37423 and inspection saloon Caroline South Wingfield

975025 ''Caroline'', originally the Southern Region General Manager's Saloon, is an inspection saloon used for

rail inspection Rail inspection is the practice of examining rail tracks for flaws that could lead to catastrophic failures. According to the United States Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis, track defects are the second leading cause of ...

duties on the railway network in Great Britain, and which has historically been used as a

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples incl ...

excursion train An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples are trains to major sporting event, trains run for railfans or tourists, and special trains operated by the railway company for employees and prominent customer ...

on several occasions. The saloon carriage is notable for being used as the

British Royal Train The British Royal Train is used to convey senior members of the British royal family and associated staff of the Royal Household around the railway network of Great Britain. It is owned, maintained and operated by DB Cargo UK. The Royal Trai ...

between

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...

and for the first part of the

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

trip following the

wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer The wedding of the Prince of Wales (future King Charles III) and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride was ...

on 29 July 1981. One year later on 28 May 1982, ''Caroline'' was the transport for

Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom The visit of Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom in 1982 was the first visit there by a reigning Pope. The Pope arrived in the UK on Friday 28 May, and during his time there visited nine cities, delivering 16 major addresses. Among significant ...

between and

London Victoria station Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Qu ...

. Additionally, ''Caroline'' formed the first

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

passenger service into the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

on 22 October 1992, leaving from

Waterloo International railway station Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 to its closure on 13 November 2007, when it was replaced by London St Pancras International as the terminal ...

and propelled by 73112 ''University of Kent'' into the tunnel. The passengers on the journey were those from the Parliamentary All-Party Channel Tunnel Group. The train left Waterloo International at 10:10, and ran to Clapham Junction where it reversed and ran to Orpington and on to Ashford International for access to

Dollands Moor Freight Yard Dollands Moor Freight Yard is a railway freight yard near Folkestone in Kent, and was purpose built in 1988 for the Channel Tunnel. It is to the west of the Eurotunnel Folkestone Terminal, and just to the south of the M20 Motorway. Descriptio ...

. The Channel Tunnel was entered at 13:00. On 18 March 1996, ''Caroline'' and 33109 travelled to

Chesham tube station Chesham is a London Underground station in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. The station opened on the 8 July 1889 by the Metropolitan Railway (MR). It is the terminus station of the Chesham branch of the Metropolitan line, which runs fr ...

on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

network as part of suitability investigations for the

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway ...

project.

History

The vehicle was originally built in 1958 at

Eastleigh Works Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh, in the county of Hampshire in England. History LSWR The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Eas ...

as type AZA trailer restaurant

buffet car A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where food and beverages can be bought at a counter and consumed.British Rail Class 203 The British Rail Class 203, initially classified 6B, was a type of diesel-electric train. Seven units, numbered 1031-1037, were constructed in 1958 for use on the Southern Region. They were similar to the earlier Class 202 units, differing only ...

diesel-electric multiple-unit No. 1036, until withdrawal during 1964. These "Hastings Units" had a narrow body profile for working through tunnels on the Hastings Line, and is the reason for the continued narrow width of ''Caroline''.

Modern use

As of 2012, the saloon has had

push–pull train Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not. A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via ...

controls similar to a

Driving Van Trailer A Driving Van Trailer (DVT) is a Great Britain, British purpose-built control car railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate with a locomotive in Push-pull train, push-pull formation from the opposite end of a train. A key benefit of ...

for a period of several decades, to allow it to remotely control an accompanying locomotive. It was previously the Southern Region General Manager's Saloon, having been converted at

Stewarts Lane Stewarts Lane is a large railway-servicing facility in Battersea in London, England, founded by the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in 1862, to serve London Victoria railway station. It is sited in the midst of a maze of railway lines ...

Depot for that purpose in 1969 and re-numbered as 975025 in 1978. For this, ''Caroline'' was fitted with Southern Region-style multiple working controls allowing usage with

British Rail Class 33 The British Rail Class 33, also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton, is a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives, ordered in 1957 and built for the Southern Region of British Railways between 1960 and 1962. They were produced as a more po ...

and 73 diesel locomotives, and other Class 400 EMUs. By 1991 it could be seen in

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the netwo ...

livery. In 1999, ''Caroline'' was overhauled by

Fragonset Railways FM Rail was a railway charter company based in Derby, England. The company was formed when spot hire company Fragonset Railways and charter operator Merlin Rail merged. It went into administration in 2006. History Fragonset Railways Fra ...

at the

Railway Technical Centre The Railway Technical Centre (RTC) in London Road, Derby, England, was the technical headquarters of the British Railways Board, and was built in the early 1960s. British Rail described it as the largest railway research complex in the world. T ...

in Derby and transferred to

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

, subsequently being frequently operated by

Victa Westlink Rail Victa Westlink Rail was a railway company based at Derby, United Kingdom. The company was formed in December 2006 following the liquidation of FM Rail. It has since been absorbed by Stobart Rail. Victa is a well-known name in the rail industr ...

. Modifications in the late 2000s converted ''Caroline'' to require an

electric train heating In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, p ...

(ETH) supply and use the "blue star" multiple working system. After this conversion it was normally propelled by a Class 37 diesel locomotive. The inside of the cab states that ''Caroline'' has a maximum speed of .

Preservation and heritage

On 12 December 2008, ''Caroline'' was "designated for preservation" following a vote by the

Railway Heritage Committee The Railway Heritage Committee (RHC) was set up in the 1990s following the Privatisation of British Rail in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. Its purpose was to identify and designate railway records and artefacts which were historically significan ...

, after earlier consideration by the Artefacts Sub-committee concluded that the case for designation was 'marginal'.

References

External links

* {{Network Rail Departmental Multiple Unit Classes

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

Train-related introductions in 1964