Class 503 Unit

How it started, how it’s going…..

28690 arriving at the Coventry Railway Centre in September 1996 and pictured waiting to leave Cockshute sidings for a new home in Llynclys 27 and a half years later. In the intervening years this unit has never attracted more than a dribble of support, resulting in no progress and two of the cars of the unit having to be disposed of. 28690 remains as the last chance for 503 preservation but it won’t happen without supporters.

The vehicle urgently needs income to put a decent cover over it, pay the monthly cost of storage and then build a pot of funds to be used for renovation work.

Can you take on a monthly contribution to give this vehicle the future it has thus far been denied? Your contributions are eligible for gift aid if you are a UK tax payer and all the forms you need to pledge your support for the 503 can be found here:
http://www.4sub4732.co.uk/downloads/hett/HETT503_PledgeForms.pdf

Posted on behalf of the Suburban Electric Railway Association. It may be of interest to some on here. Please feel free to share this post. DO NOT CONTACT US CONCERNING THIS.

Following a review of the items in the Suburban Electric Railway Association (SERA) collection and based upon what the group can realistically hope to restore in the future the decision has been taken to offer the body of Liverpool Overhead Railway first class trailer car no. 7 to any interested party. The body is offered free of charge but the new owner must collect it from its current site in Kent and relocate it at their own expense. The SERA feels it will never be able to progress this project in the future and would like to see it offered another chance before disposing of it.

The body has been in the care of the SERA for 25 years, having previously been at Steamport, Southport. To date no restoration work has ever been undertaken. The condition of the body is poor, it had all its interior fittings removed prior to going to Southport, except for one seat and the screens where the two sliding doors are on each side. The underframe is believed to be the original one from 1898 and is constructed of hardwood and in good condition. The body was modernised in 1947 with aluminium panelling over the timber framework and sliding doors fitted. The ceiling has suffered water damage over the years and the roof canvas is in poor condition. The vehicle has been sheeted over for the last decade. The current sheeting is not included in any transfer of ownership.

The structure of the body is reasonable on the ends and one bodyside but has been damaged on one side and the side at one end has become detached in the area of the door and is now only held on by the roof joints so would present a considerable restoration challenge. A section of the floor has been removed adjacent to the door at the other end from the damage to the bodyside.

The vehicle lost its original bogies when it left the Liverpool Overhead Railway and for the last 40 years has sat on a pair of accommodation bogies (believed to be from Horwich works). THESE BOGIES ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE OFFER OF TRANSFER and will be retained by the SERA.

The vehicle was offered to the Liverpool City Museum in 2018 and they declined it.

The body may be suitable for a shed, man cave or glamping conversion in the right hands and any interested parties are requested to get in touch with the SERA by email to [email protected] a viewing can be arranged by prior appointment. Please note the photo of the vehicle uncovered dates from 1998 but all other photos are recent.

We’ve had three new pledges in support of the 503 which is a real step in the right direction for this project. Can we get just one more?

https://www.hett.org.uk/support-us

Here’s a flashback to 1996 when the unit was inspected at Kirkdale depot immediately prior to entering preservation.

This was produced ten years ago as part of a work stream for a much bigger project. It is an explanation of how electrification and the electric trains came into being and developed in the UK in the form of a route map.

There have been further developments in the last ten years that may be worth including but the map still holds up for the original purpose it was intended.

Who would like this produced as a piece of merchandise for your wall?

The late 1930s must be considered a golden age of EMU construction. It was during this period that a series of designs were drawn up and started delivery to various parts of the country. Designed from the ground up to be capable of moving a lot of people over short distances on intensely worked suburban services this new wave of designs were ahead of their time and a step change from anything that had run on their respective lines before; and it must be said they were light years ahead of anything running on the third rail network south of London. Delivery started in 1937 but the Second World War intervened and delayed delivery of the last examples until 1954.

These unit themselves can trace their ancestry back to the ground breaking F Stock built for the District Line in 1920, the first EMU built in Britain that didn’t owe anything to the stylings of the American rolling stock that had been the influence for Britain’s early EMUs up until the time of the First World War.

