The first company to use the system was the Great Western Railway which, in 1904, equipped carriages and 0-6-0 locomotives as an autotrain to run on the Brentford Branch Line (between Southall and Brentford) as an experimental substitute for steam railcars. Control was by rodding and the mechanism allowed the driving compartment to be either one or two carriages-distant from the engine. With the engine in the middle of a formation, up to four carriages could be used. To reduce the surprise of a locomotive at the "wrong" end of its train, some were initially fitted with panelling painted in carriage livery. The experiment was successful and the company's remaining railcars were gradually converted for autotrain use and purpose-built units constructed.