LNER 643 Buffet

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LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway 643 Buffet
643HY.jpg
643 at Highley in July 2011
Built By LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway York
Status Operational
Number 643
Other numbers LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway: 9131.
BRBritish Rail or British Railways: E9131, E9131E
History
Built 1937
Designed By GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941
Diagram 167
Lot 761
Type RB
1977 Preserved on SVRSevern Valley Railway
2014 Re-entered service

Carriages

Interior view of LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway Buffet car 643.

643 was designed by LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway CMEChief Mechanical Engineer Sir Nigel GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941 and built at York in 1937 to diagram 167. It is a 'Vestibule' Corridor Buffet Car and as built had seating for 24.[1].

Service

643 was one of six built for Great Eastern section excursions and cross country expresses, and is believed to have been used on fast five coach Liverpool Street-Cambridge services (known colloquially as "Beer Trains"). In common with other GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941 buffet cars of the period it had electric cooking facilities powered by large axle driven dynamos (or landlines when stationary) with an attractive art deco interior finished in Rexinean early form of vinyl used by the LNER for wall coverings in teak coaches; in this case gold and red. Loose seating was provided in the form of tubular chromed chairs.

In November 1943 the LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway renumbered its LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway-built carriage stock and 643 became 9131. At Nationalisation in 1947 BRBritish Rail or British Railways initially allocated a 'region of origin' E prefix, replaced in the early 1950s by a prefix showing the region of allocation and suffix showing the region of origin, resulting in a final number of E9131E.[2] Sometime during the late 1950/early 1960s period it was extensively rebuilt with gas cooking, enclosed bar, and MK 1 style grey Formica interior decor, in which form it survived in BRBritish Rail or British Railways ownership until 1977.

643 in preservation

643 arrived on the SVRSevern Valley Railway shortly after withdrawal by British Rail in 1977 and in their then current livery of blue and grey. It was initially purchased for the SVRSevern Valley Railway by Messrs. Gardner Shaw, a Brierley Hill soft drinks firm.[3] Following arrival it was quickly restored externally to varnished teak livery, and saw service (with one largely cosmetic intermediate overhaul) until being withdrawn to be comprehensively restored over 4 years by LNER Coach Fund volunteers to original internal and external condition in 1987. Just before withdrawal, it was one of the coaches used in the filming of the television series Hannay. It subsequently ran for a short time with the original loose chairs, but proved much more popular with passengers after these were replaced with BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mk1 second class "2+ 1" seating.

By 1998, ownership had been passed to SVR(H).[4] 643 returned to service in April 2014, following a 4 month visit to the paint shop.[5] In early 2016 ownership was transferred to the SVR Charitable Trust, and 643 regularly forms part of Set N, the LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway & GNRGreat Northern Railway Teak carriages.

See also

List of carriages

References

Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey

  1. Longworth (2018) p. 259.
  2. Longworth (2018) p.175.
  3. SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book Editions 7 (1980) and 8 (1990)
  4. SVRSevern Valley Railway Stock Book 9th edition
  5. SVRSevern Valley Railway News Winter 2014 - Kidderminster Carriage Notes

Links