BR 81013 Brake Gangwayed

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BRBritish Rail or British Railways 81013 Brake Gangwayed
BR 81013 20150402.jpg
BRBritish Rail or British Railways Gangwayed Full Brake 81013
Built By BRBritish Rail or British Railways York
Status On hire to KWVR
Number E81013
Livery BRBritish Rail or British Railways Maroon
Other numbers E84013
History
Built 1956
Diagram 711
Lot 30173
Type BG
TOPS code NBV
Length 56ft 11in
Weight 31½T
Seats None
1987 Entered preservation
2011 Bodywork modified

Carriages

The BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mark 1 Full Brake (BG) did not contain passenger seating. The central Guard's area was flanked by large luggage compartments at each end of the carriage. Passengers could pass through the carriage via a gangway along one side.

Service

81013 was built at York in 1956 to Diagram 711 (NB501), Lot 30173. The 'NB' signified a Gangwayed Brake used for BRUTEBritish Railways Utility Trolley Equipment, a wire caged trolley with a low floor developed by BR to replace existing luggage trucks and mail bag trolleys. purposes. The majority of BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mark 1 coaches had underframes 63ft 5in in length but a smaller number were built on 56ft 11in underframes; these were intended for use where the track curvature was too tight to accommodate the longer vehicles.[1] 81013 is one such example.[2]

It entered service as E81013 in the Eastern region in August 1956, unusually carrying unlined carmine livery.[3] It was renumbered E84013 in June 1983 as part of a modification to the TOPSTotal Operations Processing System, an American computer system adopted by BR from the late 1960s to number and manage rolling stock. numbering system, before being withdrawn from service in July 1986.[4]

Preservation

84013 arrived on the SVRSevern Valley Railway from Thornton Fields via Ely on 4 November 1987 having been acquired by SVR(H) in response to a request from Arley for two BGs to be converted for use as Santa's Grottos.[5][3]

It was repainted in winter 1996/97 into its as-new 1957 livery of all over carmine unlined,[6] and received a further repaint in Spring 2002.[7]

81013 came in for another overhaul in August 2011. On this occasion it was decided to remove a number of doors which were not required for grotto use purposes, both to reduce the overhaul time and provide a number of doors for spares. All 18 doors were removed and assessed, with the best 10 being reinstalled and the other 8 retained for use elsewhere. The two redundant pairs of double doors on each side were panelled in with 16 gauge steel sheets, each braced by five horizontal angle bars. The interior of the windows and the blanked doors were boarded over to become flush with the tongue and groove planked walls which were painted white. Later at Arley, the interior was decorated with alpine scenery painted by artist John Austin.[8] It continued in such use until alternative Christmas services arrangements were brought in from 2019.

In 2021 it was overhauled in Kidderminster paint shop, to be converted to a four double-doored generator coach for Steam in Lights trains. Many of the Santa adaptations were reversed with a pair of double doors reverting from a fire escape to standard use. Two further doors were replaced and the remaining eight overhauled, with considerable work on crashpillars, headstocksThe underframe member across each end of a wagon carrying the buffers and coupling. Known as the Bufferbeam on a locomotive., thresholds and gangways. The Guard's compartment was reinstated and internally the lino was replaced and it was repainted.[9]

In 2022 it made its public debut on the Worth Valley Railway to whom it was hired for a Harry Potter-themed event. Its SVRSevern Valley Railway debut was in the November 2022 Steam in Lights trains.[10] A further hire period to the Worth Valley Railway followed in 2023, with the coach returning to the SVRSevern Valley Railway again at the end of October.

It is owned by SVR(H).

See also

References

  1. Wikipedia
  2. Carriage data plate
  3. 3.0 3.1 SVRSevern Valley Railway News 87/88
  4. Longworth (2013) p.191, p.9.
  5. SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book 9th Edition
  6. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 121
  7. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 139
  8. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 176
  9. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 216, Winter 2021, pp. 26-27
  10. Branch Lines, December 2022

Links