Refurbish the Hawksworth Saloon
The Hawksworth Saloon is saved and back home on the West Somerset Railway. Now she needs refurbishment before she can carry passengers again. Please help us bring her back into service.
Follow her restoration on the saloon's own website: hawksworthsaloon.co.uk
Her story
W80976W is an inspection saloon: a carriage built so railway officers and engineers could travel the line and see the track ahead through her large end windows. She was designed by Frederick Hawksworth, the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, to Diagram Q13, Lot 1701. She was used as the Taunton Inspector's Saloon, the name some people may still know her by.
She was completed at Swindon in 1948, just after the railways were nationalised, and in 1949 she was at work on the Minehead branch. That makes her part of this line's history for more than 75 years.
The West Somerset Railway Association bought her in 2011. In 2012 she was given an extensive restoration that kept her original underframe and bogies and returned her to British Railways (Western Region) chocolate and cream.
Recent years
- 2022Loaned to the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway for three years.
- 25 Jul 2026Returned by road to Bishops Lydeard.
- 4 Aug 2026Hauled to Minehead by D9526.
- Autumn 2026Heavy rain revealed more work than expected. She was sheeted over and moved into covered storage to stop further damage.
Why she needs your help
Since she came home, a closer look has shown that the saloon needs far more work than we expected. The repairs will cost significant amounts of money, well beyond what the Association can meet from its everyday budget.
The work needed includes:
- Windows: some windows have started to leak, and some of the wooden droplight windows need replacing.
- Body panels: rust is deforming some panelling, which needs to be treated, reformed and resealed. The outside panels need refixing and preparing for a repaint.
- Passenger saloon: some panels need replacing with the correct material.
- Woodwork and doors: there is some damage to repair.
- Toilet: the wooden panel finish and the green joint strips need restoring.
- Guard’s compartment: the paint finish has failed and needs redoing.
- Retractable step: the mechanism, including its lock, has been damaged.
Once this work is done, we aim to return her to service on the West Somerset Railway in 2027.
Every donation goes into the Hawksworth Fund, a restricted fund that can only be spent on this saloon. Should more be raised than the work needs, the balance will support the WSRA's other carriages.
Donate to the Hawksworth Saloon
Give once or every month, by card or Direct Debit. If you are a UK taxpayer, you can add Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.
Other ways to help
Join the WSRA
Members keep projects like this going year after year, and get the Journal and news from across the railway.
Leave a gift in your will
A legacy, large or small, helps to protect the West Somerset Railway's historic carriages for the next generation.
Talk to us
Prefer to give by cheque or bank transfer, or want to help in other ways? Call 01823 433856 or email info@wsra.org.uk. Restoration news and photos are on hawksworthsaloon.co.uk.
West Somerset Railway Association, registered charity 1041901. The Railway Station, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton TA4 3BX.