Bogie Coach No. 101

This coach was originally built in 1936 for the Ramsgate Tunnel Railway. During its long life it was damaged in a fire, resulting in the original body being scrapped. Only the chassis has survived into preservation, with the body currently on it being a new design.

In the early 2000s the chassis was acquired by the Moors Valley Railway, and work was soon started on constructing a new body. At one point there were plans to run this coach as an auto-coach with steam locomotive 'Emmet', this would have allowed the driver to drive the steam locomotive from the rear end of the coach, useful for railways which don't have a run round loop.

Work on the project at the Moors Valley Railway slowed down due to other priorities, and in May 2022 the coach was moved to the Old Kiln Light Railway.

Coach No. 101 is currently under construction in the OKLR's workshops. It is being finished with a guard's compartment and a disabled access saloon compartment, which will in the future provide an accessible vehicle allowing mobility-impaired users to travel on our trains.

Latest Progress

May 2024

Construction of the doors has begun, with the first passenger door being made with provision for a dropdown window. The remaining doors are under construction.

Historical Progress

May 2023

After delivery and initial testing, it was found that the wheel sets were 1/2 inch too narrow for the OKLR's track gauge.

Due to this, the wheel sets were removed and sent away for re-gauging at Alan Keef Ltd.

This also gave us an opportunity to inspect and clean the bogies.

June 2023

The wheels have been returned from re-gauging and have been put back into the bogies and were tested on the track before they were installed under the coach body.

January 2024

New handbrake column and mechanisms have been installed in the guard's compartment for their use.

March 2024

After hitting our heads on the roof of the coach, we decided to raise the roof to a new profile. This allowed an extra few inches of headroom in the coach.