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London & South Western Railway - No. 494
Side-corridor 3rd (built in 1911)


LSWR Corridor Third 494 with Fenchurch - Richard Salmon - 13 July 1985

494 with 'Fenchurch' at the 25th Anniversary Cavalcade (Richard Salmon, 13 July 1985)

This coach, an early example of a corridor-connected vehicle, was built to Drawing 1872 for the top express services from Waterloo. It was displaced from this onto second-line duties by more modern vehicles in the 1920s, and on withdrawal from passenger service was converted into a camping coach. From 1964 it saw use first as a mess coach at St. Blazey, then as a wagon control office at Westbury until September 1974.

Information to enable an authentic reconstruction of the interior is available from two sources: a contemporary book, the relevant chapter of which was written by LSWR carriage supremo Surrey Warner, and a coloured leaflet showing cross-sections of the vehicle. Structurally it is in fairly poor shape, but corridor partitions to the correct design have been obtained for it.

It remains an important part of our collection and our future plans, but restoration is currently in abeyance until other projects have been completed. On 29 March 2018 it became one of 15 heritage vehicles then housed in the new 'Operation Undercover 4' storage shed at Horsted Keynes.

LSWR Corridor Third 494 - Mike Esau
Type: Corridor Third
Built: 1911
Original No: 494
Other Nos: SR: 673, BR: S673S, S39S, W39S
Seating: 64 3rd class
Length: 56'
Weight: 28 tons
Withdrawn: 1953
Preserved: 1975
To Bluebell: 1 July 1975

Photo: 494 on arrival at the Bluebell (Mike Esau)


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