GWSR ‘mess’ departs

BR Mk.1 coach No. M25646, which served as the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Locomotive Department ‘mess room’ at Toddington for 28 years, left for a new role with the Station Kitchen at West Bay, Dorset on September 13. Built as an SK in 1958 at BR Wolverton, it was latterly an exhibition coach and arrived at Toddington in 1993. Painted chocolate and cream on the line side and maroon on the depot side, it was named Tina after Tina Sutton, a popular member of the department. The vehicle’s role was rendered redundant in May following the opening of the impressive new welfare facilities in a sympathetic extension to the original 1903-built GWR goods shed.