Pullman cars
| The four Pullman Cars depicted on this page were all
photographed whilst working in the "Bournemouth Belle" formation. The
first photograph, of car 303, was taken at Bournemouth West with the remaining
three taken at Bouremouth Central. Although car 303 has been referred to as a
"Golden Arrow" car within a number of books and articles written to
date, the car as far as can be ascertained never ran within the "Golden
Arrow" formation. You may also note it has LNER Gresley bogies. All the 1951 and 1952 new build cars had Gresley bogies with the exception of PHOENIX which was built on the underframe of car RAINBOW (II) that burnt out on 15 August 1936 at Micheldever whilst working a Channel Island Boat Train from Southampton to Waterloo. The other 1951/2 cars were built on Gresley bogies as the construction of these cars had commenced in 1939 but the war put everything on hold. Originally the cars were to form a new Pullman train to operate on the East Coast Main Line. |
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Car 303 was a Pullman Kitchen Car built at the Preston Park,
Brighton works in 1952. At 63' long and 8' 5½" wide, it was
1½" narrower than the others on this page. When new, this car was
allocated to the "Devon Belle Pullman" train. It spent June 1959 to
June 1960 on the Eastern Region, after which it returned to the Southern
Region. Photographed here whilst part of the "Bournemouth Belle", it
was withdrawn in 1967 and scrapped in 1968.
photograph by Michael Blackbourn |
| LUCILLE is an all-steel Pullman Parlour Car built by
Metro-Cammell in 1929 and originally used on the LNER. It was transferred from
the Eastern to the Southern Region in March 1961, where it spent the remainder
of its BR days, being noted as part of the formation of the final
"Bournemouth Belle" on 9 July 1967. Restored by Thomas Hill of
Rotherham and the VSOE workshops at Stewarts Lane, this car is now part of the
VSOE Pullman fleet.
photograph by Michael Blackbourn |
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Car 32 was a matchboard bodied Pullman Kitchen Car built by BRCW
in 1926 and was unlucky enough to be damaged by enemy action in September 1940.
Originally consisting of 46 seats, this number was reduced to 36 in 1945. In
1950 it was in the "Devon Belle" formation and is shown here whilst a
part of the "Bournemouth Belle". It was withdrawn in September 1963
and sold for scrap the following January.
photograph by Michael Blackbourn |
| Car 63 was originally a matchboard bodied Pullman Kitchen Car
built by Metro-Cammell in 1928. In 1950 it was rebuilt as a Brake Parlour Car
at Preston Park, with the seating reduced from 42 to 36. It worked on the
Southern Railway, the LNER, the Eastern and Southern Regions before being
withdrawn in 1966.
photograph by Michael Blackbourn |
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We are indebted to Terry Bye for the above information.
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This photograph shows the old Pullman car Topaz as preserved in the
National Railway Museum, York, in a rather an awkward position for photography.
Topaz was built in 1914 as a Pullman Parlour First seating 24 passengers. As
exhibited at the NRM it is in the lined dark red livery of the SECR. Pullmans
ran in this colour on the SECR and, for a time, on the Southern Railway before
being repainted in brown and cream.
photograph by John Lewis |
 photograph by Colin Duff Definitely not on Southern territory (nor did Pullmans run here until preservation!) two Pullman cars in service on the Colne Valley Railway on the 1st April 1991. However these two cars served on the Southern. Hermione is a guise for 3rd class Parlour Car No.36 (built in 1926 for the SR central section, was running in the short lived Plymouth portion of the Devon Belle just before nationalisation and was refurbished in 1951 for service on the Festival of Britain Golden Arrow) the other is former Brighton Belle EMU 1st class car Gwen (latterly in service on the VSOE). |
| Doris, at one time in use as a Director's dining room at
Finsbury Park, London, is a former Brighton Belle first class kitchen car.
This car has now been moved to the Bluebell Railway for renovation and
eventual use in their Golden Arrow Dining Train.
photograph by Michael Taylor |
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| This May 1969 photograph shows Agatha (a 1928 1st class car
formerly in non-Southern "Queen of Scots" service, more recently in
service on the VSOE), Fingall (a 1924 Kitchen First car) and Car 35 (a 1926 3rd
class car built originally for the SR central section which went on to serve on
the Devon Belle and following refurbishment in 1951 on the Golden Arrow. Then
in the 1960s she was part of scratch hauled sets used to cover for Blue Pullman
MU maintenance) on display at the Montagu Museum Beaulieu with Schools class
928.
photograph by Mike Watts |
| After Beaulieu Fingall had a spell on the Isle of Wight at
Haven Street before being repatriated to the mainland and the Bluebell Railway
where she is seen here out of service at Horsted Keynes in the early 1980s.
photograph by Colin Duff |
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All photographs are copyright
First | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Last
Archive copies of Coupe News and Pullman & CIWL News, newsletters on Pullman and CIWL topics
Photos from inside the derelict Pullman Works at Brighton
This page was created 25 June 2006
