BR Mark 2 bogie second class gangwayed (TSO) carriage number 5175

Above: BR Mark 2 TSO number 5175 resplendent in new early BR  livery on 17 July 2004

The Mark 2 carriage was first conceived in 1958 as a successor to the Mark 1 carriage then in full production, and the result was a lighter vehicle with monocoque body and no frame.  After prototyping, the first seventy carriages were turned out in 1964, though their interiors bore a close resemblance to the Mark 1 designs.  The bogie adopted was the new B4 (also used later on some Mark 1 carriages such as M25607).  Large batches were then built to supply new electrified services between London Euston, Manchester and Liverpool on the West Coast Main Line starting in April 1966, and they carried the blue and grey BR "corporate image" livery from new. Like the Mark 1 designs, open second class vehicles were built with either 48 seats (two on one side of the aisle, one on the other, and could be used for dining) or 64 seats (two each side of the aisle), and were classed as SO or TSO respectively.  Vacuum braking was retained, and it was only with subsequent variations 2A and upwards that airbraking was fully adopted.  Therefore the basic Mark 2 carriage is fully compatible with the Mark 1 and pre-nationalisation designs, and is contemporary with the final years of the steam-hauled mainline railway.

5175 was built to BR diagram 88 at Derby in 1966 under lot 30751 as one of 133 Tourist Second Opens (TSO) for the WCML services.  It has seating for 64 passengers, and finished its service life in Network SouthEast red, white and blue livery.  5175 was initially purchased for use by Waterman Railways, a venture of the charismatic record producer and "Pop Idol" judge Pete Waterman.  From 1993 it was stored in Crewe Basford Hall yard, and after 1995 probably at The Railway Age, Crewe, before movement to the Battlefield Line Railway in 1998.  From there it was obtained for service at Foxfield in mid October 2003, and was pressed straight into service.  5175 has had some restoration undertaken since arrival and initially carried maroon livery, appropriate for the very first Mark 2 carriages. It was repainted in the winter of 2003/04 into BR Carmine and Cream livery to match the newly arrived Mark 2 open brake second 9410.

For the Vintage Carriages Trust Database entry for this carriage please see: http://vintagecarriagestrust.org/sd/2812.HTM

Above: BR Mark 2 number 5175 standing outside the Kipling Building on 17 January 2004

A very similar carriage, SO number 5241, was purchased from the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry and restored at Foxfield to maroon livery.  Although in good condition it was an SO design with its 2+1 seating arrangement that meant capacity was low.  It was exchanged for BR Mark 1 Tourist Second Open number 4762 in July 2002, with the East Lancashire Railway at Bury, where it is to be restored for use in a dining train - see absent friends page.