GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill - Grouping Period Rolling Stock: gwrbsh2493

Great Western Railway six wheel Mess Van No 9988 photographed adjacent to a Signal and Telegraph iron Workshop Van (diagram CC) at Birmingham Snow Hill Station in 1947. This Mess Van was originally built as a Diagram U19 six wheel tri-composite low roof suburban coach in October 1884 as one of twenty coaches in Lot 302 and numbered No 794. These coaches had one 1st class compartment (in the centre), two 2nd class compartments and two 3rd class compartments (one at each end). The total length was 31 feet with a wheelbase of two x 9 feet, 6 inches. As built, these coaches would have had foot boards, which appear to have been retained. By 1907 the Great Western Railway had abolished 2nd class travel and decided to renumber all their carriage stock, composite coaches were included in to the 6000 series and this coach was renumbered No 6794. Originally these coaches had oil lighting, but in September 1923 the coach was modified and incandescent gas lighting provided. In November 1931 this coach was withdrawn from service at Barry in South Wales.

In March 1934 this coach was converted into a six berth Camping Coach and numbered No 9988. This was a new venture for the Great Western Railway and nineteen coaches were converted at this time, including six Diagram U19 coaches. Two compartments were converted in to sleeping compartments, the 3rd class compartment retained the compartment seats as single berths, while the adjacent 2nd class compartment was similarly arranged but with a pair of overhead suspended berths added. The partition was removed from between the next two compartments to create a roomy living and dining area with an internal door to the other 3rd class compartment which was converted into a compact kitchen with a sink and Primus stove cooker. After the success of the 1934 camping coach season, the number of coaches were doubled and some modifications were carried out to improve the existing camping coaches. The diagram U19 coaches had narrow internal doors provided to allow internal access to and between the bedroom compartments and more comfortable box sprung mattress bases replaced the original compartment seat beds. The coach types were now allocated letters and the six berth converted diagram U19 coaches became a Type B Camping Coach in 1935. The original locations of Camping Coach No 9988 are not known, but in the summer of 1937 it was certainly located at Tintern in the Wye Valley. The typical rent for a week was £3 per person.

In September 1939 the start of World War II brought an abrupt end to all Camping Coach holidays and the coaches were moved to Swindon to be available for wartime emergency quarters. The slow progress of the war meant a few were used for holidays during the summer of 1940, but twelve of the coaches were commandeered by the Railway Company's own Departments. This included the Signal and Telegraph (S&T) Department, which had crews stationed around the system ready to undertake repairs at short notice. Coach No 9988 was known to be in S&T service at Reading in April 1941. Along with all coaching stock the camping coaches had been painted brown with a GWR monogram during the war and at the end of the hostilities, their condition had deteriorated to such an extent that it was decided not to reuse the existing coaches for public hire. As a result those on loan to the S&T Department were not returned although they were never officially taken in to Departmental stock. No 9988 was retained by the S&T Department as Mess Van and was finally condemned in July 1954. It is worth noting that the steel sheet repairs to the central side area and three of the doors is also evident on earlier photographs of the coach at Tintern in 1937 and is not the result of wartime activities.

This photograph is displayed courtesy of the HMRS (Historical Model Railway Society) and copies can be ordered directly from them using the link HERE, quoting reference AEL217.

Robert Ferris

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