Planning a Mail Train
Having ‘cracked’ the main problems with building my Mail Coach, I have started thinking about the other vehicles that made up that ill-fated train. According to the accident report, the engine ‘Rob Roy’ was pulling three passenger carriages, and a luggage van. It is stated that the leading carriage had a break compartment in it, and that the third carriage, which was the mail carriage, also carried a guard.
This leaves me trying to decide what the other carriages might have been. A Mail Train at that period was unlikely to have carried third-class passengers, while first-class carriages did not have brakes, so it seems likely that the first carriage was a second-class carriage and the ‘brake-less’ second carriage was either first-class or a 1st/ 2nd composite.
The next step was to look for potential candidates from the list of Broad Gauge stock available in 1868. The data sheets from the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) list 32 types of BG passenger carriages, built between 1837 and 1868 (excluding Royal Saloons and Metropolitan carriages). Although some very old carriages remained in service on secondary trains, I have assumed that the Mail Train would be composed of reasonably modern stock, so have narrowed my choice down to the ‘Revised Standard’ stock introduced from 1854 onwards.
This stock includes 47 1st/ 2nd Composite carriages, built in 1854, of which one can be seen in a photo at Swindon, indicating that they were still running, towards the end of the Broad Gauge. My colourised version of the photo is below:
There were also 55 1st class carriages, built in 1854, of which one was photographed outside Paddington in the 1860s. An interesting feature of this group was that the two central 1st class compartments were divided by a partition with a sliding door, on the centre-line of the carriage, resulting in four separate compartments with four seats in each.
For the ‘braked’ carriage, there are two candidates from this period: 40 2nd class carriages were produced to similar overall dimensions as the previous two types. These were the carriages from which 6 were converted to the Mail Coaches that I have already modelled. A further 68 similar carriages were added in 1857, with modifications that included rectangular quarter-lights and, surprisingly, a reversion to the use of wooden frames. Three of this later type were recorded as being transferred to the South Wales line and two had a guard’s compartment, which makes these excellent candidates for ‘my’ train. Unfortunately, there is no known photograph of any of these carriages. I have made an ‘illustration’ on the basis of drawings on the BGS data sheet.
During the early 1860’s, relatively small numbers of a new ‘panelled’ design were introduced (3 x 1st class, 6 x composites, and 22 x 2nd class) but details (either drawings or photos) are largely unknown, so I have decided to exclude these from ‘my’ train.
It is notable that all these carriages had rather low roofs, with an interior height within the compartments of only 6 feet (1.83 m). The first ‘raised roof’ (6’ 6” interior height) designs did not appear until 1869, except, of course, for the Postal section of the Mail Coach.
For the luggage van at the rear of the train, there is a wide choice, although most passenger train vans had a guard’s compartment, which is not mentioned in the accident report. One possibility is the 6-wheel ‘iron’ third-class carriages of 1845, which were converted to luggage vans in 1859, after which several survived until the end of the Broad Gauge.
So ‘my’ Mail Train could end up looking like this:
The BGS list kits for some of these coaches but, at present, I’m considering exercising my Silhouette cutter for the sides and adding various detailing components from the BGS range.
There is also the small matter of the engine - ‘Rob Roy’, for which no kit is available. The BGS kit for the Gooch Standard Goods, however, has the correct boiler and many other fittings, so could form the basis of a model of this large 4-4-0. I intend to investigate this possibility.
It seems that I have plenty of plans, which should keep me occupied for a considerable time. Now… where to start? (That luggage van looks temptingly simple )
Mike
Edited by MikeOxon
Restore images
- 12
10 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now