GWR 98 Full Brake

From SVR Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
GWRGreat Western Railway 98 Full Brake
GWR 98 DavidRouse.jpg
GWRGreat Western Railway Full Brake 98
Built By GWRGreat Western Railway Swindon
Status Static use
Number 98
Other numbers W98, W98W
History
Built 1945
Designed By CollettCharles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941 / HawksworthFrederick Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1941-1948
Diagram K42
Lot 1665
Type BG
Length 57ft 0in
Weight 28t 5cwt
Seats None
1978 Entered preservation

Carriages

As with the earlier ‘Snake C’, the GWRGreat Western Railway Gangwayed Full Brake (BG) has no passenger seating but features a central Guard’s compartment with luggage compartments at each end, while a side corridor allows passengers to pass through the carriage.[1]

Service

No 98 was built at Swindon to Diagram K42, a late CollettCharles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941 design of which the first examples date to 1937, although by the time No 98 was completed in 1945 as part of Lot 1665, Frederick HawksworthFrederick Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1941-1948 had succeeded CollettCharles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941 as Chief Mechanical Engineer.[2]

At Nationalisation in 1947, BRBritish Rail or British Railways added a W prefix to the carriage number to denote its GWRGreat Western Railway origin. Following the introduction of BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mk 1 carriages in 1951 the W prefix was used to show the allocation to the BRBritish Rail or British Railways Western Region, with a W suffix denoting its GWRGreat Western Railway origin.[3]

After use on passenger services this class of carriage usually ended service life either gutted for DepartmentalRolling stock used for the railway’s own functions (engineering etc.) rather than for general passenger or goods traffic. use transferring components between works or, as in the case of No 98, being used for parcels traffic.[1]

Preservation

GWRGreat Western Railway 98 in Bewdley DownIn reference to the direction of travel means away from the major terminus (i.e. towards Bridgnorth on the present day SVR) Yard, April 2015

No 98 was purchased from Manchester Red Bank Sidings by The GWR 813 Preservation Fund, arriving on 1 June 1978 still painted in BRBritish Rail or British Railways blue livery.[4] It was used on SVRSevern Valley Railway trains in 1978/79 and as Santa's Grotto in the early 1980s. By 1981 a number of other railways had begun to offer facilities for parties with wheelchairs to travel in a suitably modified coach, leading to the Great Western (SVR) Association setting up a project to do the same. No 98 was initially considered for this purpose but GWR 9055 Nondescript Saloon was eventually chosen instead.[5]

In 1984 it was used as the ticket office at the opening of Kidderminster Town station, prior to the construction of the station building.

No 98 subsequently served as a workshop at Kidderminster.[6][1]

No 98 is now kept under tarpaulins in Bewdley Down Yard where it is used as store and workshop.

See also

List of carriages

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book Ninth Edition
  2. Harris (1966) p. 154.
  3. Longworth (2018) p.8.
  4. SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book Seventh Edition
  5. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 63
  6. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 66

Links