Posted: Wednesday 06th Oct
Fire Safe Services were the chosen provider when it came to thinking outside of the box on how to protect some of the of the oldest and most prized heritage railway carriages in the UK.
Chris Bond, Infrastructure Manager at the Severn Valley Railway, said: “The shed itself is covered by the primary fire detection system, which uses heat detectors. Our concern was that if a fire broke out in one of the carriages, this could be severely damaged before the primary system activated. Our aim is to try and detect a fire in the early stages to reduce this risk as the cost to restore some of our heritage carriages could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Wireless was the obvious solution, and it was integrated seamlessly with the existing system.
There was clearly a need for enhanced protection at the Severn Valley Railway. The challenge was how to deliver it. A wireless system was the obvious choice and, after careful consultation we were able to devise a bespoke system that protects the carriages when they are out of use, without inhibiting their regular use on rail services.
Aesthetics was also a major consideration for these historic carriages. The devices needed to be as unobtrusive as possible. Some of the carriages are owned by private individuals or consortia and, following consultation with these individuals and groups, it was agreed that the low- impact design of the wireless devices meant the design had no major detrimental impact on the aesthetics of the carriages.
