approval was given by the Pleasant Point Railway Executive Committee to rebuild ‘Rm’ 4 using information from the New Zealand Railways file, as well as photographs, plans and information from people who could remember the Railcars in operation.

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For a start, an original Model T Ford one-ton truck chassis and running gear was obtained. As with the original Railcar, there had to be some modifications for the axles. The rear axle had to be shortened to allow wheels to be fitted to the New Zealand Railway Guage (3ft 6in) and a new front axle was made. The body was built with a framing of Southland beech. In 1925 when Railcars were built they are believed to be the first New Zealand Railway Passenger Vehicles to be painted in Midland Red, the same as our Railcar.

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As the whole project to rebuild the Railcar has been voluntary, it took from 1981 until 14 March 1999 to complete.

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‘Rm’ 4 remains as distinctive today as it was almost 90 years ago and is kept running by a dedicated team of volunteers.