Buffet Car Sc79443 is the last survivor of the first batch of 'Swindon" Inter-City DMU cars which were built in 1956 for the Edinburgh-Glasgow service (via Falkirk). It is a "TFLB" (Trailer First Lavatory Buffet), with three First Class compartments.
Sc79443 is in a poor state at present and is sheeted over with tarpaulins, having spent too many years out in the rain. Like all BR Mark 1 coaches, this is a steel frame body, and over the years leaks at the windows have allowed water ingress which has corroded everything below window level. Sc79443 is a spectacularly bad case!
As part of our Heritage Lottery Fund Project, we have started some exploratory repairs on the lower bodysides. Access is good because all internal fittings were removed during the asbestos stripping which occurred before we acquired the coach. This work has shown that repairs are practicable, requiring the replacement of welded main body frame members and new bodyside panels. The current Project is not funded to carry out all of this work, so we will finish the present phase in 2008 with some emergency conservation before assessing what is required to complete the repair.
