Gresley Buffet Cars in the 70s

[Phill Dyson (onslaught832)]

A pic of W9135E here in 1977 : http://web.ukonline....8-YK-270377.jpg , does anyone have any links to more blue/grey pics :icon_question:. I have a Ian Kirk 7mm Gresley Buffet kit which will be modified to the blue/grey era western region one when I get round to it .

 

Cheers Phill

[Blackthorn]

Thanks for posting that link Phill. The buffet car looks in better shape than the 31!

 

I just found this thread and I have an interest in buffet/restaurant/kitchen cars. I wondered if anyone knew if any of these Gresley cars were preserved? The blue/Grey livery really doesn't suit it IMO.

 

Cheers.

 

Mark.

[Phill Dyson (onslaught832)]

Another pic, this time E9129E at York in 1973 : http://www.traintest...sley-buffet.jpg & E9115E at Peterborough in 1976 :

Phill :icon_thumbsup2:

[Phill Dyson (onslaught832)]

Thanks for posting that link Phill. The buffet car looks in better shape than the 31!

 

I just found this thread and I have an interest in buffet/restaurant/kitchen cars. I wondered if anyone knew if any of these Gresley cars were preserved? The blue/Grey livery really doesn't suit it IMO.

 

Cheers.

 

Mark.

Quite a few are preserved Mark, three of them are based at : NYMR, GCR & NNR.

 

Cheers Phill

[Trevor H]

There's a photo on p37 of the latest Modern Locomotives Illustrated (180 - The 47s: Part 1) showing a Gresley Buffet in blue/grey approaching Paddington behind Brush Type 4 D1638 on 1st of June 1968. This apparently an ECS working that would form a departure to Birmingham.

 

Sorry, but the pic's too small to read the coach number

 

Cheers,

 

James

 

Havn't got MLI yet, but pehaps this Jim Binnie pic is the same shot

 

http://diesel-image-gallery.fotopic.net/p62272255.html

[Bob Reid]

.....I wondered if anyone knew if any of these Gresley cars were preserved?

Mark.

 

Probably the largest single group of LNER coaches to survive in preservation. - 14 all in - using the last painted numbers on BR - 9115, 9116, 9118, 9122, 9123, 9124, 9128, 9129, 9130, 9131, 9132, 9134, 9135 & 9195 which is probably testament to how long they lasted in BR Service - the majority being purchased in the mid to late 70s

 

I'll put my neck on the chopping block here and say the last group of them were withdrawn from service by the summer of 1977. There certainly was a clamour for what I believe was the last four, when they became available on the BR Tender List at that time. I had to inspect them all for purchase (of just one - 9132 as it turned out)!

[swhite01]

Probably the largest single group of LNER coaches to survive in preservation. - 14 all in - using the last painted numbers on BR - 9115, 9116, 9118, 9122, 9123, 9124, 9128, 9129, 9130, 9131, 9132, 9134, 9135 & 9195 which is probably testament to how long they lasted in BR Service - the majority being purchased in the mid to late 70s

 

I'll put my neck on the chopping block here and say the last group of them were withdrawn from service by the summer of 1977. There certainly was a clamour for what I believe was the last four, when they became available on the BR Tender List at that time. I had to inspect them all for purchase (of just one - 9132 as it turned out)!

 

 

The following link from the Vintage Carriage trust pages will show locations/Status of the preserved vehicles..http://www.heritagerailways.com/coachdb.html... add LNER and RB in type

 

Hope of interest,

 

Steve W

[Wizard of the Moor]

Havn't got MLI yet, but pehaps this Jim Binnie pic is the same shot

 

http://diesel-image-.../p62272255.html

 

That's the one!

 

Cool! I didn't know that Jim had a Fotopic site.

 

Cheers,

 

James

[Blackthorn]

Thanks for all the additional information. That VCT site will keep me busy for a while. I hope to be in the UK for a little while next year and now I think I have a bit more to squeeze in trying to see some of these buffet cars!

[Nortonian]

Hi,

 

According to my 1976 RCTS Coaching stck book, only 9115, 9128, 9131, 9132 & 9135 were still in service. Non appear in the 1978 version so Bob`s assumption is probably right.

The only LNER Buffet cars shown for 1978 are the two Thompson ones, 1705/6.

 

I see I have 9132 and 9135 underlined.

 

Kindest

 

Ian

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi,

 

According to my 1976 RCTS Coaching stck book, only 9115, 9128, 9131, 9132 & 9135 were still in service. Non appear in the 1978 version so Bob`s assumption is probably right.

The only LNER Buffet cars shown for 1978 are the two Thompson ones, 1705/6.

 

I see I have 9132 and 9135 underlined.

 

Kindest

 

Ian

Hi Ian,

 

You should have these two underlined!

 

I have them both down on multiple occasions up to September 1977 as formed in Liverpool-Newcastle rakes.

 

For withdrawal info - 9135 was confirmed as the last in revenue service and the last sighting date I have is 20/09/77.

 

Thanks

[leopardml2341]

Can I add my two penn'orth ?

 

E9131E was a regular on Sheffield area Merrymakers, or Holiday Preview Trips as they used to be called, in the years upto '77. I had the privelige of riding in it many times as a youngster, often the loose chairs in this vehicle were far more comfortable than the Mark 1 bogied TSOs, and it was easy to get the 'MAXPAX' tea back to your seat without scalding your hands !

