Rolling Stock For Sale

Were the NNR simply responding to an expressed local need, or has the railway got a keen cyclist on the board or management team, or is the cycling market something they've worked hard to develop?

I find it hard to believe Norfolk's the only place such service could be successfully provided.

 

The use of the CCT's is more of a traffic need rather than a management choice. Sadly the cct's are a bit of a thorn in our sides, nice as they are for historic reasons. They ditract from C&W resources which could be spent on the full length Mark 1 stock and they require shunting on and off the sets if the requirement for a six coach train is present, so they cost the ops department extra time as well. Having said that they are needed as the mark 1 brake compartments are used as disabled space and the number of buggies and bikes transported means the mark 1 brakes are too small to carry bikes and wheelchairs. It's also not much fun for the less able if they're sharing their space with bikes\buggies, it gives them a second class citizen atmosphere which the railway obviously does not want to portray.

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Stock like the Siphon and CCT do come in really useful for purposes mentioned (storage, buggy vehicles etc.) but its convincing Railways to take them that's the problem. Many have a lot of stock of their own in need of work, and if such a vehicle is not currently fit to run, they may (as I have found when trying to find a home for one I previously looked at) turn it away for fear of it detracting volunteers from other projects, or (also witnessed) people starting and disappearing midway through, leaving something taking up valuable space.

I would assume another reason is weight - many lines require as much seating as possible, and any vehicle unable to carry passengers simply gets ignored as there will be no 'bums on seats', but I have to agree where most Railways have only one brake coach in a consist, it does mean it can be overloaded with buggies on popular children's event days - and that's before anyone in a wheelchair even thinks of getting on boards...

A careful balancing act.

It would be a shame if such useful vehicles were scrapped because of this. Hope the Cricklade Siphon finds a buyer and home soon...

 

I imagine some lines are also limited by the size of their stations - I've always assumed that the MHR for example runs 5 coach trains because the platforms can't accommodate anymore coaches and/or the gradients, it isn't so much that some lines can't run 8 coach sets but rather that they don't have the space or the locos to run longer sets or sets including a buggy/bike luggage van. If you only have limited capacity then you have to make use of all space.

 

Swanage Railway 108 is currently up for sale

 

http://swanagerailway.co.uk/for-sale-diesel-multiple-unit
http://swanagerailway.co.uk/userfiles/media/class_108_dmu_prospectus_-_final.pdf

 

A vintage 4ft gauge Glasgow underground carriage is being advertised for sale. Read the story & see the ad at: https://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/coming-up-in-issue-243-of-hr-for-sale-glasgow-tube-car/

Hope it's of interest

 

Listed on eBay.
Two grand starting price. A contender for Peter Snow perhaps?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232875321986?ul_noapp=true

 

Pop it in the car park at @flying scotsman123 's student halls?

 

I've moved into a house now, might be able to squeeze half of it in the back garden, not sure the neighbours (or indeed my housemates!) would be too impressed though...

 

Oh I don't know so much, how many students could you fit in it

 

MK1 Miniature Buffet S 1885 For Sale

Swanage Railway is selling Miniature Buffet S 1885 (RMB) built 1953, (as TSO M 3764) BR York

1885 was converted from TSO M 3764 (lot 30079, diagram 93) to RMB diagram 99 by the Swanage Railway’s C & W volunteers and given the next number in the 18xx series, the last BR built RMB being 1884. It has 44 seats, vacuum brakes, steam heat and is fitted with B1 bogies.

Interested parties should contact the General Manager for more information.

 

Unusual move. Is Swanage abandoning on train buffets?

 

Swanage have never been keen on ontrain buffets, management over many years have always looked on it as a loss of 20 seats, emphasis on bums on seats!

 

Think its fair to say a lot of Heritage railway trips are a straightforward return with a potter around at one end... ? to which end do people take their buggies and prams with them because they need to ? or because abandoning them on the platform doesn't seem a good option, whereas a secure buggy park at the point of departure ( a static CCT in a bay platform perhaps) might alleviate that problem a little ?

 

Depends on the line I think. Somewhere like South Devon, for example, that has the Otter and Butterfly centre at one end, people will want to take their buggies if starting the opposite end to wheel the little one around there? Likewise North Norfolk - people at Sheringham going to Holt and cycling back, or people from Holt going for a wander around Sheringham... Depends entirely on what a Railway has to offer in itself and the local area.

I've always maintained the view that a Railway ins't just about the ride - it's the atmosphere too. How it came about, what it did in the heyday... all freight wagons played a part but (understandably so) get overlook for projects as they aren't big earners. Possibly why so many end up in private ownership?

 

I think to be honest you're probably wasting your time trying to create a secure buggy park - as someone that's been through the "buggy years" with our kids, you'd have more luck persuading me to leave my coat somewhere secure on a sunny British summer day than parting us with the buggy/pram. They tend to be become something of a life support system - its somewhere familiar for the kid to sleep, its a way of restraining them when they otherwise want to run screaming up and down the train, it carries all the "stuff" that apparently has to be transported around with kids "just in case" (spare nappies, clothes, snacks, drinks, wipes)

 

Leave the kid IN the chair in the buggy park, and thus have a nicer ride.....?

 

Tempting but the cost of soundproofing a CCT might be prohibitive!

 

So if the buggy wielding punter is someone we want to keep coming - but don't want at my end of a TSO ta-very-much, then a CCT / Syphon isn't the answer unless you put a lot of extra windows in. What you want is non gangway, open Something like a Mk1 suburban lavatory composite, with half the seats missing and floor clips instead...