GWR 98 Full Brake

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GWR 98 Full Brake
GWR 98 DavidRouse.jpg
GWR Full Brake 98
Built By GWR Swindon
Status Static use
Number 98
Other numbers W98, W98W
History
Built 1945
Designed By Collett / Hawksworth
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 GWR 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]

Contents

Service

No 98 was built at Swindon to Diagram K42, a late Collett 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 Hawksworth had succeeded Collett as Chief Mechanical Engineer.[2]

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

After use on passenger services this class of carriage usually ended service life either gutted for Departmental use transferring components between works or, as in the case of No 98, being used for parcels traffic.[1]

Preservation

GWR 98 in Bewdley Down 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 BR blue livery.[4] It was used on SVR 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] 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

References

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

Links