Cornish Riviera 1960 Carriage Formation & Numbers

[Brinkly]

Hi everyone,

 

I'd like to build a full length Cornish Riviera train over the summer - it is part of a very long-term project.

I know the carriages were in chocolate & cream livery and the RSO & RF will need to be built from Comet parts.

 

I understand from the old Model Rail article (from 2008 I believe) that the 1961 formation was as follows: 

BSK SK SK SK RSO RF FK CK BSK SK BCK

 

Is this formation correct for the summer of 1960 and does anyone know the carriages (numbers) allocated to this service?

 

Many thanks in anticipation.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[gwrrob]

Nick, forum members Robert Carroll and Chris F should be able to put the flesh on the bones of this question.

[chrisf]

I see my name is being taken in vain again ...

 

It is pure luck that any details of train formations have survived.  The late Rick Walford was a close observer of coaching stock happenings and had a particular interest in dining cars.  Much of what he recorded appeared in the Railway Observer so  we are not entirely high and dry.  By convention the Riviera got first dibs when there was new stock so many of the coaches that were recorded as running in it later turned up elsewhere - cascading, as the jargon goes.

 

There were, of course, two Riviera sets, because of the length of the journey.  The RO tells us the formations as recorded in December 1957, which is the nearest I can get to summer 1960.  It also tells us how the Riviera was formed a year earlier and it is by no means the same!  So here goes for December 1957:

Set 1 - BSK 34809, SKs 24367 and 24579, Diners 9624 and 9615, FK 13197, BSK 34831, CK 15110, BCK 21145.

Set 2 - BSK 34303, SKs 24331 and 24357, Diners 9623 and 9618, FK 13198, BSK 34791, CK 15604, BCK 21143.

 

21143 was working in an Ocean Liner set by 1958 - see what I mean by a state of flux?

 

The Riviera did not get its Mk 1 RUs until 1961 [1903 and 1904] so the ex-GW diners would have stayed with it until replaced.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Chris

[Brinkly]

I thought you would know @chrisf Thank you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[chrisf]

Nick

 

If you are modelling a set as running in summer, be mindful that the formation was different on Saturdays.   I don't have access to the summer 1960 cwp but according to the 1961 equivalent on Mondays to Fridays it was BSK, 3 SKs, GW dining pair, FK, CK, BSK to Penzance and SK, BCK detached at Plymouth.  On Saturday the main train ran to St Ives and conveyed an extra SK at the end, plus SK, BCK, SK and BCK for Penzance.

 

Chris, who doesn't spell his name with a @ [can't be doing with this twitter nonsense]

[Brinkly]

Thanks Chris. 

 

So what was the Saturday formation running from Newton Abbot to Plymouth?

 

BSK SK SK SK RSO RF FK CK BSK SK BCK + SK

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

[chrisf]

What you say, plus SK, BCK, SK, BCK.  The catering vehicles are still of GW parentage and are described as Second Dining Saloon and Kitchen First.

 

Chris

[Brinkly]

During the summer Chris, were the two Plymouth coaches detached at North Road still, or did they go down to Cornwall too?

 

Regards,

 

Nick

[Flood]

Excerpt from 1960 Paddington Station workings:

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Flood

[brianusa]

As a spotter in the glory days, it never occurred for us to be concerned with anything other than loco centric facts, names, numbers and perhaps shed.  Most of us thought all coaches were equal except for the obvious and the number in the train more important.  Sad to think, "its only the Riv" dismissed any interest.

     Brian.