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Southern Railway - Bulleid 1482 Open Third (built in 1950)
Richard Salmon

This coach, built to a Southern Railway design by the newly formed British Railways, worked both as a "loose" vehicle and allocated to various "sets", including one for the Waterloo to Southampton Docks Ocean Liner trains, and later another used for London-Dover-Margate trains.

It was withdrawn by the Southern Region in 1966, and transferred to the Scottish Region for three years' further use, after which it remained as a mess facility at Bellahouston Carriage sheds, Glasgow. Its presence there was notified to the Bluebell by our friends at the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, and we were able to buy it.

After arrival on the Bluebell in March 1973 it ran in its Maroon livery until after Easter that year, and then was out of traffic for a heavy overhaul until 1976, when it re-entered service as part of the five-coach Bulleid set formed for the return to traffic of Bulleid Pacific "Blackmoor Vale". In 1996 another major overhaul commenced, this time concentrating on the complete replacement of the external steel sheeting and window frames, the idea being that it would be easier to do this before the coach's condition became too poor. The interior has been thoroughly overhauled at the same time, and the coach should be fit for at least another 25 years of service. It now has fixed tables fitted to enable it to take the place of a Mk.I TSO in one of the Bluebell's front-line service sets. It re-entered service, as seen in the photo above, in June 2000.