Difference between revisions of "GNR 2701 Composite Corridor"

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{{Infobox carriage
 
{{Infobox carriage
|image      = LNER_2701_20150307.jpg
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|image      = GNR_2701_20190723.jpg
 
|caption    = GNR (LNER) Corridor Composite No 2701
 
|caption    = GNR (LNER) Corridor Composite No 2701
 
|construc  = GNR Doncaster
 
|construc  = GNR Doncaster
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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, while in 2004 the [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries|SVRA raffle]] 'Bums on Seats' raised around £8,000 in aid of 2701 and [[LMS 7511 Restaurant First Open]].<ref>SVR News 149</ref> 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>Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey</ref>.
 
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, while in 2004 the [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries|SVRA raffle]] 'Bums on Seats' raised around £8,000 in aid of 2701 and [[LMS 7511 Restaurant First Open]].<ref>SVR News 149</ref> 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>Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey</ref>.
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
File:2701_pre_restoration.jpg | 2701 before the start of restoration in 2001
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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
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2701_1st_class_seat_back.jpg | Making a first class seat back in 2006
File:GNR_2701_Award_20150707.jpg | HRA award 2009
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GNR_2701_Award_20150707.jpg | HRA award 2009
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LNER_2701_20150307.jpg | 2701 in 2015
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  

Revision as of 13:57, 14 November 2019

GNRGreat Northern Railway 2701 CompositeCarriage having more than one class of seating, ie First and Third or latterly First and Standard. Corridor
GNR 2701 20190723.jpg
GNRGreat Northern Railway (LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway) Corridor CompositeCarriage having more than one class of seating, ie First and Third or latterly First and Standard. No 2701
Built By GNRGreat Northern Railway Doncaster
Status Operational
Number 2701
Other numbers LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway: 2701N, 42701
BRBritish Rail or British Railways: E42701, E42701E, CC157,
DE321089, 041593
History
Built 1922
Designed By GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941
Diagram 164K
Type CK
Length 61ft 6in
Weight 32t 16cwt
Seats 21 first, 24 third
1958 Converted to camping coach
1964 DepartmentalRolling stock used for the railway’s own functions (engineering etc.) rather than for general passenger or goods traffic. use
1994 Entered preservation
2008 Entered service

Carriages

GNRGreat Northern Railway 2701 was designed by Nigel (later Sir Nigel) GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941 and built at Doncaster in August 1922 to GNRGreat Northern Railway Diagram 164K as one of a batch of ten ‘Vestibule CompositeCarriage having more than one class of seating, ie First and Third or latterly First and Standard.’ carriages (the LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway generally used the term ‘Vestibule’ when describing corridor stock).[1] It is a Corridor CompositeCarriage having more than one class of seating, ie First and Third or latterly First and Standard. (CK) seating 21 first class passengers in three and a half compartments and 24 in four third class compartments. It is the oldest of the 'GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941 Teaks' on the SVRSevern Valley Railway, being the only one built before the LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway came into being in the 1923 grouping.

GNRGreat Northern Railway 2701 in service

The carriage was involved in a collision at Retford during its first year of use, but survived and was returned to service.[2] While in passenger-carrying service it was renumbered on a number of occasions. On grouping in 1923, the newly created LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway initially allocated a suffix to each carriage number based on the area of origin and accordingly 2701 became 2701N. This system proved unsatisfactory and in April 1925 the suffix was replaced by a numeric prefix, with 4 being the Great Northern section, resulting in a new number of 42701. On Nationalisation in 1947 BRBritish Rail or British Railways in turn allocated a regional prefix to its newly inherited carriage fleet based on the area of origin with E being the Eastern Region, resulting in E42701. Finally the introduction of the BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mk 1 stock in the early 1950s saw all carriages given a regional prefix to indicate the area to which the carriage was allocated (with E again being the Eastern region) and the letter denoting the pre-Nationalisation area of origin becoming a suffix, resulting in the final number of E42701E.[1]

It remained in passenger carrying service until 1958 when, together with sister carriage No 69, it was converted at Stratford to a camping coach, renumbered CC157, and stationed at Mundsley until closure in 1964. It was then transferred into DepartmentalRolling stock used for the railway’s own functions (engineering etc.) rather than for general passenger or goods traffic. stock to be used as a Divisional Engineer Messing and Sleeping Coach for which it was given the number DE321089. Finally it was transferred into Internal UserRolling stock used for the railway’s internal purposes (stores etc.) at one fixed location. stock as number 041593, serving as a CCE Staff and Workshop coach.[3] Its long and varied career on "The Big Railway" ended c1980 at Boston serving as the painter's bothy.

GNRGreat Northern Railway 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 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.

2701 was purchased in 1994 by The LNER (SVR) Coach Fund from Stoneyford Lodge, with a view to restoration. The move to the SVRSevern Valley Railway was achieved by Allelys with the aid of a lorry, two cranes and some difficulty. A video of the move can be seen here The Big Lift Initially there was some confusion over the identity of the carriage; the SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book 9th edition describes the carriage as “Our example, assumed to be No 69…” and lists it as such[4].

Filming took place in October 2000 for an episode of the 2001 TV series “ Off the Rails” featuring Vince Henderson. The restoration of GNRGreat Northern Railway 2701 was one of the items featured. In 2001 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £84k towards the cost of restoration, while in 2004 the SVRA raffle 'Bums on Seats' raised around £8,000 in aid of 2701 and LMS 7511 Restaurant First Open.[5] GNRGreat Northern Railway No 2701 entered SVRSevern Valley Railway service in July 2008, being formally launched into service on 16th August of that year by Mr Tim Godfrey, a grandson of Sir Nigel GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941. It was declared the overall winner in the Heritage Railway Association Carriage & Wagon competition 2009[6].

In late 2014 2701 received an overhaul and revarnish at Kidderminster Carriage works, being released to traffic in time for the start of the 2015 season.

Early in 2016, a principal supplier of 24 Volt LED lamp bulbs introduced a 40 Watt equivalent "golf ball" style bulb, the installation of which would improve lighting levels and reduce power consumption. A public appeal raised sufficient money to replace all of the lamp bulbs in the LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway carriages of set N. The electrician reports that since the replacement, Set N has required very little top up charging from battery chargers as the dynamos are now able to supply sufficient current to charge the batteries (as they should).

In March 2016 the LNER (SVR) Coach Fund donated 2701 to the SVR Charitable Trust for long term safekeeping.

Sometime over the Christmas Bank Holiday 2017 2701 was one of two coaches vandalised at Kidderminster (the other being GWR Corridor Third No. 1146). [7]

See also

List of carriages

References

Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey
LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway (SVRSevern Valley Railway) Coach Fund

  1. 1.0 1.1 Longworth (2018) pp.175,368.
  2. LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway (SVRSevern Valley Railway) Coach Fund
  3. Longworth (2018) pp. 368, 474, 476.
  4. SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book 9th Edition
  5. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 149
  6. Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey
  7. https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/bridgnorth/2017/12/26/historic-severn-valley-railway-carriages-vandalised-by-yobs/

Links