A good collection of Mark 1 suburban coaching stock

Where could I find a good collection of BR Mark 1 Suburban Coaching Stock? Which heritage railway(s) have a good collection?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thank You

 

Keighley and Worth Valley Railway have, I recall, at least two sets of BR Mk1 Surburban stock. A look at the Vintage Carriages Trust carriage database at www.vintagecarriagestrust.org will give you the location of others.

 

North Norfolk also have a collection with one representative of each surviving type. BS, S, CL and SLO. The BS is in traffic, the SLO under restoration and the CL and S in store awaiting restoration.

Steve A

 

I think the the Tanfield and the Epping and Ongar also have examples of this type of coach.

Regards
Chris:

 

I think the the Tanfield and the Epping and Ongar also have examples of this type of coach.

The Tanfield people would be horrified to read that! However there are (I think) three examples at the N. Tyneside, and others at Llangollen.

 

Do Llangollen still have theirs ? I thought they moved on.

 

Apologies, a senior moment there you are quite right it is the North Tyneside.

I think there were three that went there from the Bluebell?

Regards
Chris:

 

Weren't there some on the MHR at one time?

 

The Strathspey has some but the condition of them must be very poor these days.

 

Would it be inappropriate to ask why you ask the question Mr. Funk? Not antagonising, just being nosey

 

Yes the KWVR have a good set - 3x Brake Seconds, 1x Composite Lav, At least 1 SLO (I think we have 2), Loads of S types. (Im a Guard at KWVR). I just wish we used them more. I just wanted to see if other railways used their suburbans much.

 

No reason, Just out of interest, as you don't see many about it is mostly TSO's

 

The Bluebell had some, but they were disposed of twenty or thirty years ago. I believe the large number of doors made them a maintenance liability, so the decision was made that if we were going to restore non corridor coaches, they might as well be wooden ones of greater heritage interest in the context of the Bluebell's core mission.

Tom

 

That is a big shame!

 

By disposed of, I mean sold, not scrapped - AFAIK they still exist.

According to the Bluebell website:

That was written 1995 - no idea where they are now.

Tom

 

That is good news I suppose. I must pay them a visit one day.

 

That's a rather grudging "I suppose" - surely it is a good think if Railway X decides it doesn't have the resources to maintain an item, that it sells it on to Railway Y who can maintain it, rather than letting it fester in some siding somewhere?

Tom

 

Yes -

E43012 (Lavatory Composite) Now on the Llangollen Railway
E43116 (Second) Now at the Whitwell & Reepham railway station
E43161 (Brake Second) scrapped after leaving the MHR
E43190 (Brake Second) Now at Quainton Road railway station
E46069 (Brake Second) Scrapped for spare parts in 1983 on the MHR

 

The Llangollen railway has 3 mark one suburbans , one of which no. 43012 re-entered service last Saturday after a comprehensive overhaul.
All seats have been re-upholstered, all woodwork varnished & the compartment pictures replaced.
It has also been re-painted in a red livery.
The group have now started work on one of the other two vehicles, the object being to have the set available for off-peak use.

Bob.

 

Below is 43012 at Llangollen. As Bob said it re-entered traffic last weekend after a restoration, done entirly by volunteers.

I think this is the only vehicle in this early livery?? I know of the Fibreglass prototype sub at ESR being in Green, but the rest are in plain maroon. Is this correct??