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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line
Birmingham Snow Hill - Grouping Period Rolling Stock:
gwrbsh2494
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Great Western Railway ganged corridor clerestory brake third
(diagram D29) No 3358 viewed at the end of a departing down train on the main
line at the north end of Birmingham Snow Hill station in 1947. The GWR crest
can be seen in the centre of the coach's waist, above which are the brackets
for a coach identification board. This coach was 56 feet long and had three 3rd
class compartments, a lavatory (with the raised roof water tank lid above), a
guards compartment with protruding side lookouts (this compartment contained
the brake gear), plus a 34 foot, 6 inch long extended luggage area. The
photograph shows the compartment side of the coach with each passenger
compartment having a door with a droplight window. Commode style handles
adjacent to each door and decorative mouldings were also features typical of
the period when these coaches were built. These coaches were built with steam
heating and had gas lighting located in, and ventilated by, the clerestory, but
electric lighting was generally provided around 1930. The bogies are the
standard ten foot wheelbase suspension bogies designed by William Dean, which
were installed on coaches constructed between 1895 and 1904. Movement was
controlled by the two pairs of volute springs on each bogie.
There were fifty-one coaches built to diagram D29 under various
lots between 1899 and 1904, with the last being condemned around 1950. The lots
are detailed in the table below. Coach No 3358 belonged to Lot 917.
| Lot |
Completion Date |
Quantity |
Running Numbers |
| 916 |
May 1899 |
10 |
3361 – 3370 |
| 917 |
July 1899 |
10 |
3351 – 3360 |
| 923 |
October 1899 |
10 |
3301 – 3310 |
| 998 |
November 1902 |
4 |
3445 – 3448 |
| 1009 |
January 1903 |
1 |
3305 (replacement see note below) |
| 1019 |
May 1903 |
6 |
3449 – 3454 |
| 1036 |
September 1903 |
5 |
2332 – 2336 |
| 1050 |
March 1904 |
5 |
2337 – 2341 |
Note - The original No 3305 was altered to Composite No 714 on
20th June 1902 and later renumbered No 6714 in 1907. In this form it had two
1st class compartments, one 2nd class compartment, one 3rd class compartment
plus lavatory and guards area. This coach was redesignated a brake third coach
on 25th May 1912 and renumbered No 3733. It was condemned on 1st April 1939.
This photograph is displayed courtesy of the HMRS (Historical
Model Railway Society) and copies can be ordered directly from them using the
link
HERE, quoting reference AEL426.
Robert Ferris
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