London, Chatham & Dover Railway: No.51
Brake 2nd (built in 1889)

Body exposed by removal of the bungalow built around it, August 2003
(Malcolm Saker)

Type: 4-wheeled Brake Second, later Brake Third
Built: 1889
Original No: 51
Other Nos: Brake 3rd: 285 (1897), SECR: 3360 (in 1901)
Seating: 30 2nd class, later 3rd class
Length: 26', Wheelbase: 15'
Original Weight: 10 Tons
Withdrawn: 1925, after use for hop-pickers specials, as No.14
Preserved: 2003
To Bluebell: 3 September 2003

After withdrawal, like many other such carriage bodies, it was sold, without its underframe, for use as a domestic dwelling in Ashington, Sussex. It was offered to the Bluebell when no longer required by its owner, and recovered during August and September 2003 by a team of volunteers (seen in the photo on the left dismantling the bungalow which surrounded it). It retains the unusual LCDR pattern of guard's ducket (lookout) at the end on one side.

A suitable underframe is available, and will have to be modified in a similar way to that used for other 4-wheelers, by cutting a section out of the end, and re-positioning the wheels, brake-gear and internal structure.

The coach is now stored under a tarpaulin at Horsted Keynes, sitting temporarily on the underframe of DS 1309, a former LSWR van.

This coach joins another identical LCDR brake, No.114, which has now been restored to its original condition, Full Third No.668, six-wheeled Brake Third No.48, and possibly further coaches, to form, we hope, a complete train of LCDR vehicles.