Despite being built for different lines there were a lot of common styles, equipment and layout shared by the new wave. All featured all steel construction, air operated sliding doors, low voltage electro pneumatic control of the high voltage traction and heating, electro-pneumatic and automatic air brakes and motors geared for fast acceleration but low top speeds, the internal layout had provision for crush loading standing passengers as the railway companies were accepting to the fact that at peak times you would never get everyone a seat so best provide space for them to stand. Today we know these units as the 1938 tube stock, O & P surface stock (London Transport), class 502, class 503 (LMS), class 506 and class 306 (LNER). They were design classics of their time, everything about them made sense and that made them totally suitable to the networks they were built for. It is no accident that when British Rail wanted a new suburban electric train in the 1970s it was this earlier generation that provided the inspiration for the BREL 72 units that were built as a result of the PEP prototypes.

We have 903 followers on here.

You’ve all read the posts over the last few days. You know the situation. It’s time to stand up for the 503. We have to start somewhere. So it’s over to you guys.

Can we get just 4 of you to sign up for bronze pledges to the HETT 750 Supply Scheme by this weekend?

The Heritage Electric Trains Trust | Support us | 750 Supply Established to manage the project, we are also promoting a rewards scheme for the 40 most loyal supporters with the intention of establishing a ‘750 Supply’

There has been questions asked about the possibilities of returning the 503 unit to the North West. What are the nearest heritage railway sites, operational or static, to Merseyside that are in existence now - so no proposals or pipe dreams please, real sites.

Following on from yesterdays post, which has prompted some activity. It is worth taking this debate further, so here are some of the options for the future of the unit, this list is not exhaustive but is provided as a starting point.

Option 1.
A new organisation is formed and the unit is gifted to them and the new organisations removes if from Margate to the location they choose to base their project at. HETT has no further involvement with the 503.

Option 2.
New people with skills and the time to devote to the 503 project join the HETT board of trustees to exclusively take on the management of the 503 project.

Option 3.
A new 503 Supporters Group is established to aid fundraising for the project. This group won’t own the unit but will be a public face in terms of promotion, sales etc… (similar to the 4-SUB Association)

Option 4.
The 503 is moved to Sellindge as currently planned and continues to be ignored and forgotten about for the foreseeable future, until another plan can replace this option.

All of these options require the end of 'Why doesn't someone else do something about this?' mentality as in 25 years no one else has ever turned up, and they never will. The purpose of this debate is to hope that those who want to see the unit survive feel empowered enough to act as it is within your ability to make this change happen.

A visit to Margate today to check in on the 503, it’s still there but we were meant to be moving it to an alternative storage site this week. Those plans were scuppered by circumstances beyond our control and we now have to go back and think about dates in the near future when this can be arranged.

It needs to be stressed that the unit is going into further storage with no prospect of any restoration in the near or intermediate future so perhaps this is a good time to ask the wider community again what they want to see happen with this unit and how can it be achieved given it currently has no financial or physical support.

The Heritage Electric Trains Trust would be willing to talk to any organisation or individuals who can provide a future for this three coach set rather than sitting under a tarpaulin in indefinite storage. It’s time to think about a future.

We still have copies of The Electric Railways of Liverpool & Manchester By Graeme Gleaves.

Only signed copies available

All money raised will go the Heritage Electric Trains Trust (Owners of the Class 503)

Signed is £18 (including post)

We do have more books avaliable which can be found via the 4SUB Association sales page. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.446247929854765&type=3

Another photo by John Atkinson. This time of Class 503 1938 stock M28689 at Birkenhead North 22nd September 1981.

A 3rd photo by John Atkinson. This time is a picture of M28382 at Garston in plain br blue. Notice the roller blind is not functional at the destination is in the cab window.

Here is the 2nd photo provided by John Atkinson. Here is M29140M Birkenhead North on the 22nd September 1981.

We have recently been provided some photos by John Atkinson to use

M28674M leads a unidentified unit on a six car train into Wallasey on 12th September 1980.

Photo by John Atkinson.

Hi all

We have further copies of The Electric Railways of Liverpool & Manchester By Graeme Gleaves.

