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South Eastern Railway Drawing Room Car 33
Rebuilt in 1919 as Pullman Kitchen First "Constance"

Type: Drawing Room Car (Hastings Car Train)
Built: (Gilbert Car Co.) 1891
Original No: 33
Later: "Constance" (Pullman Schedule No 89)
Seating: 20 First Class, as Pullman
Length:
Weight: 25 Tons
Withdrawn: late 1920's
Preserved: 1997
To Bluebell: 1997

In 1891 the South Eastern Railway assembled at Ashford Works six "Gilbert Cars" built at Troy, USA, to form the "Hastings Car Train". These six cars were rebuilt in 1896, and in fact were then advertised to the press as brand-new for the second time! The rebuilding included enclosing the vestibules at the ends of the coaches and the fitting of gangway connectors and Stones Electric Lighting in place of the original accumulator system.

Left: One of the surviving marquetry panels.

In 1919 the Pullman Car Company found itself committed to running new Pullman Trains on both the SECR and the GER. New vehicles under construction could cope with the GER traffic, but to service the Boat Trains for the SECR the Pullman Company purchased the six "Hastings Cars" along with the contemporary "Folkestone Cars". All were rebuilt (in minor ways) and turned out in Pullman Lake Livery (not umber and cream) for the SECR services, and ran until the late 1920s.

The car we have was "SER Drawing Room Car 33", which became a third-class car in 1896, and Pullman Car "Constance" in 1920 as a Kitchen First. The other kitchen car, "Carmen", was destroyed as a result of the Sevenoaks derailment of 1927. The coach body has been part of a building, and had been cut in half, with the metal internal truss-rodding also cut. However, the body is generally in excellent condition, still with 25-Tons Tare plates on both ends, and with much of the Marquetry panelling still intact inside. It has been placed on an ex-SR Bulleid underframe temporarily, and has been tarpaulined over. Its restoration would probably involve the replacement of the current wooden integral underframing with conventional bottom-sides and a steel underframe. The body still shows signs of the 1920s all-over lake livery, complete with the Pullman lining and crests.