Conditions of Carriage ( Part 1 – the History of Railway Carriages)

Our first meeting of 2026 was on a bright and quite mild Monday 20 January,
and we had a good turnout to hear Colin Brading giving us the first part of
an illustrated presentation on historic railway carriages and their origin
and development.  Colin highlighted that locomotives had taken pride of
place in the preservation world, exampling the Greatest Gathering, but
emphasised that carriages were what passengers then and now actually
travelled in!!   He also highlighted how much better known Chief Mechanical
Engineers in comparison with their Carriage Superintendent colleagues.

The first railway coaches were similar to the road stage coaches that they
supplanted, being short and four wheeled, whilst the lower orders, who had
not been used to travelling except on foot were banished to open wagons on
occasional trains.    But excursion trains soon widened their traveling
habits a lot.     Before long, legislation and competition (not least from
the Midland) had improved their lot with covered accommodation albeit harder
seats and no carpets.  By the late nineteenth century railway, carriage
building was progressing to open Pullman cars, bogie coaches, the provision
of toilets, restaurant cars and gangways.    Railways continued to pander to
the affluent traveller, who paid much larger fares.

In the second half we cantered through developments of rolling stock around
the country post Grouping with the big 4 and continued with BR standard Mark
1 vehicles, which were followed by the Mark 2s (including the WCML
Pullmans), Mark 3s, Mark 4 and finally Mark 5s some of which Chiltern will
start using soon locally.    Our illustrated tour also veered off into
railmotors, early dmus and then the wider BR dmu programme including the
pacers.

The second part of his talk will deal with the restoration and maintenance
of historic coaches, with reference to many preserved on heritage railways
around the country.

The audience showed their appreciation in the usual way and looked forward
to hearing he other part on a future date.