BR Mark 1

BR Mark 1s (Mk1) are the first BR era carriages preserved on the South Western Heritage Railway. The railway has five types of Mk1s.

Brake Second Open (BSO)
The BSO is used by the South Western Heritage Railway as Swithland Hall and Parramatta's support coaches, a little office on wheels. This carriage was based on the Brake Second Corridor or BSK. They were introduced in British Railways Crimson and Cream livery and most were withdrawn in British Rail blue and white livery.

History
The BSO was an open version of the BSK and brake version of the SO introduced by British Railways in the early 1950s.

Livery
The BSOs preserved on the South Western Heritage Railway are painted to match the locomotive which the carriage is allocated as support coach for:


 * Swithland Hall: BR Chocolate and Cream livery


 * Parramatta: NSWGR Tuscan Red livery

Trivia
The BSO's role of support coach is based on the actual conversion of former passenger Mk1s for preserved steam locomotives on the mainline.

Due to their being only two BSOs on the line, this makes them the rarest Mk1s on the SWHR.

Both BSOs are fitted with Commonwealth bogies instead of BR1 bogies, indicating that these two coaches were built after 1961, when the Commonwealth bogie became standard for new BR Mk1 vehicles.

Paramatta's BSO is the only Mk1 not painted in any livery used by a UK or European railway, instead an Australian railway company.

Second Corridor (SK)
The SK is one of the only carriages that is not an open Mark 1 on the South Western Heritage Railway.

History
Simular to the Second Open (SO) carriage, the Second Corridor (SK) is a compartment carriage compared to the SO, which is like a plane's layout for seating but with a fixed table in the middle. They were introduced the same time as most Mark 1 carriages. Today, they are used on heritage railways and rail tour on the mainline.

Livery
The South Western Heritage Railway has 16 SKs from two regions of BR: in 2011, the railway had finished restoring the last SKs from the Eastern region and were painted in BR Crimson and Cream livery while the Southern Region stock were painted in BR Green.
 * 4 came from the Southern Region
 * 12 came from the Eastern Region