The 'Wells Fargo' Blue Pullman Standby Set...

[dibber25]

I worked with Charles Long for several years. Charles was ex-Pullman Car Co, and a noted authority on all matters Pullman. I seem to recall him telling me that all Pullman sets were extremely fluid as cars were frequently inserted/extracted from formations and switched around when required for overhauls etc. I have always assumed that the basis of the Blue Pullman standby set was the set which had previously formed the South Wales Pullman. It would be logical that at least some of the cars came from that set as: they were already on the WR when the Blue Pullmans arrived and they would otherwise have been redundant. Surely the Wells Fargo name would have been used for any BP replacement set regardless of which Pullmans were in it? The 'Castle'-hauled set in the picture above dated 1961 is almost certainly a stand-in for the Blue Pullman. In addition to the fourth car being Diamond/Daffodil Bar, the cars either side of it have the rectangular lavatory windows which means they have come from former 'Golden Arrow' use on the Southern Region, the windows having been squared up to match the 1951 Festival of Britain cars. Several of the cars from the BP stand-in set were broken up at Long Marston. I have a table lamp from one of them. Unusually, it is unmarked but I was told it came from third class car No. 75.  (CJL)