On 25 April 2010 Dave Clarke, a volunteer in the Bluebell's Carriage and Wagon Department, ran the London Marathon (all 26 miles 385 yards of it) to raise funds for the restoration of this coach. He completed it in 4 hrs 29 mins and 23 secs. Our congratulations to Dave, and our sincere thanks to those who have already sponsored Dave; the total raised so far is in excess of £1000.
It is not too late if you would still like to sponsor Dave or support the project; please download and complete the sponsorship form here. If you would like to support the restoration with a larger sum of money, through Gift Aid via the Bluebell Railway Trust, please use this Gift Aid / donation form.
If you have difficulty opening these PDF forms, choose to "download" rather than simply clicking on the link. You should then be able to open the file with Adobe Acrobat.
Maunsell Dining Saloon No.7864 at Horsted Keynes just prior to entering the shed to dry out before receiving its new tarpaulin (Dave Clarke - 20 May 2008)
Built to provide an at-seat dining service on the Southern's principal expresses, this coach would, in addition to serving its 24 first class passengers, have also served 56 in an adjacent third class saloon coach. Withdrawn upon the suspension of dining services towards the end of the second world war, upon reinstatement in 1947 it was one of four modified as buffet cars, meal service being provided to seated passengers in an adjacent composite (first and third class) dining saloon. In 1951 it was used on the Bournemouth-Newcastle service, in conjunction with dining saloon 7841 (1365), also preserved on the Bluebell.
It was purchased by the Bluebell to provide static catering at Sheffield Park station, and it served in this role, undergoing some modifications in the process, until 1981. It is now the subject of a fund-raising exercise to raise the money for its overhaul and restoration to use in its original form for our train of Maunsell coaches. The body is in extremely bad condition with much of the structure having been affected by rot, and the interior will have to be reconstructed almost from scratch.
The photo left shows what the interior of this coach would have looked like when built, and the photo below shows its current condition.
With enough funds raised over recent years to pay for the removal of asbestos, we now have a target of £100,000 to raise before the restoration of the coach itself can be commenced. If you would like to contribute a small regular amount to the fund raising, a Standing Order donation form is available to download from here in pdf format. Alternatively, if you wish to donate a larger sum under gift aid arrangements, this may be done through the Bluebell Railway Trust - please indicate that the donation is towards the 7864 project.
Reasons for restoring 7864 and potential uses:
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© Copyright April 1995 and May 2009 by Richard Salmon, photos by Dave Clarke.