LNER Sentinel 'diagram 14600-614E' steam railcar. Built by Sentinel of Shrewsbury in May 1925, bodywork by Cammell, Laird & Co. Withdrawn in 1929 and rebuilt. The LNER was enamoured with the idea of the steam railcar to make profitable passenger services often on relatively lightly patronised routes. Between 1923 and 1932 they ordered eighty and they were not without their successes, but their reliability was erratic, maintenance costly and profitability questionable. These factors rather defeated the object of the exercise!
By 1937 the whole fleet had been withdrawn. The idea returned in 1958 with the advent of BR diesel railbuses but they also lasted barely 10 years for largely the same reasons. Here at South Gosforth Station in the 1920s is an unidentified LNER Sentinel making a good impression of the points made above.

© Steve Armitage Collection