Glorious ‘Beavertail’ unveiled after mammoth restoration
THE Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust and Rail Vehicle Preservations (RVP) have unveiled the fully restored LNER ‘Coronation’ observation saloon No. 1729 following its extensive restoration back to original condition.
The saloon was built in 1937 as one of a pair (the other being No. 1719) for the LNER’s streamlined Anglo-Scottish ‘Coronation’ sets and, like the ‘A4’ Pacifics that hauled the trains, oozed with Art Deco styling.
Both featured streamlined ends to match those of the
‘A4s’, later earning them the nickname of ‘Beavertails’, owing to their distinctive shape.
Both vehicles were later rebuilt at Cowlairs under
British Railways, losing their streamlining in the process, although thankfully both survived into preservation.
No. 1719 was the subject of an extensive restoration by RVP into ‘rebuilt’ condition at the Great Central Railway, which was completed in
2007. However No. 1729 was a different proposition altogether.
Deteriorating
After originally being saved by the Gresley Society and based at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, No. 1729 found its way to Carnforth in the mid-1970s and languished there for many years, steadily deteriorating.
However, after negotiations and asbestos removal, RVP acquired the vehicle in the mid-2000s and subsequently announced its intention of returning it to its 1938 condition, once the restoration of No. 1719 was complete.
The restoration has been made possible through funding from Jeremy Hosking and the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust, which acquired the saloon in 2014, but left it in RVP’s custodianship.
The work has been carried out to the highest degree of accuracy and historical integrity by Nemesis Rail at Burton-uponTrent, which rolled it out on January 3 prior to the saloon’s move to the 1:1 Collection in Margate on January 11.
Mock-up
With only one original drawing surviving, the project team had to act as both detectives and engineers to recreate No. 1729’s distinctive shape, and fit it out in the manner in which it saw service on the ‘Coronation’.
This included building a quarter-scale mock-up of the streamlined end in order to fathom the positions of the cant rails.
From the start, RVP insisted on exacting standards and historical authenticity to the degree that no metric fittings were used and bespoke materials, such as roof canvas and floor matting, had to be shipped from overseas to closely replicate those employed in the 1930s.
As work on the structure was underway, samples of the original seating moquette were obtained from the National Railway Museum and replicated, the original carpet pattern also matched and replicated, and bespoke new furniture built and upholstered.
Final internal detailing was recreated from photographs or copied from components in sister car No. 1719, and a new chrome trim, numbers and lettering made for the exterior.
The ‘Coronation’ livery of Marlborough blue and Garter blue has been faithfully recreated and applied to the exterior, the bogie wheels even being painted Indian red to match those of the ‘A4s’ that hauled the service in its heyday.
Delight
The end result is a joy to behold and the saloon will undoubtedly delight all who see it and travel in it in due course.
For the time being it will be displayed with ‘A4’ No. 4464 Bittern at Margate, but will be made available for hire by heritage lines.
A reunion with RVP’s No. 1719 is also likely at some point, helping to tell the full story of these unique survivors which remain the only examples of the LNER’s streamlined train rolling stock in preservation.