...AND WITH AIR CONDITIONED COACHES?

Running at 90mph isn’t the only big ambition those at the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s convention on October 1 should have heard about, assuming they were listening intently. The trust is also looking to acquire its own train… of BR Mk 3s. That’s right - a rake of the air-conditioned InterCity coaches from the 1970s. ‘A1’ ops director Graeme Bunker can reel you off a list of benefits to going for the relatively modern stock - from crashworthiness to central door locking and controlled emissions toilets. He also points out that Mk 3s can hold lots of people - although a 12-coach set would be some 52ft longer than 13 Mk 1s, so you’d actually only need 11 to seat roughly the same number as 13 of the older design. “With the changes on the ‘big railway’, the conclusion is that the solution for us at this time is a train of Mk 3 coaches,” says Graeme, reporting on the upshot of deliberations that were announced at a previous A1 convention. They have large picture windows giving a fair view of the countryside, but the punters are sealed inside, cocooned from the sound and smell of the engine.

Pros and cons

“The first thing many enthusiasts will say is ‘hang on, you can’t open the windows’. One option is to replace the windows - which is expensive,” he says - before listing the advantages of Mk 3s that might make it worth it. As evidence for the feasibility of providing opening windows, he points to the new ‘Grand Hibernian’ Mk 3 luxury train in Ireland - on which Belmond has done just that. Graeme moots that the total number of coaches acquired would “probably” be around 15 or 16. A normal rake made up from that might accommodate 500 passengers across First and Standard classes, and include two kitchen cars. No decisions have yet been made on what the rake would look like from the outside (“We are being bold - we’re reviewing everything from scumbled teak to carmine and cream, and some of the pre-Grouping liveries as well”). But when it comes to the interior, there’s already a pretty clear view: “We will be putting them back to the original configuration. Initially, when you get in, it’ll be Mk 3-esque, but over time we’ll move it back to the pre-war art deco era.” Intriguingly, the trust is also giving thought to how its new rake could carry water to take Tornado’s range from around 125 to 200 miles. As for how such ideas might be paid for, the trust is “working on a package that looks at our own trains, and hires, and we’re also working on sponsorship. We’re not currently looking at setting up a donation-based scheme because we want to focus that on the locomotives.” With the Mk 3s currently still in service however, nothing is likely to come to fruition for a couple of years.