PICKERING NEW-BUILD UNDER WAY FOR WELSH HIGHLAND
Brake composite carriage, funded by a sponsor, is expected to be complete by 2021.
Construction has begun on a replica Pickering brake composite coach for the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway.
The Ffestiniog Railway was awarded the contract to build the replica coach in mid-November, after a sponsor agreed to cover the cost of the new carriage, as the WHHR’s volunteer resources are already committed to other projects. It is hoped the vehicle will be completed in 2021.
The original was one of two brake composite coaches built for the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways – predecessor to the Welsh Highland Railway
– in 1907 by R.Y. Pickering of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, and both vehicles appear in almost every photograph of the old WHR. Both were auctioned off after the railway closed in 1937.
The new vehicle will be full height (as the original vehicles were cut down in 1924 to fit the FR’s loading gauge) and dual-braked so it is compatible with both WHHR and Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways rolling stock, while one compartment will be wheelchair accessible.
Project manager Bob Menzies said: “It has long been our ambition to have a replica of one of these coaches to provide a brake coach for our heritage train. Thanks to a sponsor, that dream will be realised.
F&WHR general manager Paul Lewin said: “We are absolutely delighted to be the selected contractor for this carriage. It is very important for Welsh Highland heritage in general. This year, we have really enjoyed working with the team at Gelert’s Farm to deliver events with Russell on the Welsh Highland. This project is the icing on the cake and is a great way to round off 2019.”
The Pickering brake coach will be the fifth heritage carriage at the WHHR, joining the line’s trio of restored coaches – No. 8, the ‘Gladstone Car’; No. 10, the world’s first narrow gauge buffet car; and toast rack coach No. 42, plus the replica of corridor coach No. 9.