Fibreglass Bodied Vehicles
In 1962, Eastleigh Works constructed a single fibreglass-bodied Mark 1. The vehicle, numbered S1000S, was mounted on the underframe of Mark 1 Tourist Second Open S4378, which was written off as a result of the Lewisham rail crash in 1957. Only the one example was built due to the cost, making this the only fibreglass-bodied passenger carriage built by British Railways. S1000S was used on the Hayling Island Branch Line until closure in 1963. After use as a generator van at Lancing Carriage Works, it re-entered capital stock. Its final duties were on commuter trains between Clapham Junction and Kensington Olympia. After withdrawal, it was stored at Micheldever. It was purchased in 1973 by the East Somerset Railway. In 2010, the carriage was restored, and as of January 2011 is in service on the East Somerset Railway.
A single van, no. E85000, also had fibreglass body panels. This was converted from a normal passenger coach (Mark 1 Corridor Composite no. Sc15170) at Derby Works in 1970 to carry parcels conveyed in BRUTE trolleys; it was used until 1982. It weighed 27 tons, even though it was 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) longer than a normal parcels van weighing 30 tons.
Read more about this topic: British Railways Mark 1
Famous quotes containing the word vehicles:
“Only by the supernatural is a man strong; nothing is so weak as an egotist. Nothing is mightier than we, when we are vehicles of a truth before which the state and the individual are alike ephemeral.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)