The following is a quotation taken from “The Autocar” and  appeared in the Railton Catalogue “In a comparatively short time a tremendous reputation has been acquired by the Railton for its performance. For the past two years a Railton has been shown to possess a superior performance as regards all round acceleration to that of any other production car tested by The Autocar during the period”.

Your editor turned down the opportunity to purchase one of these fine cars in the mid 1960`s, it was a “Cobham” Saloon, in absolutely first class condition, the engine was so flexible that you could pull away on the level in top gear, the asking price, just £25.0.0d. but already having two other American Cars and a shortage of suitable storage I turned it down, how I now regret it.

The basis of the Railton was the 4 litre Hudson Terraplane 8 chassis,  introduced in 1933 and from mid 1934 the Hudson “8”  4.2 litre chassis was used, the actual cubic capacity was 4,168 which gave an RAC rating 28.8 horse power. Due to the intervention of the Second World War the production run was just eight years, a few cars were assembled in the post war period from pre-war parts, but the UK government ban on dollar imports and a list price of over £4,000 saw the demise of this fine car.

The Railton was the combined product of the best of English and American engineering and workmanship, the main components being the famous Hudson Chassis, lowered and given stiffer suspension. The coachwork was in the British style with rectangular bonnet with rivets along its edges. The cars were built at the works which was associated for many years with the production of the “Invicta”, another famous British Motor Car and the staff included many of the original craftsman.

The Railton Light Saloon with its straight eight engine weighed 24 cwt and 11 lbs. without passengers, the car was equipped with bolt on wire wheels of 16 x 6.25, fuel tank capacity of some 13 gallons and on a run would return something in the region of 15 to 17 miles to the gallon, it had a turning circle of 41 feet.  Acceleration was smooth and powerful throughout the range, maximum speed was about 91 mph,  acceleration on top gear from 10 mph to 30 mph was a shade over 6 seconds, likewise 20 mph to 40 mph and 30 mph to 50 mph. A standing start to 70 mph using the gears in the 3 speed gearbox took just 16 seconds.

The Cobham Saloon

The specification of the Railton was impressive, the engine bore was 3 ins. with a stroke of 4.1/2 ins. giving a rated horsepower of 28.8, this resulted in a road tax of £21. 15d. for the year. At 4,200 rpm the engine developed 124 bhp. Inherently balanced, fully compensated, 5 bearing crankshaft with balance weights forged integrally and fitted with a Lanchester vibration damper, forged steel connecting rods, silicon pistons fitted to very close limits in the bores resulted in extremely long wear, fuel was supplied by a double choke down draught carburettor. The drive was taken to the back axle via a single plate aluminium alloy cork insert clutch with spring cushion drive running in oil and three speed gearbox which incorporated a silent constant mesh second gear.

Ignition was by 12 volts battery and coil with fully automatic single contact breaker distributor.

The Railton Claremont Drophead Coupe (3 position hood)

Suspension was by long semi-elliptic springs front and rear, the rear was augmented by large capacity direct acting shock absorbers in addition to the Andre Telecontrols operated from the dashboard whereby the driver could alter the ride from hard to soft from the driving seat

Steering-box was of the worm and sector type mounted on taper roller bearings, the column was adjustable.

Lower priced cars were introduced in 1938/39 with 2,700 and 3,500 c.c. 6 cylinder Hudson engines. In 1938 a baby Railton was produced with a 10 h.p. engine, this based on Standard components and sold at £299.0.0d.

During short and eventful life around 1,400 cars were produced. Railtons are occasionally seen on the road and can usually be found at the various events organised by the Vintage Sports Car Club.

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