An inspection saloon
W80976W is an inspection saloon: a carriage built so railway officers and engineers could travel the line and see the track ahead through her large end windows. She was designed by Frederick Hawksworth, the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, to Diagram Q13, Lot 1701.
She was used as the Taunton Inspector’s Saloon, the name some people may still know her by.
Part of this line for more than 75 years
She was completed at Swindon in 1948, just after the railways were nationalised, and in 1949 she was at work on the Minehead branch. That makes her part of this line’s history for more than 75 years.
The West Somerset Railway Association bought her in 2011. In 2012 she was given an extensive restoration that kept her original underframe and bogies and returned her to British Railways (Western Region) chocolate and cream.
Key dates
| 1948 | Built at Swindon to a Great Western design |
| 1949 | At work on the Minehead branch |
| 2011 | Bought by the West Somerset Railway Association |
| 2012 | Extensive restoration, returned to chocolate and cream |
| 2022 | Loaned to the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway for three years |
| 25 July 2026 | Returned by road to Bishops Lydeard |
| 4 August 2026 | Hauled to Minehead by D9526 |
| Autumn 2026 | Sheeted over and moved into covered storage |
| 2027 | Our aim: back in service |
Gallery
