Hinton Manor was the last to be built in the first series of Manors to Lot 316, and was turned out from Swindon in February 1939 at a recorded cost of £4,914.

LATEST NEWS: Hinton Manor has been cosmetically restored, and has been moved to Swindon for four years, taking the space recently occupied by 4930, in the MacArthur Glen shopping complex. We are now seeking to enhance its appearance by locating a complete set of cab fittings. Volunteers in Swindon are taking the paintwork and bodywork in hand, and have been provided with GWR green paint.

HISTORY: 7819 went new to Carmarthen, and spent four years there before transfer to Oswestry in July 1943. Apart from a short spell at Aberystwyth in 1946, 7819 remained on Oswestry's books until 1963. During this period, the record card shows that 7819 was nominally allocated to Whitchurch from time to time. In March 1963, 7819 moved to Machynlleth and in January 1965 to Shrewsbury, being withdrawn at the end of the same year.

In 1963/4, 7819 was a favourite choice for heading the Cambrian Coast Express from Shrewsbury, invariably turned out in immaculate condition with polished brightwork. Hinton was a natural choice for Royal Train duty, and with 7822 provided the power for HM The Queen's visit to Pwllheli on 10 August 1963. 7819 spent its last year in grimy condition, and was moved to Barry for scrap early in 1966. Recorded mileage at the end of 1963 was 925,050.

The locomotive arrived in Bewdley in woebegone condition in 1973, having been bought through the Hinton Manor Fund, which included SVR Company help. Restoration to running order was carried out initially at Bewdley and later at Bridgnorth, and 7819 was test-steamed in June 1977. Its debut in passenger service occurred in the late summer of 1977, and it was a prolific performer in the years that followed. Originally out-shopped in GWR unlined green, it was repainted in GWR lined green livery early in 1980 and BR lined black early in 1985. 7819 saw main line service during the GW150 celebrations in 1985, reaching Plymouth, Swindon, Avonmouth and Newport. In 1987 a brief period of Cambrian steam occured, and the engine took a prominent part, visiting Aberystwyth and Pwllheli during the summer working the Cardigan Bay Express special service.

In 1990 7819 became part of a royal train once again, conveying HRH The Duke of Gloucester from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth for the official opening of the railway's boiler repair shop. The Duke drove 7819 for part of the journey. In 1991, 7819 shared Cambrian special train duties to Aberystwyth on two Sundays in June and two in September. In the meantime, Gloucester Festival shuttles were worked on 4 August.

A loan to the Nene Valley Railway in September/October 1994 preceded storage, awaiting major repairs.

4690, wheelchair conversion TSO

OCTOBER UPDATE: 4690 came back from Ramsdens Works the day after the September Gala. All paint had been stripped off, the welding repairs to the gangway ends have been completed and all of the major repairs to the doorway edges done. The alterations to the doorways nearest to the lavatory area have been done and 4690 now sports a pair of double doors where the first seat bay was. The old doorways have been welded over, and the doors reused in the doubles. Doors from a BSK, 34414, which was broken up to provide bogies about four years ago, were used to give frames for the right hand (blank) double doors. Much work is still required on these to provide a new varnished interior with a window.

The paintshop staff have begun to polish, prime and fill 4690 with a view to getting it weatherproof in the next month. Eight windows have been rebedded, with additional screws put in to make up for the broken and missing ones; six remain to be done. The asbestos cement panels behind the steam heat deflectors have been stripped out, taking four days work. This now allows the saloons to begin decorative work to ceilings and upper veneer panels.

The floor area where the lavatories used to be, has been stripped out and the chassis descaled and primed. Alterations to the water drainage and steam heat supply have been going in while there is no floor in the way. Beams to make new joists and stringers were cut a few weeks ago and these have begun to be cut to shape around the various iron protrusions. The roof vents have all been filled - a matching set of cast ones this time - there were four different types on 4690, including one of a MkII; a case of make do and mend on BR during the late 70s. The steam heat pipes in the largest saloon have had to be shortened by about six feet where the seat bay has now become a doorway. Nigel Hanson has been remodelling them in the same manner as they were made.

Arrangements are being made for a series of wheelsets to be ultrasonically tested for other vehicles in service, and 4690 will be included in this batch; only one vehicle in the SVR fleet remains to be done, and that is the Trust's LMS CK 24617 trapped at Bridgnorth.

The veneer panels for the lavatory external walls and corridor walls have arrived and await varnishing and fitting, once the floor is put down. Only the door is still absent; we don't need it for a while, so we don't want it in the way. Once we have 4690 weatherproof, it may nip outside for a week to allow another vehicle into the paintshop for finishing.

LATEST NEWS: 4690 has been taken to Rampart in Derby for a body overhaul and external conversion to a wheelchair carriage. It is scheduled to return in August; the SVR will then carry out the internal work to the coach, which will include a wheelchair-accessible toilet, new internal panelling, new water tank and plumbing, and a revised internal layout with 52 seats and wheelchair space. 4690 should return to service in 2008.

