Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Useful to know - my interest (as one who is more accepting of the Mk1) is in how the factors balance.

 

For what it's worth, all of the comments reproduced here about appreciating vintage style carriages from the general public I have heard almost exactly the same applyied to Mk1s. That's not to say the general public wouldn't appreciate the difference when presented with them side by side, but it does suggest it's not a deciding factor as to whether to visit or not. The general state of the carriages is far more important. A well turned out Mk1 with nice varnished wooden veneer panelling, early style upholstery etc. can have the general public being very complimentary totally unprompted.

 

Sadly, not always what it might be. It's not just other railways but all tourist attractions which are competed against.

 

Precisely - which is where there's a question about whether Mk1s are the differentiator, or the condition of the coaching stock

 

Given equal condition and cleanliness the Mk1 will lose out every time. As an example of the best the Southern Railway declassified 2nd class in "birdcage" sets to 3rd. Try one of these if you get the opportunity.

 

I will. However, when with the family, your statement of fact is not always true - my wife refuses point blank to sit in the LNER TTOs at the NYMR because of the effect they have on her back. An Mk1 (TSO, not Corridor) on the other hand, she can manage.

This may have something to do with the titanium in her back, however...

 

Weigh her in, and upgrade to first class?

 

He’d get more were it steel in her back ;-)

Tom

 

I take it that you do not like MK 1 coaches then?
An awful lot of heritage railways would be in a lot of trouble if Mk 1 coaches not been made available for preservation from the late 1970's.
The Isle of wight was unique that it only ever had second hand pre national coaching stock.

 

Not sure how you worked that out. I've always found @Paulthehitch a complete enigma with closely guarded opinions who plays his cards very close to his chest, and I have never been able to be completely sure what his opinion is on Mark 1 carriages ...

Tom

 

He must be distracted by the big chuffer on the front ...

 

IMHO they are both samey and dull., They are what is to be found on the vast majority of lines, adding nothing to diversity

 

They're carriages, not endangered Condors.

 

Totally agree. The IOWSR is a joy to visit, knowing you are guaranteed not to riding in yet another MK1.

 

There were a fair amount of pre nationalisation coaches available in the 1970s too. However most railways took the easy option of buying ready to run MK1s from BR, rather than restoring ex departmental wrecks.

The IOWSR chose to do it the hard way. Partly out of necessity because MK1s wouldn’t fit the IOW loading gauge. However they have considered other options such as buying class 205 trailers I believe. They are to be congratulated on their efforts, and are now basically a working museum rather than just a steam railway.

 

If diversity concerns you, I know of a Mk1 that identifies as an LMS open saloon.

 

The thing is though, vintage coaches almost ARE as endangered as condors. As PH has pointed out many times, it's much harder to build a replica wooden-bodied coach than a replica loco, because historically, they were usually built from critically-endangered hardwoods which are no longer available. So, once these coaches are gone, they're gone forever.

It's hard to fault railways for taking thr easy way out and buying up Mk 1s when they were readily available - every railway has limited resources, and above all, it depends what volunteers are willing to work on. Nevertheless, it's a shame that so many beautiful coaches have been allowed to slip through the net over the years, usually with far less protest than the scrapping of a steam loco would have attracted. This is definitely a loco-centric hobby, and I think our heritage railways are the poorer for that.

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Absolutely. The IOWSR is unusual in that the coaches are just as much an attraction as the locos (arguably perhaps even more so).

On other railways the (Mk1) coaches seem to just be treated as a necessity, because the passengers need something to sit in whilst they ride behind the steam loco.

 

How many would have had anything to run in the early days if they didn't?

I know preserved lines still had some novelty value in the early 70's, but I can't imagine it being easy to persuade people to part with their cash to stand around in an ex-mess coach with boarded windows while it creaked and groaned it's way up an old branch line. The alternative being run no trains and hope people keep putting money in the bucket for the first few years while you restore the first couple. The IOWSR was in the unique position that the ex-main line stock that was coming to them straight out of service, was pre-grouping.

The IOWSR is one of my absolute favourites in terms of heritage railways, the coaches are a big attraction for me as an enthusiast and I think the hobby is a lot richer for having such a large and varied fleet saved. However it's not like the average holiday maker has a overwhelming choice in steam railways once you're on the island. I've got no doubt they appreciate the rolling stock when they're there but it would be a jump to say the average tourist is choosing the IOWSR over another line because of them.

 

Yes obviously lines had to use Mk1s in the early days to carry passengers The point is they came to rely on them, and so priority was then never given to restoring their older coaches

The Mid Hants for example had quite a large collection of SR and LSWR coaches in its early days. They then virtually all got scrapped or sold off as the Mk1 fleet grew.