Recent visitors to the railway may have noticed a very smart new addition to our chocolate and cream rake of carriages. This is the latest carriage to emerge from the Carriage and Wagon work at Winchcombe. Ronald Woodruff has put together the following article and supplied some excellent before and after pictures which illustrate the great efforts involved in restoring a carriage. Indeed this is considered the most complex and difficult restoration taken on by the department.

Brief History

This Brake Second Open carriage was built at the BR Doncaster Carriage Works in March 1956, it was numbered 9276, it was the last one of lot 30176 which was a build of 77 carriages. It was one of the twenty that was allocated to the Western Region, the remainder went to Eastern Region. By 1978 it was based in Scotland and was used on the Aberdeen to Inverness service.

In 1980 British Rail decided to introduce a trolley service to attract customers who might not have walked to the buffet car. Conversion to a Micro Buffet entailed the removal of a seating bay to provide standing area, the installation of a recessed counter and the removal of the toilet to provide a steward's washing area and a store. A total of 17 BSO's were converted to trolley service, and replaced Mk1 RMB's. SC9276 was converted in Perth in 1980, and was renumbered BSO (T) 9000 in 1982. SC9000 was allocated to Cowlairs carriage shed in Glasgow in December 1983 and was in regular use on the West Highland Line. In August 1984 it was reallocated to Polmadie carriage shed, also in Glasgow, where it continued to operate on the Glasgow-Oban and Glasgow-Fort William routes. It remained in regular service till October 1985, when Mk 2 BSO(T)'s with electric heating were phased in. From then until March 1987 it would have been a spare carriage with limited use. It was withdrawn the following month, as part of the plan to eliminate steam heated carriages from service.

SC9000 is recorded as being in storage in July 1987 at Thornton Junction in Fife. It was purchased by Peak Rail and commenced a slow journey south. By December 1987 it had reached Toton Yard near Nottingham, where it sustained some vandal damage. It arrived at Matlock in August 1989 where it remained till December 1990 when it was moved to Darley Dale, where it was put in to long term storage. It was purchased by a consortium of C&W members in 2000 and arrived at GWR in the same year. Restoration began in 2008 and was completed in July 2010.

Restoration

When SC9000 arrived at Winchcombe, several of the windows were missing, the carriage was wet inside and full of junk, so our first priority was to make the carriage waterproof and clear it out. This entailed working on the roof, windows and doors. All ten doors were virtually scrap as they had either been heavily rebuilt or had been replaced with doors from an EMU. The building and fitting of new doors took some considerable time and skill.

Once under cover in the C & W shed, in 2009, restoration commenced in earnest. The initial work that had been done in 2000/01 made the saloon and luggage van area reasonably watertight and prevented any further significant deterioration, but the saloon end vestibule and body end were a different matter. Water had continued to get in, the ceiling and floor were rotten, the steel floor support sections were corroded through and the 4 structural body end crash pillars were heavily corroded at the bottom, with the 2 either side of the gangway being almost severed. We therefore removed the gangway before the vehicle came into the workshop. New sections were welded and inserted into the bottom of each crash pillar. Corrosion on the frame sections and panelling below the window in the store cupboard was much worse than that in the saloon, so this section of bodyside was rebuilt. The steel door pillars on the body end side of both doors were renewed completely, with new sections added to some of the others. The body end corners were completely rebuilt. The corroded floor sections were obviously also renewed. The 9000's roof was scraped off, sealed and painted.

Moving on to the interior of the carriage, the seats were removed for re- upholstering, and all tables, lights and other fittings were removed for repairing, cleaning and repainting. The interior panelling was damaged by graffiti and staining from water ingress; its removal allowed access for further treatment and repair of damage caused by water leaks to the frame and body of the carriage. Water damage meant that some of the windows needed to be removed and resealed, and some window sills needed replacing. The interior panelling was replaced and varnished. A new serving counter and end vestibule was fitted. New lino flooring was laid and sealed. The luggage compartment was converted in to seating area for disabled passengers, including a first for us; the installation of a steam heating radiator under the seat in the disabled compartment. The carriage ceilings, guard's compartment, vestibules and passage were painted.

The exterior bodywork was sanded down. Areas of rust were removed, filled or rebuilt, as necessary and treated prior to priming, undercoating and top coating and varnishing. The exterior of the carriage was given a final wax polish and was pulled out of the shed looking resplendent in its new livery as W9000. Following a test run, new brake shoes were fitted, the carriage was passed as fit for service, and it is now running in our chocolate and cream rake, where it is generating many favourable comments from the travelling public.

The restoration of W9000 has been the most difficult and ambitious project ever undertaken by Carriage and Wagon Department. A number of key tasks requiring specific technical skills were completed, but many other jobs requiring more enthusiasm and endurance rather than skill have also been done!  . It just serves to emphasize that, whilst key skills are essential, it's the sum total of everyone's efforts and teamwork that has made it possible to run W9000 once again on a Great Western line.