The Ashbury Corridors No's. 23 & 25

Originally built in 1893 by the Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company Ltd of Belle Vue Manchester, where identical all third class bogie ‘corridor’ carriages to a unique design for the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways of Caernarfon.

The design, although similar to Ashbury’s ‘summer’ carriages of 1894 (these were made up of seven bays and were either semi-glazed or all open), was never to be replicated or developed upon.

Until approx 1910 (no formal records have been found yet to confirm this) No.23 (then numbered 10) was identical in every way to its sister carriage. Sometime around this year it was converted into a first/third composite carriage. By adding a partition at the centre, the carriage became equally divided into first and third class compartments. The third class end remained the same whereas the first class end had all the original two plus one seating of wooden slats removed and upholstered perimeter seating was added 

When the N.W.N.G.R became part of the formation of the Welsh Highland Railway In 1922 they took ownership of all the surviving rolling stock. As the W.H.R. had a physical link with the Festiniog Railway at Porthmadog, all the rolling stock was cut down for through running on the F.R main line including No.23.

In 1927 No.23 was to enter its most famous period, in a UK first for narrow gauge railways and in an attempt to attract more tourists to travel on the line it was converted to the Buffet Car we have come to know it as. The third class end was divided in two by an additional partition and a bay of seats was removed to accommodate a serving area.

Tom Rolt of  Talyllyn fame rode in the carriage on a trip from Beddgelert to RhydDdu and in one of his publications, Lines of Character, he wrote “…..at Beddgelert with the long laborious climb over the foothills of Snowdon still to come, an additional burden awaited Welsh Pony. This was the celebrated Buffet Car which, in the hope of attracting tourists had been converted from one of the standard eight-wheeled coaches. It stood in a siding; its simmering urn presided over by a plump and affable Welsh Woman. When this remarkable vehicle had been attached we moved into it to be served coffee and biscuits as the train crawled up the long assent. What with the uneven draw-bar pull of the heavily labouring Welsh Pony and the super-elevation of the sharp curves, to control a full cup successfully would have taxed the skills of an equilibrist. Most of the coffee soon found its way into the saucer, if not further a field, but I am glad to say I patronised this courageous attempt to provide main-line luxuries on the two foot gauge,”

Sadly this innovation proved to be more trouble than it was worth and so it was converted back before the start of the 1934 season. The guise it was to end it’s working life in differed from the pre 1927 configuration, the centre partition was removed even though it remained as a first/third composite.

When the W.H.R was closed to passenger traffic in 1937 No.23 had reached the end of its working life as a passenger carriage, however it was used as part of the demolition train in 1942. When the railway was gone and all that remained was the rolling stock it was put up for auction. Luckily it was bought for use as a summer house in the grounds of a farm near Waunfawr and although cut in two and made ‘L’ shaped it remained in remarkably good condition even with all its running gear in place.

In May 2007 we where awarded a grant of £12,778 to restore the bodywork of the Buffet Car. The grant is from the PRISM Fund (part of the Museums Libraries and Archives Council), who have already given us a grant to help restore the underframe, bogies and wheel sets.

You can see the progress we have made by clicking here.

The Glandstone Car No.29

No. 29 was constucted by the Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. of Brimingham. It was classified as a 'Tourist Carriage', one of the first attempts to encourage tourist travel on any narrow gauge railway in Britain. It recognised the attractions of open balconies yet having somewhere to retire to when the weather turned unfavourable. The central all-glazed saloon was curtained, upholstered and carpeted. Automatic central couplers with safety chains were fitted, as well as lighting and those small appointments which place a vehicle in a class of its own. It was liveried in cream upper works and white roof, with the customary Midland red waist. The lettering and lining was in gold-shaded vermilion. The roof was repainted grey sometime later. Each door had a class number (‘1’) on it, together with 'N.W.N.G.Ry' and the vehicle number. For good measure, No. 8 had the Company's Arms on a plaque mounted on the side.

Mr. Gladstone, the Prime Minister, travelled in No. 8 on the way to a holiday at Nant Gwynant. Thereafter, the coach was nicknamed the 'Gladstone Car'.

By 1922, No. 8 had received a vermilion red livery. Under WHR/FR management, No. 8 was renumbered No. 29 in 1922.

The body of the Gladstone Car was located many years ago by members of the Festiniog Railway in a garden near Harlech. It was deemed to be beyond restoration and various fittings were removed for re-use (quite possibly they are on vehicles running on the FR today).

Some years later in 1989, the new WHR recovered the coach, One balcony was completely missing, but most of the rest was intact. An original builder's plate had survived the FR's stripping, but all other fittings are replacements. The original bogies were lost and restoration has involved fabrication of replacements to a completely new design to modern high precision standards.

Restoration is now complete, and the Gladstone Coach is in regular service. The Gladstone car was always a first class carriage, even though not designed as one originally. The centre compartment had 14 upholstered seats and had lighting and roof vents, cut off in WHR days for through-running on the FR. we hoped, with your help, that the upholstery can restored and return the Gladstone to it former Victorian splendour.

Toast-Rack No 42

This coach was built in August 1923 by Robert Hudson Ltd of Leeds. The design was the same as for a World-War-1 (WW1) military coach used in the 600mm gauge trench railways. It was one of six coaches commissioned by the Colonel Stephens administration at a cost of £155 each. The coaches were built in three weeks, and when delivered, were painted in grey undercoat, later being painted in FR Style 'Lake'. They were numbered 37-42 in the 'joint' WHR/FR numbering scheme. They operated on both Welsh Highland and Festiniog Railways.

The coaches had a very similar underframe to the ex-WW1 Hudson bogie wagons used for the Beddgelert coal trafic, Consequently, between 1926-28, the coaches were robbed of parts to keep the coal wagons going. Two coaches survived this, Nos. 37 & 42. However, these ended up being stripped down after the war. No. 37 provided the frame for FR rebuilt coach No. 38 in 1972, leaving No. 42 in use for storage. Indeed, No. 42 housed the boiler of Quarry Hunslet 'Britomart' until mid-1997.

The restoration of Coach No. 42 is now complete (but new wheelsets are still needed) and it entered service at the 25th Anniversary Gala (July 2005). Safety gates and chains have been fitted across each doorway, unlike the original which had open gaps as the photograph above shows.

A similar replica also exists on the Festiniog Railway.