BR/WR Inspection Saloon W80970W

Hello,
I am mildly suprised for the asking price of BR/WR Inspection Saloon W80970W Offered thrugh the G&W Ry. I wonder how many pepole in this economic climate have over £60K for a vehicle that can be used on heritagerailways? And it still require some remedial work. I must stop wearing my rose tinted glasses and live in the real world....If it does not sell would it get scrapped?


NIck

 

not for £60k.. maybe scrappie will give £6k.
It does amaze me how people in the hobby view their scrap yard relics worth..
At the end of the day they may have saved it, restored it and spent hours on it.. but unless it has either:

a. profit potential
b. emotive potential
c. spare parts potential..

it's not worth that much more than scrap... as after all.. it was scrap when preserved.. because it wasnt worth any of the 3 above.
For £60k.. it must be profit potential as an inspection saloon doesnt have much in emotive potential and isnt worth much as spares.

 

More like perception of the law of supply & demand perhaps?

You are not going to get many opportunities to buy one of these!

Compare with NG steam locos where a few tens of pounds would buy one in the 1950's/early 60's but a large 5 fig sum is needed to secure one now - that is if you can even find one for sale.

SG rolling stock with traffic earning potential is already well up the value appreciation curve - but perhaps not yet to the extent being asked here as witnessed by its continued availability despite several months advertising.

 

Yes but if you are going to spend £60k on something, it has to contribute something, and the problem with these saloons is they have very limited capacity and no brake controls at the ends. So using it as a Devon Belle equivalent (as Paignton do) won't get you much in premium fares, and its no use to somewhere like Didcot as a propelling lead vehicle as there is no brake facility. I know some lines have something like this as a luxury private hire carriage to be tacked onto trains for private groups, but the nature of these is slightly difficult because the space is divided equally between the two ends with the corridor and compartments in the middle - leading to a party being split between the ends. That said having slept in the Midland version at Dawlish, they make decent enough camping coaches!

 

We had a bit of a discussion on this in one of the Bluebell threads, the bottom line being that the kind of service we could run with the LNWR Obo (72 seats plus brake) simply wasn't viable with a BR pattern inspection saloon with half the seats. A Pullman observation car, as at Swanage, also has limited seats, but at least it has a cachet that enables charging a premium fare. The problem with the BR inspection saloons is they have too few seats to run as a self contained single coach train, but not much cachet to charge a premium as tail traffic on a regular service.

Tom

 

The NYMR runs both the GW and GN saloons very successfully for private hire parties, and the GN saloon is even worse in some respects as its accommodation is split between three areas, although it does have the advantage of a gangway at one end, making it more versatile in use. I suspect that at this asking price someone is being hopeful, if it were 20-25K it would go very quickly.

 

But they work well and are popular for private party hire (usually with catering) with both SVR Kidderminster based versions regularly out as special workings or attached to ordinary service trains.

 

Worth noting, although I make no comment as to the sense of the asking price, that the SVR seems to operate its two Obbos with financial success. They seem to be out a great deal of the time, mostly on the back of service trains but seeing one out on its own is not a rarity. Then again, I do not know how much the SVR paid for them, if it did, how much it pays the owners for their use, if it does, and how much they spent on restoration/overhaul, again if they did.

 

Assuming no maintenance, transport, finishing.. and a preserved railway without it's own, with a 20 day pa demand and willing to give you £750 a day for using it..
maybe 10 years.

 

Yes-ish. £750 per day sounds high to me, judging by what I believe our special saloons get hired out for. One of our members was trying to sell a fully-restored LNWR Semi-Royal saloon, in running order and with considerable prestige / cachet, for I believe £65,000, and so far has been unable to sell it for railway use - he has had offers from people who want to ground the body and turn it into a holiday let but he is not willing to sell it for that purpose. (This vehicle: Bluebell Railway Carriages - 806)

Tom

 

I will avoid any reference to previous ownerships, locations etc of this particular Saloon prior at acquisition by its present owner and related discussions. I have though queried the £60K and although I cannot produce evidence it would appear that this is not far from a realistic valuation. Obviously its value if the owner has to sell is what the scrap man will give for it, but their are also various fixtures and fittings that would make a few bob at a railwayana auction. Clearly the present owner has had various contracted work undertaken on the carriage at Carnforth and possibly elsewhere which will have cost a few bob. Then of course all the other out of pocket expenses the owner has had such as rent, road haulage etc. Thus, when all is taken into account £60K is less than the present owner has expended on it and presumably he wants to recover what he can from his investments.

There is nothing to say it will end up on a heritage railway anyway. It would not be the first time that a carriage like this has become a static garden summer house for someone for whom £60K plus a few more K for remedial work is loose change.

 

Perhaps the Bluebell is underselling its Special Saloons. With canny, non-enthusiast advertising and your location in the money district of the UK I can't see you having too much of a problem selling an Obbo's services at that rate. For the record, I have no idea how much the SVR charges.

 

How many passengers is that for?

 

Presumably there is an upper limit, but if you pay the money you can bring as many as you want from 1 upwards.