Page 9 - Dora Brochure

History

Dora was built in 1897
as First Class Buffet
Car No 202 for the
South East &
Chatham Railway
(SE&CR). In 1919
SE&CR had a
number of their
carriages converted to
Pullman Cars at the
Pullman Works near
Brighton.

The conversion seems

to have maintained the exterior form but upgraded the interior décor and furnishings. The marquetry is
not as elaborate as some Pullman Cars, but it is still impressive and much of it has survived now for over
100 years.

We have plans of Dora before
conversion but not after.
However we have plans of
Pullman ‘Mabel’ which is
almost identical in layout.
This shows that the doors
were retained and the
windows kept the same style
but moved position.

There are around 10 Pullman
Cars in Selsey as well as

other carriage homes. Key to this was Jacob
“Tommy” Berg, who bought a parcel of land on
East Beach. He had a friend who was responsible
for disposal of excess stock from the railway.
Together they brought the carriages to the area
to act as holiday homes and bathing chalets. The
first, in 1920, was Stewarton, next door to Dora.
inside are two smaller carriages, Stewarton and
Hercules. Dora was placed on site in about 1929.
The extension was added sometime later in the
20th Century.

Stewarton with Dora behind