JUNE UPDATE: Tourist Second Open 4690, intended for restoration to service and adaptation for wheelchair use, received a big push forward in June. After languishing at Bewdley for a couple of years, 4690, built at York in 1957, became an item of the Trust's responsibility after agreement with its previous owners, SVR Wolverhampton Branch, during 2006.

Work on removing the two lavatory compartments and nearest two bays of seats was resumed at Kidderminster, with asbestos removal to clear the way for further dismantling, prior to dispatch to contractor Rampart's for welded body repairs on 12 June. In the three weeks leading up to departure, all of the dismantled material was shipped out and put into store in the Kidderminster Works. Design and planning for orders of new veneers was then possible and several evenings spent with tape measures and notepad produced a design that reuses the majority of the dismantled lavatory walls. It will look like British Railways had made it themselves in 1957, despite being modelled on this year's guidelines from the Department for Transport.

Water damage from leaking roof vents and plumbing means that most of the steel skin around the lavatory end and gangways will have to be replaced, as will the floor for approximately eight feet at that end of the vehicle. Additional parts from stocks held have been loaded into 4690, including two former BSK luggage doors from a 1953 vehicle, plus two new skins bought from York about 20 years ago, and aluminium capping strips for door edges.

This exciting project is due for completion winter 2007 to allow improvements in the marketing and execution of wheelchair provision on SVR trains in 2008. The whole project ties together monies pledged to SVR Rolling Stock Trust, by the Wolverhampton Branch of SVR who started it off, by the SVR Guarantee Company that wishes to support and use 4690, and by the South East Branch of SVR who wish to commemorate a colleague Ian Whitmarsh who died two years ago. Monies from an SVR Association Draw some years ago will also finally be utilised to help provide the new veneers for the corridor and lavatory remodelling.

HISTORY: TSO 4690 is intended for partial conversion into a wheelchair coach. It will retain 52 of its 64 seats, and will be fitted with double doors and a wheelchair-accessible toilet. The coach will accommodate up to three wheelchairs, and will move the SVR closer to having wheelchair accommodation on all its trains.

Open Second BR Standard coach LN 4690 imitates the table and luggage rack designs of LNER practice within a scheme of decor under LMSR influence. In fact the similarity is only visual, as components merely reminded the traveller of particular aspects of the company models, but were usually made from new materials such as aluminium and were located in differing positions. Over 1500 of these useful vehicles were built, of which seven are in use on the SVR. Each vehicle seats 64 passengers at tables, and has three cross-vestibules, which permit speedier loading and unloading than LNER and LMSR Opens, which have only two. Although all were purchased in working order, a programme of renovation is underway to return them to their as-new state and safeguard them for the future. 4690 has received major attention.

9084

Sleeping car 9084 was built to one of the last GWR designs, and is a 12-wheel first-class sleeping car. It is largely intact, including art-deco interior, but needs TLC. We are planning for its restoration: one compartment will be made available for controlled public access, the remainder used for volunteer accommodation.

The only special duty passenger coaches of GWR Hawksworth outline were four sleeping cars built at Swindon and outshopped in carmine-and-cream livery in 1951. These vehicles, 66'8" long, contain ten first-class berths and an attendant's compartment. They are equipped with pressure ventilation and interior panelling is of laminated plastic. All four vehicles are preserved, with 9084 being used as volunteer sleeping accommodation. These sleeping cars weighed in at 45 tons apiece and required six-wheeled bogies to take the load, making them the heaviest coaches on the SVR.

4509

TSO 4509, a recent gift from Mr James Barker, was once the property of the late Austen White, at the time our oldest serving TTI. The vehicle is in service, though shabby. It will be overhauled this year, and will return to service in pristine condition, hopefully before Christmas.

BSK 35219

35219 is undergoing bodywork repairs and a full repaint at Bewdley. It will emerge in BR maroon, and take its place in set M. It has already received the RST's new BR 1950 upholstery, thus completing its restoration to original style. 35219 will join two other restored RST vehicles, 25346 and 4509, in that set.

TSO 4399

4399 is likely to move to Bridgnorth in the near future, as the next subject for work, once 7511 is complete.

7511

OCTOBER UPDATE: Work on bringing the body sides and ends up to undercoat has been going on during late summer. Fitting, flatting, three coats of surfacer, flat again, then two coats of undercoat Maroon has brought it up to a sound smooth finish ready for gloss next year. Work on the roof will also continue as weather permits during the autumn months. Indoors, the lavatories are now totally complee, all plumbing, carpentry and glassware in place. Only the lavatory doors are missing, and they will be ordered as blank sheets of veneer during November.

The carpentry volunteers are all concentraing on manufacturing window frames in oak for the fourteen picture windows. Some have reached the early stages of varnishing and need final fitting once they have all reached the same stage of readiness. Oak has been sourced for the table legs, and eight sets of legs are in the process of being made up first. The doors on the trackside are being fitted out with the oak linings which were among the first pieces bought in, seven years ago.

