BR 4509 Tourist Standard Open

BRBritish Rail or British Railways 4509 Tourist Standard Open
BRBritish Rail or British Railways Tourist Standard Open 4509
Built By	BRBritish Rail or British Railways York
Status	In service
Number	E4509
Livery	BRBritish Rail or British Railways Crimson & Cream
Other numbers	GE4509
History
Built	1956
Diagram	93
Lot	30243
Type	TSO
TOPS code	AC21
Seats	64 standard
1982	Preserved on SVRSevern Valley Railway
Carriages

4509 is a BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mark 1 Tourist Second Open (TSO), commonly referred to as an 'Open Second', and later re-named as Tourist Standard Open when BRBritish Rail or British Railways rebranded Second class as Standard class during the 1980s. The designation "Tourist" referred to the use of 2+2 seating either side of a central aisle, as opposed to the 'ordinary' Standard Open (SO) which had 3 seats across, arranged 2+1 with an offset aisle. In practice the TSO was BRBritish Rail or British Railways's default Open Second design with relatively few Mark 1 SOs being built, mainly for use as Second/Third class restaurant cars.

The 'Open Second' includes 8 'bays', each with two tables seating 4 people, giving a total capacity of 64. One end of the coach has a larger cross-vestibule than the other in order to incorporate two toilets, with the external doors at that end being inset from the end of the coach to accommodate these. A third cross-vestibule was included midway down the coach to enable speedier loading and unloading of passengers.

4509 in service

4509 was built at York in 1956 to diagram number 93, lot number 30243 It was used in the BRBritish Rail or British Railways Eastern region and carried the number GE4509, the prefix denoting that it was allocated for use on the Great Eastern lines.

4509 in preservation

4509 arrived on the SVRSevern Valley Railway in June 1982 from York in working order. It was originally owned by SVRSevern Valley Railway volunteer ticket collector Austen 'Pop' White.

In September 1985 the coach was repainted from the 'BRBritish Rail or British Railways blue and grey' livery in which it had arrived into the late 1960s version of BRBritish Rail or British Railways maroon livery, with red ends and gutters, badges applied only if available, and cream end doors. A shortage of badges at the time meant 4509 initially had no badge. The following year the tables were removed from sister coach 4550 and used to give a full complement to 4690, 4399, 4509 and 4545, the maroon set being regularly used for dining parties at the time.

In march 1987 4509 was taken out of service and completely reupholstered with red tartan cloth (disposed of by Ilford Electric Multiple Unit Depot) in time for the Diesel Weekend.

4509 was withdrawn for overhaul at Bridgnorth Carriage and Wagon in 1990. This took around a year and required the windows to be re-bedded. It also involved re-skinning all six doors and rebuilding their wooden frames which collapsed when the old skins were removed. The door jambs were also renewed and cutting and patching was carried out the bodysides alongside the doors and windows. The inside was completely revarnished or painted as necessary.

The tartan cloth used in 1987 had proved to be short-lived compared with the traditional moquette, and in 1997 4509 was reupholstered in moquette by a professional upholsterer, the materials and labour costing £4,220..

During summer 1998, 'Pop' White passed away. Aged almost 90, he was still working as a volunteer at the time. 4509 was bequeathed to his colleague and neighbour James Barker.

In autumn 2004 4509 was sent to Toton for tyre turning, and also received a full bogie overhaul In 2006 the coach was sent away to Ramparts at Derby for welding work, particularly around the lavatory areas and gangways. The Ramparts' staff primed and prepared 4509 and returned it in a 'ready to run' condition, although still requiring finishing and interior decoration. After the seats were refitted it ran throughout the busy August and September months unadorned and in a 'shiny maroon half-gloss condition'; the curtailed overhaul meant that the lavatories were not renovated until winter 2006-07.

Also during 2006, 4509 was donated to the SVRSevern Valley Railway Rolling Stock Trust charity (which had been formed in 2001 and later became the SVR Charitable Trust). The Trust provided new batteries and a slow-speed charging device in that year as an additional improvement.

During winter 2011-12 4509 was found to be leaking, requiring the roof vents re-bedded and two sections of damaged ceiling panel replaced. The six door locks were showing signs of wear and were replaced.

In late 2012 it was arranged that 4509 would be repainted into crimson and cream livery, using 'restricted funds' from the Charitable Trust, in order to balance the seating capacity between Set C and Set M more evenly. A 'full service' was carried out ahead of this, but it transpired that 4509 would be needed in Set M for that year's 'Santa Heralds' so the coach was returned to traffic. It re-entered the paint shop in mid-January 2013 for the work to be completed.

4509 is still owned by the SVRSevern Valley Railway Charitable Trust. It is in regular service and is now normally used in the BRBritish Rail or British Railways Crimson & Cream running set.

See also

• List of carriages

Notes

References

Links

• 4509 on Railway Heritage Register On-Line
• 4509 on svrtrust.org.uk (via Internet Archive WayBack Machine)