PRESERVED ROLLING STOCK
■ A Mk 2b TSO that has not carried passengers since the end of the Waterloo-Exeter services in 1993 has found a new role as a training vehicle. Still carrying Network SouthEast colours under the graffiti, 5446 was sold by Eastern Rail Services to PNP Events Ltd and was transferred from the MidNorfolk Railway to an industrial unit at Halesfield, south of Telford, in mid-April. The new owner runs the Polar Express events at various heritage lines, with the TSO due to be used as a training space for actors working on the trains and for testing various special effects. By mid-May, the interior of the coach was undergoing cleaning and eventually a Polar Express livery will be applied externally.
■ As a result of the financial difficulties at the Llangollen Railway, coaches have begun to depart for new lines. One of the first away was Mk 1 RMB 1864, which was acquired by the Spa Valley Railway and was delivered to its new home on May 5. Also moved around the same time was GWR Autotrailer W167, which is now at the Chinnor & Princess Risborough Railway. An online auction organised by the receivers and involving 12 other Mk 1 coaches finished on May 12. The vehicles involved were RBR 1697, TSOs 4472, 4503, 4643, 4702, 4858 and 4947, CK 15667, SK 25421, BSK 34537, GUV 86606 and exhibition coach 99622. The Llangollen Railway Trust was hoping to acquire at least one of the coaches so it could remain on the line, with accessibility modified TSO 4858 being particularly important to the restarting of running.
■ The Weardale Railway has taken Mk 2f BSO 9538 on hire from Northumbria Rail to act as a brake vehicle for its set of Mk 3 coaches that were acquired last autumn. Previously at the Whitrope Heritage Centre, the vehicle, which retains Virgin Trains’ red/grey, was collected on May 10 and unloaded at Wolsingham the following day. The ex-Greater Anglia Mk 3s, TSOB 10417 and TSOs 12015/034/084/108/126, are being prepared for traffic now lockdown restrictions have been lifted. A second BSO is in the process of being acquired by the railway.
■ Former Caledonian Sleeper coach 10544 was finally delivered to the Whitrope Heritage Centre on the former Waverley route on May 10, having languished in the Stoke haulage yard of Reid Freight Services since last June after its initial removal from Crewe.
■ The Scottish Railway Preservation Society has launched a fundraising campaign to help complete the restoration of two LMS Period III coaches. Work on Stanier Third Opens 27389 and 27407 has been ongoing since 2013/14, with much of the restoration already completed, but with the society’s funds badly affected by COVID-19 a further £25,000 is required to complete both vehicles and return them to use on the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. Both require the seats to be reupholstered, gangways refitted and brakes certified, while 27389 also needs painting and internal finishing. Donations can be made via virginmoneygiving. com/fund/lmscoaches.
■ The LNER Coach Association has expanded its fleet with the addition of two further vehicles. Now owned outright is 1907-built East Coast Joint Stock Third Corridor 377, while Thompson-designed and 1948-built buffet car E1706, which lasted in traffic until 1977 and carried BR blue/grey, has been placed in the association’s care. Both are to be moved from the Llangollen to the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The LNERCA has also agreed a five-year lease on an industrial unit on the outskirts of Pickering that will be used to house three coaches, including NER Restaurant First 2118, which requires undercover storage to prevent further deterioration. Joining it will be Gresley Corridor Third 23896 and Thompson Composite Lavatory 88339, which are currently undergoing restoration at Spennymoor.
■ The ten-year loan of Mk 1 SKs 24804 and 25488 to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has resumed, with the vehicles noted heading south from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on April 22. The duo had initially arrived at the GWR at the end of 2018 for remedial attention and then use in passenger traffic, but both were recalled to the NYMR last summer when corridor stock was preferred to run socially distanced services. Also at the GWR, BG 81049 has been out-shopped in BR carmine and cream.
■ At the West Somerset Railway, the contract repainting of SK 25807 in carmine and cream was completed in mid-April, with the coach duly returned home to the Bodmin & Wenford Railway. Meanwhile, at the Stephenson Railway Museum, the restoration of Mk 1 suburban BS 43172 is progressing well with external painting underway during April. Also now on loan is BSK 35207, which arrived at the Mid-Hants Railway from the Bluebell Railway in April where it is due to remain until the autumn.
■ The latest Mk 1 to be converted into holiday accommodation is BCK 21240, which was partly completed at Shildon earlier this year and repainted in carmine and cream. It is now at Stone Age Ltd on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead, where further fitting out is taking place, the work including the installation of a kitchen and bathroom with shower. Meanwhile, unrestored Mk 1 SK 24997, which still carries as-withdrawn blue/grey, was removed from the Nene Valley Railway on April 14, having been put up for sale last October. Taken to an undisclosed location, the coach is undergoing extensive stripping of parts and will then be scrapped to allow Brighton Belle Driving Motor Car 89 to be restored as a hauled vehicle. The latter is currently awaiting removal from the Little Mill Inn at Rowarth in Derbyshire.