We only have signed copies avalailbe

All money raised will go the Heritage Electric Trains Trust (Owners of the Class 503)

Signed is £18 (including post)

Who is interested?

A nice mix of liveries as all blue M28675M leads a blue/grey unit on a six car train into Birkenhead North on 5 May 1979.

Photo by Basil Hancock

With permisson from Chris Bowden Smith. Here is a picture of of our unit end 29289 at New Brighton during its final years of BR Blue Grey.

Class 503 Unit updated their info in the about section.

A update from 4-SUB Unit 4732 regarding some filming that took place recently inside where the Class 503 and 4SUB are currently stored.

Please note we are unable to share the footage.

As some of you are aware. There has been a recent documentary series on Hornby that is currently airing on yesterday at 9pm.

Whilst watching the episodes, we noticed there was some drone footage of our train which included the roof which was something we were not able to capture when we last visited due to our drone had a fault.

With thanks to Simon Brookscastle (Shutt) of the General Steam Navigation Locomotive Restoration Society for providing details of the production company and Ben Sutton of Rare Tv (the production company). We have been able to get some drone footage of the roof of 4SUB 4732.

We would like to personally thank Simon and Ben for helping providing this footage which will aid the restoration of 4SUB 4732

Please Note. We are unable to share the footage.

Our unit has been featured in the 50 years of MerseyRail in the Liverpool Echo. It is a picture of carraige 28690 before the installation of the central door for evacation from the tunnels. Picture is part of the Paul Gorton collection. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/gallery/brilliant-pictures-celebrate-50-years-21931960

This document is authored and produced by the Heritage Electric Trains Trust on behalf of the Railway Heritage Register Partnership as part of our ongoing commitment to promoting electric railway heritage.

https://www.facebook.com/1928051930769255/posts/3055000634741040/

There is a new updated version of the Register of Preserved Electric Multiple Units & Railcars available as of tonight. You can use this to find a comprehensive list of all the EMU vehicles that have survived to find a place in a heritage or repurposed setting in the U.K. this includes units recently retired and saved like the Class 483 Isle of Wight units pictured here.

This and all RHRP content can be found at:

http://www.rhrp.org.uk/surveystatus.htm

We posted this photo way back in 2014. It is from the Mersey Railways Collection. It is a very rare photo of our unit in service before installation of the central door and in BR Green and in colour. If anyone has any photos of our 503, we would love to see them. We do have our Flickr page which they can be added. We now have over 500 photos of both the 503 and is neighbour 4-SUB Unit 4732

https://flickr.com/groups/heritageelectrictrainstrust/pool/

As of yesterday evening, we passed 750 likes on the Class 503 page. Firstly I would like to thank all the new people that have liked the page. It’s quite a turnaround from earlier this year when we had less than 500 likes.

Our 750 Volt Supply appeal is still open. The unit is part of the Heritage Electric Trains alongside unit Class 4SUB 4732. More details can be found here - https://www.hett.org.uk/support-us

Also, we can accept donations to our registered charity via PayPal, if you are unable to commit to a regular monthly pledge then this is a way to make a one off donation. Click this link to make a donation by PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=AL2N3AXUGQ79Y

Onto the next target of 1000 likes. Please feel free to share the page, invite friends etc.

So here is probably something you may not of known about the Class 503. When it was painted back into its LMS livery, the painters left on the back of carraiges details of when and who painted the train. Probably something that would not happen these days what with trains being sprayed/wrapped.

We paid a visit to Margate to check up on the 503 today, nothing new to report. It’s still safe and dry.

A little update from our sister group 4SUB unit 4732 about the East Kent Railway Bank Holiday Weekend Announcement (yes we do have some class 503 items avaliable on our stand).

On the Saturday only, we have not one but TWO authors signing books.

We will have Graeme Gleaves with his latest book "North Eastern Electric Stock 1904 to 2020 and John Scott-Morgan with his latest book The East Kent Railway: The Line that Ran to Nowhere.
Details of the event below.
https://www.facebook.com/events/518484255965682?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22page_admin_bar%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22page_id%5C%22%3A509640622481648%7D%22%7D%2C%7B%22surface%22%3A%22events_admin_tool%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22recommended_actions%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22[]%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D