GNR 436

Copied from the LNERCA's Facebook page - I'm surprised that it doesn't seem to have been shared here yet


'Great Northern Railway 12 wheeled Brake Third Open Dining no. 436 built 1901

This carriage has previously been unrecorded on the Railway Heritage Register. It has come to light as the property it is located at is currently going through change of ownership. The new owner contacted the Bluebell Railway via Facebook.
On Sat 4th January members of the LNER Coach Association, LNER Society and GNR Society went the survey the carriage. Sadly, it is in poor structural condition and will be difficult to move. It was cut into 2 halves to move to site upon withdrawal in 1924, the none brake end has little floor left and lots of missing roof. Amazingly it has many picture frames complete with photographs and many original features.
The LNERCA can find use of many fittings from it to help with the restoration of East Coast Joint Stock Dining Car 189, however in light of the historical significance of this carriage (Howlden clerestory, 65’ body, 12 wheeler), we would be interested to hear from anyone who would like to save it. The LNERCA does not have resource or capacity to take this on. The best option would be to cut the body into sections to remove from site and put into store.'

https://www.facebook.com/263887476964057/posts/2927960293890082/

https://twitter.com/LNERCA/status/1220027105569918977

Clearly it would be a daunting restoration challenge but surely, this one is too special to be allowed to slip away?

 

Sadly nobody was able to take this on as a project. Many avenues were explored but the condition and tight timelines made this impossible. Component recovery took place on Saturday 8th Feb. The body is being dismantled and the owners of GNR Luggage Composite at North Cave are going to take away much of the body framing. They are also hoping to save the ends including the guards duckets and restore those as a feature.
Teak panels, internal panelling, doors, partitions and fanlight fittings have been recovered and will go into the restoration of 2935, ECJS 189 and GNR carriages at Quainton.
Very sad but with 95% of the underfloor teak frame rotted away to nothing, cant rails and clerestory rails rotten you would have been looking at a complete new build using the remaining good bits. Plus half an acre of rain forest to provide timber for the underfloor framing.
What would the cost have been £500k, £600k, more? That’s just for the body, still a chassis to modify, lengthen/shorten/build from new.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

It is a shame that the coach will no longer exist as a complete entity, however it sounds as though almost everything that could be salvaged has been, so at least the material will live on - and it will help other coach restorations, which is obviously good news.

The real tragedy of it is that the body wasn't discovered twenty or thirty years ago, when the deterioration would have been less advanced and perhaps a preservation attempt might have been more feasible. But it is no use crying over spilt milk!

 

Makes you wonder how many more such beauties are "out there" unknown to us preservationists........... As MuzTrem and Wavey have highlighted 436 has "donated" parts to other more fortunate carriages out there.

 

These kind of projects appear from time to time when a body becomes available as a potential project. Everyone involved in vintage coaches soon knows as there is a emailing list that we are all on, but the thing is that those doing restorations nearly always have their hands totally full with any existing projects they are working on so can't take on anything new, due to lack of space, time, money etc.

If you already have 20 years of work to finish what you have, what is the point of acquiring something else, that you will never get round to ? so that realism kicks in and nobody is interested, other than perhaps salvaging a few fittings.

What is needed is new individuals to take a project on. From what I can see, many people are just now solely armchair enthusiasts. They check the facebook page, the steam magazines, the forums, take a few photos, but they aren't practically involved at all.

 

Soryry, straying well away from the original topic but since you have raised the point...

The problem is that there are more barriers to getting involved than there used to be. I guess it has always been difficult for people in their 20s/30s/40s because traditionally they have spent this period of their life raising a family. However, there was once a time when you might be able to take early retirement and devote lots of time to a preservation scheme while you were still reasonably young and fit. Those days, I suspect, have gone forever.

Since the financial crash, incomes have been squeezed in real terms - it is therefore harder for people to donate to restoration projects, and for them to make the financial commitment of regularly travelling to a preservation venue to get involved in a project. Because the job market is more competitive, young people stay in education longer, which exacerbates the financial squeeze. (I speak from personal experience on that one!) Very often, they will need to volunteer in their chosen sector before they can even get an entry-level job - so unless they happen to be pursuing a career in carpentry, carriage restoration won't be their top priority for volunteering time. And since our economy is now geared toward white-collar jobs, you'll find much fewer young people with the right skills to offer. My secondary school dropped woodwork from the curriculum altogether!

Staying in education longer means they will probably marry and have children later than previous generations, and because house prices are now higher in real terms it will be harder for them to get on the housing ladder - so that's another financial squeeze. When they do get a job, it is more likely now to require evening or weekend working - so that eats into the times when working parties would traditionally have been organised. The retirement age will be higher by the time they get there - if they can scrape together enough of a pension to retire at all.

Sadly, I don't have the answers to these problems. But if we are going to get more people involved - especially the younger generations - then these are the problems we need to recognise and address.