BR 25771 Corridor Second

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BRBritish Rail or British Railways 25771 Corridor Second
BR 25771 20160829.jpg
BRBritish Rail or British Railways Corridor Second 25771 (2016)
Built By BRBritish Rail or British Railways Derby
Status In service
Number M25771
Livery BRBritish Rail or British Railways Maroon
Other numbers M18771
History
Built 1962
Diagram 146
Lot 30685
Type SK
TOPS code AA21
Length 63ft 5in
Weight 36T (plate shows 37T)
Seats 64 (48 as built)
1991 Entered preservation
2015 Overhauled and repainted

Carriages

M25771 is a BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mark 1 Corridor Second (SK). The Corridor Second was the most prolific of the Mark 1 passenger stock, with more than 2,200 built. Those in BRBritish Rail or British Railways's Western and Southern regions seated eight per compartment, while those on Midland and Eastern routes seated six per compartment with the seats having arm rests. Early SK examples featured veneered walls, while later batches used Formica laminates. The SKs were an early candidate for withdrawal, being replaced by Mark 2 Open, HST sets and Networker Turbo units[1][2].

Service

25771 was built at Derby in 1962 to Diagram 146 (AA210), Lot 30685. As built it had the 48-seat 'London Midland Region' layout and was fitted with Commonwealth bogiesBR's standard carriage bogie from 1955 to 1963, originally designed by the Commonwealth Steel Company (US) and manufactured under licence in the UK. A heavyweight cast steel bogie incorporating sealed roller bearings and coiled suspension to give a superior ride quality and a speed rating of 100mph., giving a weight of 36 Tons.[3] It was also dual-heated and incorporated design modifications applied to reduce the corrosion which had occurred on earlier batches.

It entered service as M25771 in the London Midland region in February 1962. After BRBritish Rail or British Railways introduced TOPS codes in the early 1970s, a further refinement of TOPSTotal Operations Processing System, an American computer system adopted by BR from the late 1960s to number and manage rolling stock. in May 1983 meant that all rolling stock, locomotives and coaches were required to carry unique numbers. This resulted in the wholesale renumbering of several series of coaches, with CKs in the 25XXX and 26XXX series becoming 18XXX and 19XXX respectively. M25771 was therefore renumbered M18771 from August 1983 (the regional prefixes were taken out of use from around 1986 onwards).[3]

As 18771, the vehicle underwent modernisation at the request of sector-owner Network South East. In addition to painting in their livery, the changes included replacement of the 24-volt tungsten bulbs by short fluorescent 110-volt lights. As the 24-volt reading lamps could not be economically modernised, these were removed and a long plain mirror fitted to cover both missing lamps and the earlier mirrors which displayed the "rival" Inter-City double-arrow logo.[4]

Its last repair was at York works in October 1986. By the time of its withdrawal from service on London-Oxford workings in October 1990 it had covered a further 127,779 miles[4][5][6].

Preservation

By summer 1991, BRBritish Rail or British Railways's Mark 1 fleet had been substantially reduced and opportunities to acquire further examples were becoming rarer. An SVRSevern Valley Railway Board meeting therefore approved the acquisition of a further Corridor Second, which would initially be used to cover for a series of TSOs purchased in 1983-84 and which required consecutive overhaul over several years. Six SKs were inspected in June 1991 at London's Old Oak Common where they had been stored. 18771 was considered the best and was secured, despite strong bidding by several other parties.[4]

18771 arrived on the SVRSevern Valley Railway on 9 September 1991 from London’s Old Oak Common, courtesy of The 75069 Fund. The carriage was delivered to the SVRSevern Valley Railway by 3440 City of Truro which arrived in steam to attend that year’s Autumn Steam Gala.[7] It entered service that year still in Network South East striped livery, before moving to Kidderminster in March 1992 where the owning group sanded and undercoated the vehicle during a one week holiday. New steam heating pipes were made up and fitted at the same time. In early July it moved to Bewdley paint shop where the full-time carriage painters completed the flatting, glossing and lettering as its original identity M25771 in 1960s BR Maroon livery.[8]

M25771 then re-entered service, although still suffering from a wheel flat which was present on arrival and which was not cured until a bogie swap was carried out during a minor overhaul in summer 2003.[9]

By May 2007 it was '10 years overdue for a repaint'[5] and was photographed in poor condition for the Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey.[10] It was then sent to Arley to serve as a classroom during the 1940s event, where it was trapped for 18 months following the 2007 Storm Damage. During that time the batteries went flat, the doors swelled up and seats went mouldy - as Hugh McQuade later wrote "...it basically 'died' ". It was eventually retrieved and put into store, being considered possibly surplus to requirements.[5]

In 2015 the need was identified for a 'spare' carriage to replace vehicles from Set N that were due to be withdrawn in turn for overhaul. M25771 was thoroughly overhauled at Kidderminster Carriage Works, having been photographed there in in May 2015 on Facebook, and outshopped in a later variant of BRBritish Rail or British Railways maroon livery-with maroon ends. Appropriately the interior is typical of latter-day Mk 1, being clad with light grey patterned Formica. The 48-seat configuration with which the carriage was originally fitted has been replaced with a 64-seat configuration (the change dating from the Network South East era?) and the carriage data plate edited accordingly (the plate also shows a weight of 37 tons rather than the 36 tons recorded for Lot 30685).

Following this overhaul, M25771 was used as a stand-in for Set N as intended, and as seen in August 2016 in the main picture (top right). It was chosen also because it had a "strange, untraceable electrical fault that means the lights don’t work if it’s in set M, the MK1 maroons!"[11] Since that time it has been available for operational use as required. It had repairs in spring 2021, replacing worn crash pillars and replacement metal work around the gangway fittings,[12] and emerged in Set M following a bogie overhaul and revarnished paintwork in spring 2023.

See also

References

  1. SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book 9th edition
  2. SVRSevern Valley Railway Charitable Trust
  3. 3.0 3.1 Longworth (2013) pp 9-10, 144.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 SVRSevern Valley Railway News 100
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 SVRSevern Valley Railway News 191
  6. Longworth (2013) p.119.
  7. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 101
  8. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 104
  9. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 144
  10. 25771 on Railway Heritage Register On-Line
  11. Express Points, July 2019
  12. Branch Lines April 2021

Links