The SVR (BR) Buffet Car Fund
The most recent SVR Stock Book, the 9th edition of June 1998, credited the SVR (BR) Buffet Car Fund as being the owners of Buffet cars BR 1682 acquired in April 1981, BR 1855 acquired in March 1983, carriage BR 3103 acquired in July 1984 and BR Bar Car 1883 (acquired in November 1990 but no longer resident).
The date on which the Fund was formed was not mentioned in SVR News, but its origins are related to the bar at Bridgnorth. An article in SVR News 63 of Spring 1982, “The Bar Department” by Brian Malyon, referred to the bar as being the base for the on-train drink and light refreshment service, and mentioned BR 1682 being owned by ‘a group of members of the bar staff’. The Bar Department were also responsible for overhauling “…1682, their own buffet car” in 1983[1], while the purchase of BR 3103 in 1984 was “through the efforts of the Bridgnorth Bar Department staff[2].
In spring 1987 the “Steam Snacks” SVRA raffle raised £1,533 for "The BR Buffet Fund" among others.[3] The first formal mention of a Fund was in SVR News 98 in 1990, which credited the purchase of BR Bar Car 1883 as being by ‘The SVR (Bar Dept.) Buffet Car Fund’[4]. However the SVR Stock Book 8th edition of that year referred to the SVR (BR) Buffet Car Fund, as also used in the 1998 Stock Book.