As part of its ongoing commitment to having its fleet of British Railways Mark 1 carriages available for traffic between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead, the West Somerset Railway Association has sent British Railways Mark 1 TSO 4911 across the county for necessary refurbishment and restoration to be carried out. The work will be done by Cranmore Traincare and Maintenance Services on a contractual basis.

Constructed at Wolverton in 1961 4911 is one of eleven carriages owned by the WSRA. Ten of these are B.R. Mark 1’s, including a quartet which make up the “Quantock Belle” dining car set.

There are two other carriage owning groups on the WSR, the West Somerset Railway plc and the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust. The plc also owns Mark 1 vehicles whilst the work of the WSRHT includes the “Heritage Carriages Project” which sees a volunteer workforce at Washford rebuilding Great Western Railway coaches in the workshops. Their current project is “Toplight” number 3639.

The three organisations are working together to ensure that there are enough passenger coaches available to meet the needs of traffic on the WSR, including Gala events, and are co-ordinating activity through the newly formed Carriages Strategy Group. It is planned that there will be a rolling programme of work, both volunteer and contracted, in-house at the WSR and elsewhere, going forward for at least the next seven years.

The costs of overhauling Mark 1 vehicles, which are now in their seventh decade of work, can easily run into six figures and the differing costs of the vehicles being tackled are of course considerable. The restoration programme will ensure however that the WSR has access to a fit for service fleet of carriages for the foreseeable future.