[Pennine MC]

Perusing Railway Observers for something else entirely, the July 68 edition mentions W9118E as running on Portsmouth - Cardiffs. It goes on to say that W9135E 'is now blue and grey', implying that 9118 wasnt

[Lambton58]

Interesting thread, but can I go off on a tangent to the end of the train? I think I can vaguely remember seeing exLNER full and composite breaks in service as late as the '70s? Is that correct? There was certainly a full break parked up in a back road at Finsbury Park station as late as 1980-81.

 

Ralph

Lambton58

[Pennine MC]

Interesting thread, but can I go off on a tangent to the end of the train? I think I can vaguely remember seeing exLNER full and composite breaks in service as late as the '70s? Is that correct? There was certainly a full break parked up in a back road at Finsbury Park station as late as 1980-81.

 

Full brakes (BGs), yes definitely Ralph - both Gresley and Thompson variants lasted in capital stock until around 1976/77, although I'd reckon the one you saw at FP would be in either engineers' or intenal use. But very few ordinary day coaches of pre-BR design made it into the 70s - I think I'm right in saying that Thompsons became extinct in 1968 and Gresleys much earlier (probably 1964/65)

[RANGERS]

A colleague of mine has a photo, which he's now trying to find, of one of the survivors in a Sheffield - Skegness rake in the summer of 1977, probably July or August> Although this would have been a service train, it would confirm Leopardml2341's recollections of them on Merrymakers from Sheffield. Presumably the same rakes would have been used for seasonal and special trains.

['CHARD]

Perusing Railway Observers for something else entirely, the July 68 edition mentions W9118E as running on Portsmouth - Cardiffs. It goes on to say that W9135E 'is now blue and grey', implying that 9118 wasnt

...instantly and in one move justifying my retention of said monastral blue & pearl grey 9135 on my '68-set roundy from the previous '76 effort. Awesome! Although with my 'rolling stock austerity' disclaimer in play, she'll only make eceptional appearances when the East Coast diversions over the Waverley Route rule applies.

[jbe]

I think you are probably right....the number rings a bell even after all this time!

 

 

Julian

 

 

Just got home and checked. The vehicle I saw at Fort William was 1705 - one of the Thompson vehicles. I have corrected my original post.

 

Julian

[robertcwp]

I believe the following Gresley buffet cars were blue/grey, but there may have been others too:

 

9122

9123

9123

9124

9128

9131

9132

9135

9195 - this one was to a different diagram.

 

A maroon Gresley buffet is in this Cardiff-Portsmouth train:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2500/3984564006_8f92a84c61_o.jpg

 

I have a couple of photos in my collection, starting with this one:

 

Also, I think E9195E is in this train:

[mark54]

I believe the following Gresley buffet cars were blue/grey, but there may have been others too:

 

9122

9123

9123

9124

9128

9131

9132

9135

9195 - this one was to a different diagram.

 

A maroon Gresley buffet is in this Cardiff-Portsmouth train:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2500/3984564006_8f92a84c61_o.jpg

 

I have a couple of photos in my collection, starting with this one:

 

Also, I think E9195E is in this train:

There are also photos of 9115 and 9129 in blue/grey. As all others were withdrawn before April 1969 it is likely these were the only 10 to receive blue/grey.

 

Robert, I'm not sure that is E9195E as this car had a half window on the corridor side nect to the kitchen door.

http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1007

[robertcwp]

I'm not sure if it is E9195E. Here's a closer view:

Looking at it again, it looks more like a normal Gresley one, but it's hard to tell.

[AberdeenBill]

Hi Ian,

 

You should have these two underlined!

 

I have them both down on multiple occasions up to September 1977 as formed in Liverpool-Newcastle rakes.

 

For withdrawal info - 9135 was confirmed as the last in revenue service and the last sighting date I have is 20/09/77.

 

Thanks

 

9135 was something of a celebrity(?) for me. It was a frequent visitor to the Bournemouth area in the early 1970s on excursions and I actually rode

in it :-) on a Sunday Merrymaker excursion that did the Central Wales line in about 1972 (route: Reading, Birmingham New Street, Shrewsbury, Swansea, Severn Tunnel and Reading...). There must have been an overtime(?) day in South Wales, wich was absolutely heaving with freight-train activity. Thirty-seven years ago, sigh...

 

Bill

[RANGERS]

As well as being the last pre-nationalisation coaches in revenue service, they were also the last timber framed coaches and thus brought the curtain down on 150 years of coach design and construction.

[Bob Reid]

As well as being the last pre-nationalisation coaches in revenue service, they were also the last timber framed coaches and thus brought the curtain down on 150 years of coach design and construction.

 

The two Thompson Buffets as mentioned by Pennine earlier hold that distinction, beating the last of the Gresley Buffets, one (at least) lasting until 1979, thank to the efforts of BR Scottish Region.

 

This thread has a bit of deja vu for me so trawling the old RMweb turned up this; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8462

 

There's probably some other info about the Gresley RBs on the old forum as well that a search or three might turn up!

 

I had a quick look at the prospect of converting a Hornby Maroon RB into the BR Blue version with the later body changes however it's not likely to be the easiest of jobs - Hornby's glazing apart from being near impossible to remove without breaking it, has the sliding light frames pre-painted onto the surface - in maroon of course - I may well still give it a try, if this could be resolved and as the secondhand example I have is something of a "second" having two small sink marks in the moulding on the outside of the body. You only have to live with the incorrect profile!

[robertcwp]

The two Thompson buffet cars were built in 1948 so date from the BR era, albeit to a pre-nationalisation design. More than half of the Thompson stock was built post-nationalisation, though it continued to be turned out in ersatz teak until Spring 1949, apart from 1948 experimental liveries. A similar situation to that with the final coaching stock designs of the other Big Four companies.