The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) inherited several styles of coaching stock from its constituents. Sir Nigel Gresley continued the styles that he had established pre-grouping at the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and for the East Coast Joint Stock.
Various types of coaches were inherited from pre-grouping companies.
Two GNSR six-wheel coaches of c.1896 are preserved on the Strathspey Railway. A number of GNSR coach bodies have been saved for restoration at Ferryhill Railway Heritage Centre, Aberdeen. One, a full brake, is nearing completion. The GNSR Royal Saloon of 1898 is preserved by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society [1] at Bo'ness. Another six-wheeler is preserved at Embsay, it being the only operational Scottish carriage in England.
A number of these vehicles remain extant on various heritage railways including the NYMR and the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway in addition to the NRM, some being over 100 years old.
Amongst other GNR coaches elsewhere Corridor Composite 2701 is fully restored and operational on the Severn Valley Railway. After withdrawal from main line service it was converted to Camp Coach 157 and located at Mundesley, Norfolk.
Great Northern Railway Lavatory Composite Brake No. 2856 is with the Vintage Carriage Trust at Ingrow on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.
A six-wheel postal carriage from 1885 is also preserved on the Nene Valley Railway.
Gresley first introduced articulation in passenger stock in 1907 using converted vehicles, but in 1911 he produced some articulated suburban stock for the GNR. These were articulated pairs and were later rebuilt as four-coach ('Quadart') units. From 1921 to 1929 further 'Quadart' compartment stock was built with an eventual total of 97 GNR and LNER sets.
Two 'Quadarts' formed an eight-coach train. Because of their high seating capacity they were popular with the operators and some continued in traffic until April 1966. One set is preserved by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Society at the North Norfolk Railway. [1]
The standard LNER corridor coach design was finalised in 1923, using a 60 ft underframe, though some for use on the Great Eastern were on 51 ft underframes. The LNER standard coach was in advance of those of the other three of the Big Four by virtue of the Pullman gangways and buckeye couplers. The wooden teak-panelled body with squared mouldings and windows was more traditional than modern, particularly as the LNER persisted with this construction until 1942. In fact, there were few differences in design over the 1923-42 period, apart from an increase in body width to 9 ft 3in after 1927. All these standard coaches were mounted on Gresley double-bolster 8 ft 6in bogies. The general service stock was withdrawn by 1965. Several examples are preserved.
In 1937, the LNER built two observation coaches at Doncaster Works for use on The Coronation express passenger train during the summer months. Looking quite different to the teak coaches, they in many respects resembled the LNER Class A4 locomotives that hauled the train. The carriages had a conventional corridor connection at one end and a deeply glazed tapered end at the other, so many enthusiast referred to them as Beavertails. Both were fitted out with Art Deco styling and a luxury bar/lounge combination.
During the Second World War both were put in storage and, in 1959, E1719E was rebuilt by British Railways with larger panoramic windows for West Highland Line specials. The other coach, numbered E1729E, went into a long period of storage at Steamtown, Carnforth. Both coaches survive today in the hands of Railway Vehicle Preservations Ltd on the preserved Great Central Railway, Loughborough, where they allow first class ticket holders to travel in restored E1719E. After many negotiations E1729E is now at Nemesis Rail, undergoing restoration into its as-built condition.
Pigeon vans (British Rail classification: BGP) were fairly common rail vehicles on the LNER, which built dozens in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Although designed for transporting racing pigeons to release locations, with very little modification they could also carry mail or other freight. The first batch was made of teak wood, treated with varnish, but the economic climate of World War II meant that many batches were built with steel bodies to the same basic design.
The last two LNER loco-hauled passenger coaches were Buffet/Restaurant cars SC1705E and SC1706E of 1948, although there were still 41 Covered Carriage Trucks (CCT) and 9 six-wheeled brake vans (BZ) officially on the BR stock book in 1978. [2] However, at this time non-BR design carriage stock was being scrapped quickly and there had been 7 passenger carrying and 180 non-passenger carrying LNER coaches in BR stock only 2 years earlier. [3]
One steel-built pigeon van has been preserved, as have 14 of the teak coaches.5 pigeon vans have been restored and are used on heritage railways as guard's vans on passenger trains and mail drop recreations.
The Severn Valley Railway has 7 LNER teak coaches including Buffet No. 643, Kitchen Composite No. 7960, Open Thirds Nos, 24105, 43600, 43612, 52250 along with former pre-grouping GNR composite No. 2701.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway also has 11 coaches originating from the LNER and its constituents including ECJS 189 dating from 1896. This vehicle is being restored at Pickering to its former glory, by the LNER Coach Association (Registered Charity no.1095337) in its later modified form, as a sumptuous 33 seat third class diner having originally been built as a 42-seat vehicle.
