BR Mk1 SK
25972

25972, also known as 'Rose', is one of the two carriages used by the Buffet as indoor seating - 25972 being the one closest to the car park.

'Rose' was built by BR Derby in September 1962 to Diagram 147, in Lot 30686. It was initially allocated to the Western region - and therefore had a W before its number, i.e W25972. 25972 is a "second corridor" coach, which means it has a corridor down one side with eight compartments of second class seating alongside it. As it was built for the Western Region of British Railways, it was built to have compartments that had room for 8 seats. this means it didn't have any arm-rests between seats as per other SKs such as the ones in our train that you would ride on today. In July 1965 the carriage was transferred from the Western Region of BR to the Southern Region, working trains out of Waterloo and down to the south coast of England. In July 1967 the coach visited a carriage works to have air braking and electric train heating installed. 25972 was initially kept as a "spare" vehicle to be used as and when needed, but in July 1967 was allocated to set 68 for a year before joining set 70 from May 1969 for 6 years. Being returned to the general pool of coaches in April 1976. During its time on the Southern Region it was put in the "Air-braked, electric train heated BR1" group, where it was rated for 90mph running. This meant it mostly saw service on the Oxted and Tonbridge-Reading lines, with occasional special workings. In the early 1970s this group of coaches were occasionally used for Newhaven Boat train Services as well. 25972 was then withdrawn from service in November 1978 but was re-instated in 1979. It was renumbered 99629 and became an exhibition train support carriage. This work was carried out to diagram NY515 as part of Lot 30950, but was never completed. This left the vehicle in a half complete state with a number of compartments remaining. 25972 was purchased from BR Salisbury in 1990, and was transferred to Long Marston in Warwickshire for storage. The carriage was moved to Bitton in 2008 and it was converted by volunteers to an open configuration by removal of remaining internal partitions to form the second coach for the new seating area attached to the Buffet building. Upon completion, the carriage was named “Rose" and is a popular carriage amongst guests. With Sunday lunches, meetings and parties often taking place within the vehicle.

The carriage was named ‘Rose’ in memory of Rose Hitchings, one of the first volunteers who provided catering facilities at Bitton Station - initially in an old wagon on the site of the present day Buffet building before moving into what is now our gift shop.

If you have any information about this carriage that you would like to add, please email it to: info@avonvalleyrailway.org.