The table lamps are now the main focus of attentions for sourcing parts. Acrylic sheets are being cut up to make 132 each of the two shapes that make the lampshade covering. Different wires are being assessed to find the most suitable for stitching the shades together. Difficulty is being experienced with finding a firm capable of bending the thick walled brass tubes for the lamp necks. Various brass plate sections have been produced by our man at Kidderminster, Geoff Leigh, who is currently making the front plates which hold the ON-OFF switch.

Only two more patterns for castings need to be made this winter, those for the table to wall mountings, and for the table to floor feet for the legs. We will be seeing Brian Oldford when he gets a quiet moment. We are looking to finish 7511's interior sometime in spring 2008, then ask for it to be transferred to Kidderminster to be mounted on its bogies, and while there we would like to finish the exterior painting.

LATEST NEWS: 7511 is now well on the way to completion. It is now upholstered throughout, the wall panels are all on, luggage racks installed, and curtain rails, with their timber pelmets, in situ. The internal window frames are being made. Their installation will then allow the tables to be added, and the table lamps fastened in situ. Patterns for the table lamp castings have been made, and the first casting is being machined prior to external polishing, and the frames for the lamp shades have now been made.

Externally, much work has been done on the bodywork; one side has been filled and flatted, prior to undercoating. The intention was then to move the vehicle to Kidderminster in July, and turn it so that the other side could be dealt with similarly. That good idea has fallen foul of the weather! As the SVR is unlikely to be open throughout for at least three months, alternative safe access is now being devised. Ironically, the absence of trains makes access to the other side easier!

JUNE UPDATE: The LMS Open First under restoration at Bridgnorth, 7511 has made steady progress throughout the spring. Plumbing in both lavatories is virtually complete. Sinks have been modified with diamond tipped tools to take LMS spout taps. Two LMS&BR pattern radiators have been donated by the North Yorkshire Moors Carriage & Wagon foreman for the lavatory heating, and another diamond tipped tool used to cut the holes in the terrazo floors for the feed pipes and drain. The window frame manufacturing continues after a pause while our carpenters undertook a restoration commission for the Highley Engine House, and all fourteen pelmets are now installed, with new three-eights inch copper tube supplied for the curtain rails to the original specification.

Components for the over-table lamps are continuing to be sourced and acquired. The lamp shade skeletons at £30 each are in stock, the bulb holders have been acquired at about £4 each, the cast bodies are having their bases machined level and hollowed to take the bayonet plug fittings, and brass sheet folded to form the baseplates.

Externally, the side facing the cattle dock has been filled, flatted, painted with three coats of surfacer, flatted again and undercoated. The vehicle needs turning at Kidderminster turntable in order to do the same to the other side in safety, due to be arranged in late June. Down at Kidderminster, our bogies are as complete as they can be got until the coach body goes back on top - early in the new year, we hope.

The LMS & BR Coach Fund's merger into the Rolling Stock Trust took place in February. However, the new account has not been created - (they are afraid of money launderers so much that they make it difficult for bona fide customers to open accounts). As soon as the account is open we will be able to bank all the tax-efficient cheques pledged to 7511's lamp provisioning fund. Without doubt 7511 will be finished in 2008 - but when - spring, summer, autumn? Watch this space.

HISTORY: 7511 is a simply magnificent LMS Open First, currently in the final stages of a complete rebuild at Bridgnorth. When complete, it will seat 42 First Class passengers in the original 1934 'art deco' style, with inlaid marquetry on the walls, very high class joinery, and a host of recreated period details. Even the upholstery fabric is to the original pattern. 7511 is simply stunning - come and treat yourself to a meal in it when it is complete!

16267

16267 was the very last Corridor Composite built at Derby in December 1963, and withdrawn from Leeds 20 years later. No further loco-hauled composites were ever built, though six MkIII coaches were converted to open composites for the Glasgow-Edinburgh 'push-pull' service, itself now superceded by class 170 sprinters. 16267 runs in set C in carmine and cream livery, and is a valuable part of this set, offering 24 First Class and 24 Second Class seats.

9220

9220 is a 39 seat Brake Open Second, the only one of its kind on the SVR. It is usually to be found on the SVR's Footplate Experience trains, running as a single coach train. Its design allows SVR staff to talk to the participants together, and encourages a very sociable day out for those accompanying the participants. Built at Doncaster in 1955, 9220 has now spent 34 years on the SVR.

2300 and 12992

LMS Corridor Thirds, each seating up to 56 passengers, these vehicles normally run in the SVR's LMS set.

24617

24617 is the sole LMS composite coach on the SVR, built to the last LMS design with an all-steel framed body and slightly rounded ends, reminiscent of the later BR MkIs. 24617 was built at Derby in 1950 and came to the SVR in 1968. Now 57 years old, 39 of those years have been spent on the SVR where it has proved a reliable runner. It presently provides the only First Class accommodation in the LMS set, and very smart it is, too - well worth the extra charge.

25346 and 25498

Two BR MkI corridor seconds (SK). 25346 is painted in maroon, and usually to be found in set M. 25498 is carmine and cream, usually running in set C. Good solid workhouses, reflecting the simple yet effective styling of the 1950s, when compartment stock was still routinely provided for long distance services.