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London, Brighton & South Coast Railway 949
Stroudley 4w Brake Third (built in 1881)

Richard Salmon

Type: 4-wheeled Brake Third
Built: (Midland Carriage & Wagon Co.) Sept.1881
Number: 949
Seating: 30 3rd class
Length: 26'
Withdrawn: 30/6/1911
Preserved: 1998
To Bluebell: 17/5/1998

This coach body, together with that of its companion No.676, is owned by the Bluebell Railway Trust. Together with our Stroudley First, No.661 and Third No.328, they will form a complete LBSCR train dating from the same period as our two Terriers, also designed by William Stroudley.

It was rescued from a farm near Cranleigh where it had been used as a storage shed since soon after the World War I. Originally oil lit, one lamp illuminated all three passenger compartments, which didn't have partitions above the tops of the seat backs.

A suitable Southern Railway van underframe has now been shortenned to carry this body. The underframe, formerly belonging to SR CCT No.2411 (later DS 70249), has had 6 feet removed from its length. Restoration work commenced in July 2004 after completion of No.661, but it could be at least a decade before we see a complete Stroudley train with a Stroudley engine, which will then form the oldest standard-gauge train in the country.