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{{Infobox carriage|image = GWR_5804_20170401.jpg|caption = 5804 at Bewdley in April 2017|construc = GWR Swindon|status = Static use|carno = 5804|othernos = 3406, ADW 150304|designed = Collett|diagram = D118|lot = 1510|cartype = [[:Category:Carriage Type BTK|BTK]]|length = 57ft 0in|weight = 29t 17cwt|built = 1934|seats = 32 third (as built)|years1 = 1983|events1 = Entered preservation|years2 = 1991|events2 = Arrived on SVR|years3 = |events3 = |years4 = |events4 = |years5 = |events5 = |years6 = |events6 = }}[[FileImage:Former hospital train at Bewdley Station - geograph.org.uk - 1454701.jpg|thumb|200px300px|right|5804 in Ambulance livery at Bewdley in 2009.]]Collett abandoned the ‘bow-ended’ carriage design in 1933. 5804 is an early example of his later designs, dating from the following year. As built, the Brake Third Corridor seated 32 passengers in four compartments, the rest of the carriage being given over to a guard’s compartment and large luggage area.<ref name=StockBook>SVR Stock Book Ninth Edition</ref> During the Second World War 5804 saw service overseas as a Pharmacy Car in an Ambulance Train.

==5804 in service=====Construction===GWR Collett Brake Third Corridor (BTK) 5804 was built in 1934 at Swindon as Lot 1510 to Diagram No D118. From 1943 to 1946 it was used in an Ambulance Train, numbered 3406. It was then used as a breakdown tool van, Departmental number ADW 150304.<ref>Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey</ref>

It ===Conversion for use in Overseas Ambulance Train 34===In 1944 the GWR provided six ambulance trains of 14 coaches each for use in Europe following the Allied invasion. 5804 was originally purchased one of the coaches selected for preservation this purpose, its conversion for use as a Pharmacy Car taking place in 1983early 1944. Internally the coach was stripped and new partitions installed to create a pharmacy room, dressing room, sterilizing room, two store rooms and arrived on a toilet. The dressing room had a large sliding door to allow easy access from the SVR corridor for stretchers. Sinks in 1991 the pharmacy and sterilizing rooms were fed from Marsh Mills, Plymouth, having been acquired by [[Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC | SVR(H)]]75 gallon tanks installed in the roof. As of May 2015 it is located in [[Bewdley]] car parkExternally, all doors on the non-corridor side were sealed while the corridor side retained one single door and is used as the Apprentice Group Mess Coachtwo double doors. The side facing the public has been painted as livery was matt olive green with a war time Ambulance Cargrey roof, and a large red cross on a white background painted on the other side is in GWR liveryroof and sides. Westinghouse air brake equipment was fitted for use while overseas.

Following conversion, 5804 was allocated to Overseas Ambulance Train 34 where, as the sixth coach in the formation, it was numbered 3406. The complete formation was as follows:{| class="wikitable "!Number !! Description!! Origin |- |3401 || Brake/store/boiler car||GWR Brake Third 5884|-|3402 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2064|-|3403 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2757|-|3404 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2761|-|3405 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2763|-|3406 || Pharmacy car||GWR Brake Third 5804|-|3407 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2765|-|3408 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2767|-|3409 || Ward car||GWR Siphon G 2771|-|3410 || Sitting car||GWR Open Third 4567|-|3411 || Kitchen / mess car||GWR Restaurant 9551|-|3412 || Staff car (Enlisted men)||LMS Sleeper 548|-|3413 || Staff car (Officers / nurses)||LMS Sleeper 551|-|3414 || Brake / stores car||GWR Brake Third 5764|-|}The train was fitted out in July 1944 at the R.A.M.C. depot at Weston Camp, near Derby. The Pharmacy Car was equipped as a miniature hospital with a dressing / operating table and oxygen supply as well as the necessary surgical instruments, drugs and dressings. ===Overseas service===The train left Southampton by sea on 2 October 1944, destined for Ostend in Belgium. A week later it was moved from there to its stabling point at Brussels (Petit Ile) by the 43rd British Ambulance Train Unit. 35 medical personnel were quartered on the train, and a Belgian baggage car was added to provide additional storage, forming a fifteen coach train in service. Ambulance Train 34 saw almost continuous use in October and November 1944, collecting casualties from a railhead at Valkensward, near the Allied front line on the Dutch / German border. The casualties, both Allied and German, were taken to Brussels for treatment in General Hospitals there. At the end of November the train was moved to Amiens in France for the winter. Despite operational difficulties resulting from the freezing conditions, a few operational trips were made between Rouen, Lille and Ostend. March 1945 saw the train stabled at Lille, making several trips to railheads near the Dutch / German Border. In April 1945 the train was stabled at Etterbeke depot, Brussels. The nature of its duties changed to the transfer of casualties from the Brussels General Hospitals to Convalescent Hospitals at Lille and Eekloo, and also to Ostend for repatriation by sea. Ambulance Train 34 was disbanded by the British Army Train Unit at Ostend Quay station on 2 June 1945. It had made 28 operational trips, carrying more than 6,500 casualties. The train was then taken over by the USA Army Transportation Corps, probably for use in repatriating recovered Allied prisoners from Germany to the Channel Ports, before finally returning to England towards the end of 1946.<ref>SVR News 116, "Wartime Service of Corridor Brake Third No 5804" (Adrian Turley)</ref> ==Sources=Post-War UK service===Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey5804 was converted back to a Corridor Brake Third at Swindon and re-entered regular service in February 1947. It ended service having been converted for use as a breakdown tool van, Departmental number ADW 150304.<brref name=StockBook/> ==GWR 5804 in preservation==5804 was originally purchased for preservation in 1983, and arrived on the SVR in 1991 from Marsh Mills, Plymouth, having been acquired by [[Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC | SVR(H)]]. It is located adjacent to [[Bewdley]] car park, where it was originally used as the headquarters of the [[SVR Apprentices|SVR Junior Club]] and is now used as the [[SVR Apprentices]] Mess Coach.  For some years it was located by the car park entrance; during this time the side visible to the public was painted as a war time Ambulance Car. In late March 2017 5804 was moved the other side of the car park, next to the [[List of shops|Sales Coaches]], revealing the other side in a GWR chocolate and cream livery with no insignia. Sister vehicle [[GWR 5883 Brake Third|5883]] is also an SVR Stock Book Ninth Editionresident. ==See also==*[[Carriages| List of carriages]] ==References==<references />

*[http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrustrhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=212 5804 on vintagecarriagestrust.orgRailway Heritage Register On-Line]<br>

==See also=={{CarriageNavbox}} [[Carriages| List of carriagesCategory:Rolling stock in Bewdley Down Yard]]<br>[[Category: Carriage Type BTK]][[GWR 5043 Full Third | Previous Category: Rolling stock owned by SVR(H)]]<br>: [[GWR 5883 Brake Third | Next Category:Featured articles]]