GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station - Grouping Period Rolling Stock: gwrbsh1798

Great Western Railway seventy foot long, toplight third class coach No 3686 in the 1943 chocolate and cream livery with twin shield, at one of the main line platforms of Snow Hill Station in 1947. This was one of the twenty coaches built to diagram C29 under Lot 1154, between February and May 1909, with running numbers 3669 to 3688. A further ten coaches were completed by August 1912 (lot 1208) and a final batch of twenty were completed by June 1913 (lot 1214). These coaches were condemned in November 1957.

These main line coaches had gangways and a full length side corridor with access to ten third class compartments plus a lavatory at each end. The side seen here is the compartment side with the original moulded panel-work and toplight windows. Some of the coaches had these toplight windows blanked-off in their latter days. On the roof are the distinctive shell ventilators and at each end are the outlines of the two water tanks for the lavatories. Steps were provided at each end of the coach to allow access to the roof for refilling these tanks. Also on the roof were the destination boards, where train routes were displayed. The vertical strips adjacent to the toilet windows are for the individual carriage identification numbers.

Robert Ferris

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