In total 38 LNER Teak Coaches have been preserved, although the Railway Heritage Register Partnership record a total of 195 ex-LNER coaches still existing (at least in part), including 39 that have subsequently been scrapped. [4]
Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley was a British railway engineer. He was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). He was the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain, including the LNER Class A1 and LNER Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific engines. An A1 Pacific, Flying Scotsman, was the first steam locomotive officially recorded over 100 mph in passenger service, and an A4, number 4468 Mallard, still holds the record for being the fastest steam locomotive in the world (126 mph).
Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid CBE was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway between 1937 and the 1948 nationalisation, developing many well-known locomotives.
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) produced several classes of locomotive, mostly to the designs of Nigel Gresley, characterised by a three-cylinder layout with a parallel boiler and round-topped firebox. It produced the most famous locomotive of its day, 4468 'Mallard', the holder of the world steam locomotive speed record. It also built the world-famous 4472 'Flying Scotsman'. However, its locomotive inheritance was much greater than just the 'A4 Class', it also produced highly successful mixed-traffic and freight designs.
The British Rail Class 309 "Clacton Express" electric multiple units (EMUs) were built by British Rail (BR) York Carriage Works from 1962–1963. They were initially classified as Class AM9 before the introduction of TOPS. These units were the first express 25 kV alternating current (AC) units to be built by British Rail and were their first EMUs capable of 100 mph.
The British Rail Mark 3 is a type of passenger carriage developed in response to growing competition from airlines and the car in the 1970s. A variant of the Mark 3 became the rolling stock for the High Speed Train (HST).
The Composite Corridor is a railway coach with a number of compartments, some of which are standard class and some first class, linked by a side corridor.
The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that operates between Edinburgh and London, the capitals respectively of Scotland and England, via the East Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862 as the Special Scotch Express until it was officially adopted in 1924. It is currently operated by the London North Eastern Railway.
The London and North Eastern Railway LNER Gresley Classes A1 and A3 locomotives represented two distinct stages in the history of the British 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley. They were designed for main line passenger services and later express passenger services, initially on the Great Northern Railway (GNR), a constituent company of the London and North Eastern Railway after the amalgamation of 1923, for which they became a standard design. The change in class designation to A3 reflected the fitting to the same chassis of a higher pressure boiler with a greater superheating surface and a small reduction in cylinder diameter, leading to an increase in locomotive weight. Eventually all of the A1 locomotives were rebuilt, most to A3 specifications, but no. 4470 was completely rebuilt as Class A1/1.
The Great Northern Railway Class J23 was a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive. They had long side tanks that came to the front of the smokebox, which sloped forwards to improve visibility and had a recess cut in to aid maintenance. Forty were built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) between 1913 and 1922, with a further 62 being added by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) between 1924 and 1939. They were given the nickname "Submarines" due to their long tanks.
The British Rail Class 306 was a fleet of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains introduced in 1949. It consisted of 92 three-car trains which were used on the Great Eastern Main Line between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street.
The British Rail Class 302 was a type of electric multiple unit (EMU) introduced between 1958 and 1960 for outer suburban passenger services on the London, Tilbury and Southend line. This class of multiple unit was constructed using the Mark 1 bodyshell and was slam-door.
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) Class N2 is an 0-6-2T side tank steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley and introduced in 1920. Further batches were built by the London and North Eastern Railway from 1925. They had superheaters and piston valves driven by Stephenson valve gear.
The rolling stock used on the Isle of Man Railway today is entirely original although, from an original total of 75 carriages, the number serviceable dropped as low as 14, but this total is once again increasing as a result of recent rebuilds The 3 ft gauge railway was provided with a variety of stock from different manufacturers over its time, and types of coach were categorised according to a lettering system, with the original four-wheeled coaches being of A, B, C and D types, and so on. The F prefix encompassed all bogie vehicles including conversions from the A-D series. Letters G-M denoted goods stock. N referred to ex-Manx Northern Railway 6 wheel carriages. The types of stock can be summarised as follows:-
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) operated various classes steam locomotives with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. The LNER operated more pacifics than any other of the Big Four British railway companies, and they were mostly used for express passenger work along the East Coast Main Line, though later in their lives many were displaced to other lines.
The 1903 Petrol Electric Autocars were built by the North Eastern Railway in 1903 at their carriage works in York. These were powered by petrol engines which generated electricity for two traction motors which were mounted on the bogie underneath. This means of powering a railway vehicle was pioneering and would eventually be developed into the diesel-electric technology that powered and powers many locomotives worldwide. The railcars were numbered 3170 and 3171 and were 53.5 feet (16.3 m) long and weighed around 35 long tons (36 t). The engine was mounted in an engine compartment 13.25 feet (4.04 m) long. The rest of the vehicles' length was taken up by a vestibule, driving compartment and a 52-seat passenger compartment. Two were built and ran until 1930; one has been restored and preserved in working order.
The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line West Sussex and East Sussex in England.
Hurst, Nelson and Company Ltd was a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Motherwell, Scotland. The company also built many railway wagons, as well as trams and trolleybus carosseries for several local authorities.
A gangway connection is a flexible connector fitted to the end of a railway coach, enabling passengers to move from one coach to another without danger of falling from the train.
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