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File:GNR_2701_Award_20150707.jpg | HRA award
File:2701_1st_class_seat_back.jpg | Making a first class seat back
add service and preservation headings, gallery in date order
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}}GNR 2701 was built at Doncaster in August 1922 as one of ten carriages to Diagram 164K. It is a Corridor Composite (CK), seating 21 first class passengers in three and a half compartments and 24 in four third class compartments. The carriage was involved in a collision at Retford during its first year It is the oldest of usethe 'Gresley Teaks' on the SVR, but survived to become being the only one built before the LNER No 42701, and BR E42701E. It remained in passenger carrying service until 1958 when, together with sister carriage No 69, it was converted at Stratford to a camping coach and stationed at Mundsley until closure came into being in 1964. Following transfer to departmental stock its long and varied career on "The Big Railway" ended c1980 at Boston serving as the painter's bothy1923 grouping.
==GNR 2701 in service==
The carriage was involved in a collision at Retford during its first year of use, but survived to become LNER No 42701, and BR E42701E. It remained in passenger carrying service until 1958 when, together with sister carriage No 69, it was converted at Stratford to a camping coach and stationed at Mundsley until closure in 1964. Following transfer to departmental stock its long and varied career on "The Big Railway" ended c1980 at Boston serving as the painter's bothy.
==GNR 2701 in preservation==
2701 was then purchased by the landlord of the Plough Inn, a few miles away at Swineshead. Following a difficult road transfer involving a lorry and two cranes [http://www.lnersvrcoachfund.org.uk/boston_lift.html recounted here] it was to be converted to a dining room, but the project failed to gain planning permission. Despite an attempt to preserve it in Norfolk, 2701 was moved to another pub at Stoneyford Lodge in Derbyshire, also with the intention of use as a dining room, but this time the adjacent open cast mine was extended over its intended site.
Filming took place in October 2000 for an episode of the 2001 TV series “[[List of film and TV productions filmed on the Severn Valley Railway#TV Documentary | Off the Rails]]” featuring Vince Henderson. The restoration of GNR 2701 was one of the items featured. In 2001 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £84k towards the cost of restoration, and GNR No 2701 entered SVR service in July 2008, being formally launched into service on 16th August of that year by Mr Tim Godfrey, a grandson of Sir Nigel Gresley. It was declared the overall winner in the Heritage Railway Association Carriage & Wagon competition 2009<ref>vintagecarriagestrust.org</ref>.
<gallery>
File:2701_pre_restoration.jpg | 2701 before the start of restoration in 2001
File:2701_1st_class_seat_back.jpg | Making a first class seat back in 2006
File:GNR_2701_Award_20150707.jpg | HRA award 2009
</gallery>
