Bluebell Railway recover LBSCR balloon coach

Well, sadly only significant fragments rather than the whole thing...

Reported in the Bluebell newsletter that parts of a Lavatory Brake Second of 1906 vintage were recovered from a garden in Crawley. It became 3815 in SR days, was downgraded to 3rd class and grounded in Ifield in 1940. After the war, the current owner's grandfather acquired sections of the coach for use as a garden shed, which is how it ended up in Crawley. It is thought to be the only known survivor of a Brighton "balloon" coach, at one time such a familiar feature of the line.

The plan (still early days of course) is that the surviving sections will be put on display at HK.

Photos:

(*) In situ as garden shed
(*) Schematic showing which sections of the original survive (though this photo is a first whereas the recovered vehicle is apparently a second).

Tom

 

It may only be fragments, but a very significant find nonetheless. Perhaps, in the very distant future, they might be incorporated into a "reconstruction" (a la the L&B coaches), or even used as templates to assist the construction of a complete replica. Wouldn't that look good behind the Beachy Head? Well, a man can dream...!

 

Sadly, I fear that such tiny bits mystify rather than enlighten the uninitiated and only reinforce the notion that railway enthusiasts are "a bit weird" and hoard junk! The world can be very unfair.

 

I've no idea what the ultimate idea is. But I could imagine a "partial" restoration, either fully restoring one side while leaving the other in "found" condition; or fully restoring one end and moving through progressively less work to "found" at the other end. As such, it could serve to illustrate both the ultimate fate of many such vehicles and how we obtain them; and schematically illustrate the steps necessary to restore a coach to running order. Of course, such a scheme would depend on finding space for permanent under cover storage...

As for an eventual reconstruction: it's a nice dream. At the very least, by preserving the remains now, such a possibility is not ruled out for the future, even if that future is 30 or 40 or 50 years hence. Had the garden shed just been sent for scrap, any remaining archaeology would have been lost.

Tom

 

Some more information and photos about this carriage are here: http://www.early-lbscr.co.uk/balloon/balloon.htm

I'll leave anyone interested to read it themselves, but it shows - even if a reconstruction isn't possible - the archaeological value of such finds, with areas where even on a comparatively modern carriage, the evidence on the ground contradicts the published diagram book.

Tom