LNER Beaver tail observation saloons, what's happening with them ?

A sad loss, Brian was a gentleman and a great supporter of the RVP and TPO operations.

 

Don't know if this really ties in with the thread but it is about LNER carriages so I'll go ahead anyway.
Has any railway that have LNER coaches ever thought of painting them red like they were in the last days of steam?
Including the Beaver Tails [like the GC has].
Only it would be quite interesting to see both liveries "side-by-side" as it were.

 

One of them, 1719 is presented in that livery (and its later, rebuilt appearance:
There's also the Thompson Lounge/Buffet car 1706, currently in BR blood and custard.
Several other LNER carriages have been presented in BR livery, mostly prior to full restoration. However, would you want to paint over varnished teak? Particularly at the price it costs?

 

Isn't the North Norfolk Railway's intention to outshop their planned teak set in BR livery?

 

The Gresley buffet car there is in blood and custard, the beer out the hand pumps tastes the same as the livery too, it’s bloody awful.

 

E9124E has carried blue & grey, maroon and blood & custard during its preserved career.

E9123E has carried maroon and blood & custard, although incorrectly carries its earlier number 24279 with an E prefix.

E1211E has been restored to blue & grey.

To name just three.

 

I hadn’t heard of 1211 before, so just looked it up. Great to see a historic sleeper vehicle being restored in it’s own right, as a museum exhibit for people to appreciate. So many just get pressed into use as volunteer accommodation, and then scrapped.

 

What a glorious looking Sleeping Car. Sadly, I presume it no long exists?

 

That is 1767, apparently scrapped in 1990.

 

I would imagine that as many lasted long enough in BR service to carry blue/grey (which amazes me), that any livery from their lifetime would be appropriate.

 

I liked the buffet in polished teak but totally buy the argument that the difficulty in sourcing enough teak/fake teak for the LNER rake of which the buffet is the only restored componant and the additional maintenance time required to maintain teak stock (when they have a teak quads and GER BTK (not yet restored) rake plus pigeon van and M&GN 129) makes blood and custard a more practical proposition. I also think a full rake in blood and custard will be unique - do you just not like the beer or does it need to be kept better?

 

I think the B&C buffet looks ace to be honest! Blood and custard looks good on anything.

 

... apart from when the chef has had an accident all over your Raspberry ripple...

 

We're going well O/T from the Beavertails now, but there's a beautifully-preserved pair of Gresley sleepers at the National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin; they are displayed with A4 No. 60008. One of them has been fitted with rather crude "armour plating" (I think it's actually plywood!) to try to recreate its wartime appearence, the other painted in an approximation of BR maroon livery. The interiors look as though they have barely been touched since they left BR service - even the doormats stamped "BR-E" appear to be original.

 

They certainly didn't look like that when I was there back in June 2011......

 

Regarding the beer It really needs to be kept better, I’m guessing the lines need to be cleaned a little more? More than happy to give any help or advice to the M&GN society if they ask, it might be award winning, it’s certainly not for the beer.