The Birdcage that sang for its supper…
by Geoff Silcock

First published in issue 63 of The Tenterden Terrier Spring 1994
Reproduced with permission of present editor Mr P D Shaw

“The date is forty years on from 16 December 1953. Observed from my side bench seat high in the lantern of our time-machine, Terrier chaff fusses overhead, making staccato patterns against the low sun. The frothy exhaust dissolves, like an ebbing tide, across the neatly churned undulating field-scapes, and early winter meadows from Rolvenden. So it was and so it is”

I suppose it all started , when the first of “Silcock’s Sunshine Tours” ran on the Dean Forest Railway, with another black engine. Pannier 9681 became 3775, a Dean Forest ‘regular’ in the sixties with a motley freight, and a good time was had by all concerned.

On the way back to our East London lair that evening, a certain green Terrier was mulled over as being ‘ripe’ for a livery change, with only a year or so of its boiler ticket to go.

It became a devious challenge to Mark Toynbee a few days later. It went something like “How much revenue would No.10 ‘Sutton’ make in its present livery…and how much more in BR mode, bearing in mind the 30th and 40th anniversaries of the Hayling Island and regular passenger on the K&ESR closures?”

Certain accoutrements (bribes) were promised to aid the venture, namely crests and front number and shedplates etc. Although the ‘take-up’ seemed slow, out of the blue one evening in late November, Mark phoned to say that “Sutton” was turning black at that very moment – and be quick with the crests and plates!

It was on the first of January 1993 that the rejuvenated ‘Black Swan’ No.32650 was first seen in action. Although scheduled to run with the two Maunsell Third Brakes, a tug of war ensued before departure time between one of them and a four wheel utility van in the platform road at Tenterden. This was to result in the first two trains of the day with just No.32650 and a single coach. This was certainly a reminder of the regular services of the old K&ESR in its final years.

Mark had also mentioned the Birdcage coach, which had become part of the fixtures and fittings for eight years, since the carriage shed had been built. It wasn’t until early summer that I came to see it, and it was fatal fascination at first sight – and luckily I was shown the best side first! A month or two earlier I had orchestrated the combined volcanic thrash of two unrebuilt Bulleid Pacifics on nine ‘greens’ out of Swanage, and now I was contemplating this wonderful Edwardian time machine in my mind’s eye.

Cocooned for so many years, even malleable pipes had sprouted across the four-foot beneath its elegant bulk. While the viewing side still wore the early K&ESR preservation chocolate and cream, the side hidden by the shed wall was a faded white. It transpired that it was to be banished outside, as that part of the shed was to be concreted over and used as a store area. A meeting of minds indicated that it should at least be waterproof by then, as the birdcage would commence a complete rebuild later in 1994.

The ‘Faithful’ were summoned. There are only a few of us, fewer when the going gets tough. Half of the working force of the Main Line Steam Trust GCR London Area would come – that was two. Two more friends who usually work on their 1950s cars…that made four. The other (very) odd occasional performers were photographers, now intent on seeing the first real ‘mixed’ on the K&ESR for nearly four decades.

The good chocolate and cream side surrendered to rubbing and washing down without too much resistance. Then it came to the eventful weekend when it was repositioned for us to work on the other side. It was like looking at an old girl again in a drab petticoat, and she was certainly in need of a lot of love and attention.

An attempt had been made many years previously to renovate the poorer side, but this had only deteriorated its condition further. About a quarter of the side’s beading was found to be missing, along with most of the screws that secured the panelling. A major job done over the previous year had been the refelting of the roof, which would have been a daunting prospect otherwise for the unwary.

All this time the regal opulence of the SE&CR Family Saloon was taking shape on an adjacent track. It transpired that our birdcage, originally numbered No.1100 had come from the Longmoor Military Railway also, being bought from the Southern Railway in 1943. It had thus completely avoided the British Railways time-span that we were about to create for it! As I had formulated putting a locomotive into two liveries at once – one side lined/one unlined – it seemed natural to paint the Birdcage in two colour schemes, as the two sides never touched (luckily we weren’t painting an auto-trailer!).

Early BR Red had never been attempted on a revenue earning coach in preservation, whilst the flip-side would be in early BR Southern Green. Much academic discussion went on with photographers as to what side was going to be which, until I tossed a coin, and then chose the other side anyway. Such are democratic decisions made, and I was paying for most of the materials.

Progress was slowing down on the ‘rough’ side, mainly through the laborious and time consuming job of inserting putty into every screw hole and crevice. By now, being most affected by the masterpiece nearing fruition nearby we were going to give them a good run for their money! A highlight at this time was that we found the Birdcage had a real bird’s nest in it, giving rise to the comment that it was because it used to work the Cuckoo Line!!!

It was never our intention to have an ex-works coach, and to this end much of the underframing and bogies were never painted, being cleaned with a mixture of oil and paraffin, which mellowed to give a worn look. I’m told this is what the Bluebell does also?

After preparing both sides for painting, it was an exhilarating experience when I returned from holiday in mid-August to find it resplendent in its new liveries, thanks to the lightning paintbrush of James Palk. Whilst the Southern BR was commercially available as Dulux Cumberland Green with its undercoat, a member of the group Peter Zabek obtained a ‘swash’ of the early BR Red, and it was mixed specially for the rough side.

At least two Birdcages coaches were known to have resided on the K&ESR in the late 1940s/early 1950s, so the ‘green side’ became S6638S and the ‘red side’ S3291S. These, and the Guard transfers were obtained from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway,taking most of the day to affix them in the correct positions. It became apparent that there were many different variants of Birdcage stock built, originally in sets of course, then becoming single units, as was the case with our two. There were even corridor end Birdcage sets introduced for inter-regional working, though they must have been rare birds (!) on branch lines.