British Railways Standard Steam Stock (Mk.I)
Restaurant Miniature Buffet (RMB) No.1818 - built in 1960

Richard Salmon

This is one of the later Mark I designs, the first example appearing in 1958. Designed to cater for light refreshments in the minimum possible space, in a standard Second Open body-shell, the RMB has about as much display and storage space crammed into the bar area as it is possible to get. Only 16 seats were removed in the initial design (BR Diagram 97) but it was soon found that additional storage was required, and a cupboard replaced another 4-seat bay. All seating bays have fixed tables.

Lot 30520 comprised 12 vehicles for the London Midland Region (M1817-28) and 9 for the Scottish Region (SC1829-37). In keeping with the contemporary social trends of the 1950s, the small 16 seat saloon was set aside for non-smokers. The Lot was built with vacuum braking, steam heating and Commonwealth cast bogies to BR Diagram 99 (Diagram 98 vehicles had BR1 bogies). By 1974, 1818 had been transferred to the Eastern Region and was still so allocated in late 1979. This vehicle was never fitted with electric heating and this may have been a significant factor in its transfer to the Scottish Region and early withdrawal from BR service.

In 2005 it became obvious that 1818, now 45 years old, would need some more serious attention to the body framing, repairs to the cantrail gutters and the window frames rebedding. This it received starting in the latter half of 2005. Following repairs at the South end, the carriage returned to traffic for the Santa trains in December 2005, with a temporary paint-job. It returned to the works in January 2006 and was outshopped later that year. A contemporary report on the work may be found here.