Your chance to own a unique piece of railway history!

ANGEL TRAINS, Gemini Rail Services at Wolverton Works, and South Western Railway are offering

Railways Illustrated readers the chance to buy a one-off piece of modern traction railwayana in the form of a Class 442 EMU driver’s seat.

The ‘Wessex Electric’ fleet has been in service since 1988, mostly on main line routes out of Waterloo to Weymouth and Portsmouth, but also out of Victoria and London Bridge to Gatwick and Brighton. Based on British Rail’s iconic Mk.3 coach bodies, these third-rail EMUS are arguably the most stylish ever built, and are widely admired by enthusiasts and passengers alike. Now, however, the post-covid world sees no further use for them and so, after more than four decades of service, they have been taken out of service permanently and are been consigned to the scrapyard.

How to bid

Fleet owner Angel Trains and former operator SWR have kindly made one driver’s seat available to raise money for the Railway Benefit Fund through a sealed bid auction. All you have to do is submit your bid by post or email as follows, and the winner will be the one with the highest bid received by the deadline of 17.00 on Friday September 17, 2021. The highest bidder will then be asked to make payment, and be given contact details for Gemini at Wolverton Works to arrange collection of the seat.

Postal bids can be sent to:

Class 442 Seat Auction C/O Customer Services Mortons Media

Morton Way Horncastle

LN9 6JR

Email bids can be sent to: class442auction@mortons.co.uk

with the subject line ‘Class 442 Seat Auction’.

The winner will acquire a unique piece of railway history in the knowledge that the money raised will go to such an excellent cause as the RBF, which was set up to help railway families through tough times. Good luck!