4449 the story

Good guess but wrong!

 

great photos

 

Give up? It's the La Ports Tank Wagon chassis, which was restored with a Grey timber platform, and used as a weedkiller wagon for many years. It was the 3rd item to arrive on the MHR, after the Slough Estates No3, and the Bagnall. Why was it dumped in the carpark? Firstly, it just arrived without anyone knowing it was coming. There was no track to unload it onto, so it was dumped in the station carpark. Then it was winched across the carpark, and we built a ramp off the top of the dock, out of anything we could find, down to ground level. It was then winched down from the top of the dock, down to track level, where it stayed for quite a while!

 

This wagon was built for the LMS railway.

 

Ron Hack's bus no doubt

 

Does it still survive?

 

i doubt it....

 

It does, rebuilt in late 2000s to be a 1 plank open wagon M460001, nice job they made of it to.



Picture Source: http://preservation.watercressline.co.uk/stock/view/m460001-open-wagon

 

The wagon can be seen in this demonstration freight run in 2010 at around 1:00 in this video:

 

On behalf of us in the wagon group I thank you!

 

Me too! Great to see it survives, when so many coaches went to the torch!!

 

I hope it will be recorded that it was the first piece of rolling stock to arrive on the Mid Hants in late 1976.

 

What happened to this one?

 

And this one?

 

The LNER one is now chassis only on the Mangapps line as the body was too far gone to save http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1045

And the SR Brake Van should be still on the railway http://preservation.watercressline.co.uk/stock/view/s55506-sr-brake-van also http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=7756

 

Like most coaches, when it arrived it was not too bad, but wanton neglect caused it's demise. At the time it looks as though it was the last complete example, but there is supposed to be a body in store.

Strike another one for the MHR C&W dept, pre?200?


If you go on today's Coach page on the MHR site, it's empty. Maybe there soon wont be any coaches to mention?

 

Agreed, there is sadly woeful neglect of coaching stock at many railways, but that means we should name and shame the worst examples so something can be done.

There are no more sidings full of old coaches left, . and railways parking an old coach up the headshunt, waiting for it to rot away is not an option. So every one is now a valuable item, and with a still growing number of preserved railways, the need for passenger stock is increasing.

Maybe, one day we will be building Mk1'a again, on old chassis.

 

The thing was these coaches were acquired to get them back as passenger coaches from the departmental condition as there wasn't hardly any MK1 coaches for sell, and the ones that were available went for a lot of money as there was a greater demand than supply, but then the MK1 flood gates opened why spend time and money on a incomplete coach when you could buy a coach yesterday, have it supplied today and bums on seats tomorrow. Yes the owner of the bums were complaining to the NYMR at one stage that when they went there for a day out behind a steam engine they didn't want to go in the same blue and gray coaches that they went to work in as they hadn't been even repainted before they were pressed into use.

 

I can't remember any Mk1's in service at the MHR in Blue Gray, other than some Mk2's. after my time. The Wine and Dine set was repainted in Blue Grey as a quick temporary job so they were tidy, but the daytime sets were all repainted in various old BR regional colours. as they arrived from BR.

At that time a lot of the privately owned stock was being worked on like 4449 and the LSWR Buffet Car, but then something happened in the late 80's, and everything went to pot, and now everything is effectively starting over, with only two Bullied's and rakes of unloved MK1's.

I have no idea what has gone on down there in the intervening years while I was mainly in Poland, but it seems they are recovering the coaches from a very low point.

The Goods stock is mainly in very good order, which is very nice to see as they are normally left to rot too.