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What is the difference between a motor-car-van and a motorail?
A motor car van is a railway wagon designed to carry a motor car; Motorail, on the other hand, is simply a service brand name introduced by British Rail in 1966.
Motor car vans first appeared in the early 1900s, they were essentially little more than covered wagons with additional doors fitted to the ends and ramps incorporated for through loading. At that time, they were used primarily for wealthy motor car owners wishing to take their vehicles with them when travelling by train. Often these wagons were used for general purposes goods when not being utilised as car transporters.
By the end of World War One, motor cars were somewhat more reliable and roads were marginally better, so demand for private cars to be transported in this way dwindled. However, the life of the motor car van was far from over, and as car ownership increased, car manufacturers needed to find a way to distribute their new cars around the country.
Rail was the obvious choice, and that gave motor car vans not only an extended period of usefulness, but also a demand for them that was increasing exponentially resulting in many more being built. Although types of car-carrying wagons have changed beyond recognition over the years, they do still exist today transporting new cars from factory to port.
As for individuals taking their cars with them on train journeys, the concept was given another chance to prosper in 1955 with the introduction of an overnight car sleeper service from London to Perth. This eventually became a network of services (mainly through the night but sometimes during the day) and was eventually branded Motorail by British Rail in 1966. Once again history repeated itself, and better cars (and this time much better roads) led to a demise in demand and the eventual termination of services when BR was privatised in 1995.
With the exception of a short-lived experiment by First Great Western from 1999-2005, the only motor rail service left in the UK is the Eurotunnel Shuttle which still carries lorries, cars and buses to this day.
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