Railcar of the Year 2017

It is that time of year again, with the voting for the Railcar of the Year now open for 2017 - voting is free and open to all, please feel free to read through the nominations and cast a vote:

Railcar of the Year 2017

Hopefully we will get plenty of votes this year and the nation can decide the deserving winner. We had a good number from the Nat Pres community joining in last year, so I would welcome a repeat this year.

 

The winner has been announced as the unique Class 105 Cravens 2-car. Well done to the restoration team at Bury

 

Well done indeed. I have fond memories of the Cravens units, even though the reality was that in the mid-80s they were truly bloody awful!

 

Someone who I follow on Insta put some photos up earlier this week of it, 20 years in the making, it really looks the part though, well done to all concerned, you really have done a top job!

 

I have fond memories of class 105s on the Wherry Line (Norwich-Yarmouth/Lowestoft) when I lived there from 1977 onwards, I can still hear the sound and feel the vibration in my mind's eye. Was gutted when Greenie wasn't saved for the NNR and they got something inappropriate like a 117 (can't remember which of the identicabs exactly). So pleased one is in running order

 

Did more miles on the GN in a Cravens than I care to remember. Truly awful when compared to a loco hauled set on the Buffet. Late night journeys back from the Cross in one were feats of endurance. Took ages and they shook and rattled every inch of the way. Suspect I'll take a trip in it one day for old times sake nonetheless. Well done to the team though for winning the award.

 

My most memorable ride in a Cravens was one cold and thoroughly wet and miserable August Bank Holiday, where there was a service that connected with the 21:04 KGX - HIT that ran on to Peterborough.

Except on a Bank Holiday and despite assurances at the barrier at KGX, it terminated at Huntingdon...

I then spent much of my time talking to a somewhat distressed young woman (I was young too, then) whose boyfriend had been mugged and hospitalised at the Notting Hill Carnival and trying to keep the electric heater working in the bus-shelter waiting room at Huntingdon, until the loco-hauled Newcastle (or was it Bradford?) service arrived much later. We were the only people there.

Cravens units had their own special rattles and dusty upholstery smell, a particularly flatulent exhaust note, and I miss them!

I'm pleased that the units have had headcode boxes reinstated too; incidentally, were there any particular codes for the routes they ran on as they always seemed to say "B2" whenever I saw them? Again, this is nothing short of a miraculous restoration and an award well deserved.

 

Hence one of the nicknames that was around in the 70's
Fart Carts.

 

AFAIK trains on the KGX - CBG all had a B code and the stoppers were all Class 2. Thus B2 was a stopper on the Cambridge line. I could be wrong of course so will ask some 34D guys I know.

 

Thanks for that.

 

B2 was also the head code for the Bury to Rawtenstall service worked by these units in the final period of BR services prio4 to its closure.