Miscellaneous: Operating Equipment & Practices

Maintenance of the Permanent Way: misc_equip243

Great Western Railway Whitewash coach No 2360 alongside platform 7 at Snow Hill. The coach was converted in 1931 from corridor toplight Brake Third (Diagram D46) coach which had been built under Lot L1174 in 1911. This coach had been withdrawn from service traffic in 1928 and used to compare the ridding quality of various different bogie types. This involved the use of a Hallade recorder and proved that seven foot suspension bolster bogies gave noticeably improved riding. When these experiments were successfully completed it was decided to create a coach that could be used to identify locations where faults in the permanent way resulted in disturbed ridding. After initially devising a pendulum mechanism to release whitewash from a dashpot on to the track, the apparatus was refined to be operated from a pair of electric coils fitted to one of the bogies. The test coach also contained a Hallade recorder to compare results and identify where the cant on curves were inadequate. The coach was given observation ends and internally provided with kitchen facilities and toilet. For more details of the coach and Hallade recorder see 'misc_equip241'.

British Railways renumbered the coach DW139 on 7th February 1950 and reclassified it a diagram Q21. In 1960 the coach was refurbished and provided with B4 bogies to allow faster running (114 mph). The coach remained in service until 1989 when it was given to the National Railway Museum for preservation. Initially stored in the open at York, the coach was moved to the Barry Railway in July 2012.

Robert Ferris

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