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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