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Southern Railway - Maunsell 7864 - Restaurant First / Kitchen Buffet

The Maunsell Buffet Car in storage at Horsted Keynes, 5/5/86
Jeremy Ovenden

Built to provide an at-seat dining service on the Southern's principal expresses, this coach would, in addition to serving its 24 first class passengers, have also served 56 in an adjacent third class saloon coach. Withdrawn upon the suspension of dining services towards the end of the second world war, upon reinstatement in 1947 it was one of four modified as buffet cars, meal service being provided to seated passengers in an adjacent composite (first and third class) dining saloon. In 1951 it was used on the Bournemouth-Newcastle service, in conjunction with dining saloon 7841, also preserved on the Bluebell.

It was purchased by the Bluebell to provide static catering at Sheffield Park station, and it served in this role, undergoing some modifications in the process, until 1981. It is now the subject of a fund-raising exercise to raise the money for its overhaul and restoration to use as a Kitchen Buffet car for our train of Maunsell coaches. The body is in extremely bad condition with much of the structure having been affected by rot, and the interior will have to be reconstructed almost from scratch.

A photo shows what the interior of this coach would have looked like when built.