Two Edwardian coach bodies have been donated to SERA and were delivered and unloaded at the Coventry site on Saturday June 24th. The bodies are of two former City & South London Railway trailer coaches that were donated by the London Underground Railway Society who had owned them for more than twenty years previously.
The coaches were some of the last vehicles built for the C&SLR which ran from Euston to Clapham Common and was absorbed into the London Underground network in 1922 when it went on to become the modern Northern Line - City Branch. The older of the two vehicles dates from 1902 (pictured right) and has a teak body mounted on a steel chassis, it is believed to have been numbered 132 in the CSLR fleet having been built by G.F. Milne & Co. The other is an all steel vehicle dating from 1907 numbered 163 and built by Brush. This vehicle is certainly one of the oldest surviving all steel passenger coaches in Britain and possibly the world.
Both vehicles are devoid of their bogies but a set of bogies from a wagon were acquired many years ago by the LURS and have been donated along with the bodies, whether these bogies are suitable for conversion to fit under either coach in any future restoration remains to be seen. Both bodies were acquired by the LURS after many years use as a summer house at a home in Middlesex, they are devoid of many fittings but a fair amount of original parts still survive on them both including a few of the original rattan covered seats. The interior of the 1907 vehicle is pictured left.
