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Southern Railway - 2462
Gangwayed Bogie Luggage Van (GBL) - body built in 1931, underframe in 1910.
The photo shows the van before the replacement of its wider doors. Richard Salmon

Some old 49' and 51' LSWR carriages were rebuilt and lengthened onto new underframes (as with No.320 in our collection). The old underframes were themselves given a new lease of life, also lengthened, and used to build these large luggage vans.

In 1939 this van became part of casualty evacuation train No.34 as a "stretcher van". Returning to service as a luggage van in 1945, it entered departmental service in 1961, loosing its gangways and receiving extra-wide doors, as DS70141, for the use of the Power Supply Section at Horsham.

On arrival on the Bluebell it was initially returned to traffic as a kitchen car for our dining train. We have re-instated the gangway connectors and rebuilt the doorways back to their original width, and the vehicle is now usually to be found at Horsted Keynes serving as an exhibition space, but is occasionally used as part of a "van train". It is well cared for, with annual winter maintenance work now progressivly replacing the worst of the external planking.

Type: Gangwayed Bogie Luggage Van (GBL)
Built: body: SR 1931, underframe: LSWR 1910.
Number: 2462
Other numbers carried: S2462S, DS70141
Length: body 53' 5" (56' 11" overall)
Weight: 28 Tons
Brakes: Vacuum
Withdrawn: August 1961
Preserved: 1981
To Bluebell: 7 September 1981