SK (Second Corridor) Carriage Refurbishment Appeal

Reason for This Fundraising Campaign:

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Background :

This SK Compartment Carriage, which is one of the mainstays of our passenger services, was, for many years, owned by a private consortium of Trust members.  Following a protracted transfer it has recently come into the ownership of the Trust.  

Whilst the exterior, thanks to our Volunteer Restoration Team, is in presentable condition, the same cannot be said for the interior and passenger compartments.  The moquette is in a very tired condition. Furthermore a motley collection of seat backs and cushions were all that we had to fit into some of the eight compartments.  Several of these don’t even have matching moquette as will be seen in the photographs alongside.  The other photograph shows the standard that has been achived with the restoration of our second compartment carriage which will be matched. 

Current position:

For some time there have been several comments from both visitors and working volunteers on site about the very poor condition of the SK seats. Some volunteers have expressed their embarrassment at showing visitors into their allocated compartments where they are presented with torn, well-worn and dirty appearance of the seats.

On the 13 December 2021 a further examination of the seats was undertaken and found that the condition has deteriorated further with most compartments having well-worn or have badly ripped seats.

This clearly presents a very poor image of the railway to our visitors and must be addressed. The photographs illustrate just how urgently the renovation is needed.

Opportunity:

With the Christmas operations behind us we have no train services until the Spring giving the opportunity for the seats to be removed and sent away for reupholstering.

Our contract Upholsterer has capacity in the first quarter of this year for this work to be undertaken and for the seats to be returned before the operating season begins around April.

The chain link moquette as used our Buffet Carriage and the BSK Carriage which is used in our passenger train formations has received much high praise from visitors and volunteers and this is the standard we must achieve for SK M26049

In addition to the seats further work is required on the SK to replace certain Formica panelling that has warped and for the luggage racks to be restrung.