BR Mark 2 bogie brake second class gangwayed (BSO) carriage number 9410

Above: In gleaming BR crimson and cream livery, BSO number 9410 stands in the platform in Sept 2004

The British Railways mark 2 carriage was a lighter vehicle than the mark 1, with monocoque body and no frame.  After a prototype was built at Swindon in 1958, al the subsequent carriages were built at Derby.  The first seventy carriages built in 1964 featured no brake designs and only a few obvious innovations for the passenger. The bogie adopted was the new B4 (also used later on some Mark 1 carriages such as M25607).  Brake vehicles, first and second class, appeared in the batches ordered in 1965 to supply new electrified services between London Euston, Manchester and Liverpool on the West Coast Main Line.  They carried the blue and grey BR "corporate image" livery from new. Vacuum braking was retained, and it was only with subsequent variations 2A and upwards that airbraking was fully adopted.  These early Mark 2 carriages are fully compatible with the Mark 1 and pre-nationalisation designs, and were used up to the end of vacuum-braked service trains.  Some were converted to air-braking, and some of the second class brakes to catering vehicles, with a buffet counter and store replacing one seating bay.

9410 was built to BR diagram 185 at Derby in 1966 under lot 30757 as an Open Brake Second (BSO), seating 31 passengers, with a guards compartment and large luggage area. 36 carriages were constructed to this design, which used the same bodyshell as the first class variant, and this results in a more generous provison of legroom than is usually found in a second class carriage. Latterley allocated to the eastern region and numbered E9410, it retained its original internal layout until withdrawal from service in December 1990. It was preserved at the Chinnor & Princess Risborough Railway in 1991, where it was restored to BR Western Region chocolate and cream  livery, and the luggage area was converted to a shop. It was purchased for use at Foxfield as a carriage specially adapted for disabled passengers, after a special fundraising effort. Conversion for this began immediately after arrival in winter 2003/4, and restoration work has also taken place on the ends, bodysides and windows prior to a complete repaint, this time in BR crimson and cream (aka "blood and custard") livery complete with crest. It is now paired with BR Mark 2 open second 5175 which has been repainted in identical livery.

For the Vintage Carriages Trust Database entry for this carriage please see: http://vintagecarriagestrust.org/sd/1555.HTM

Above: The elegant BR carriage crest carried on BSO number 9410