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}}80972 is one of six 52ft inspection saloons (INSP) built at Swindon as lot number 1701 to diagram Q13. It was ordered under FW Hawksworth’s tenure as GWR CME, although it has little visual similarity to his other carriage designs. It entered service in 1948 in what had by then become the BR Western Region . ==80972 in service==80972 was allocated to Shrewsbury, where it spent most of its working life as the District Civil Engineers mobile offices,<ref name=SVR155>SVR News 155 'New Arrivals' (Hugh McQuade)</ref> also referred to as the Area Manager's saloon. It made regular trips on the Severn Valley branch and the Cambrian line, where it was used for inspection duties such as signal-sighting trips by the Shrewsbury District InspectorSalop S&T Department. Traction was normally provided by an Ivatt 2-6-0 'Mickey Mouse's Saloonor a GW Mogul,<ref name=SVR154>Letter in SVR News 154</ref>, although on one occasion it was photographed at Longville on the Much Wenlock branch behind future SVR resident [[5764]].<ref name=SVR155/> When not in use, it was housed in its own shed at Burnt Mill Siding, just on the Severn Valley branch beyond [[List of signal boxes#List of historical Signal Boxes and Ground Frames|Burnt Mill Junction]].<ref name=SVR154/>
==80972 in preservation==
80972 entered preservation in 1973 at the Birmingham Railway Museum (now Tyseley Locomotive Works). While there it made several outings behind 7029 Clun Castle, incuding visits to the SVR. It arrived on the SVR circa February 2006on 13 December 2005, having been bought by Phil and Caroline Swallow, owner of [[SR 34027 Taw Valley]] and members of the [[Great Western (SVR) Assoc.|Great Western (SVR) Association]]. <ref name=SVR155/> It was overhauled before entering service circa March 2011.
{{As of|2017}}, 80972 is used as an Observation Car, normally being attached to the end of a rake of carriages for private hire or ‘cream tea’ specials. For the 2017 Christmas season, it became known as the "Shrewsbury Saloon". It seats up to 23 people and is furnished with armchairs, settees and tables in the two saloons, which are separated by a corridor off which are found a toilet, small kitchen and guard’s office. It is finished in plain BR(W) chocolate and cream livery with no insignia, and is numbered W80972W (BR practice was to include a prefix showing the area to which the carriage was allocated and a suffix for inherited carriages indicating the company of origin).
