Birmingham New Street Station: lnwrbns_str1872a

Close up of image 'lnwrbns_str1872' showing the four-compartment third class coach with luggage rails on the roof and tarpaulin sheet and ropes. Early railway coaching stock was initially seen as a development of contemporary road transport and the first railway coaches were effectively stage coaches put on a railway chassis. On the right of the photograph is an example of early railway coaching stock being a three compartment composite coach with the centre compartment being larger than the others on either side. the panelling on the side is very reminiscent of the shape of stage coaches of the 1840s.

Therefore the practice of storing luggage on top of the coach whilst today may be considered bizarre, was certainly not out of the ordinary in the first two decades of railways in Great Britain. However the sparks and embers emitted out of the chimney did prove a threat to the carrying of luggage and this required the luggage to be covered by the tarpaulin for protection. The high speed of travel compared to road transport was another reason for the luggage to be covered and secured with strong ropes. Richard Foster draws his reader's attention to design of the open wagons and the covered carriage truck, the bottom portion being identical. He states that 'vehicles of basically similar design were still being produced in the 1870s and beyond'.

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