Mixed Regional Stock

[Right Away]

Whilst browsing the late David Heys website i picked up on this photograph of a Sheffield to Bournemouth working in the '60s; the first three coaches look to be of LM origin, the following vehicles of SR Maunsell design with a couple of  Bullieds thrown in. (please see link below).

 

The potential of this sort of combination could lead to some interesting modelling variations.

 

A couple of questions for the members: 

Could this type of consist have originated from an attached portion from elsewhere or perhaps strengthening  being required?

Would the corridor connections beween the different stock have been compatible/gangway adapters used?

 

http://www.davidheyscollection.com/userimages/00-0-a-c-verrall-76064.jpg

[robertcwp]

This was by no means uncommon and the LMS-designed stock would have had gangway adaptors.

[The Johnster]

Not at all unusual on cross country services of this sort post nationalisation, and often the stock worked in an 'out one day back the next' pattern that required another set of equally mixed coaches for the reciprocal working.  

[Fat Controller]

The most extreme example of under-utilisation I've seen written about was a rake of SR stock that worked a Saturdays only from Swansea to the Bournemouth area. They would be turned round, reloaded and sent back to Swansea, where they would sit around Maliphant sidings until the following week.

Trains on the NE-SW axis would often consist of portions of stock from a couple of different cities, which would be combined at somewhere like Sheffield or Birmingham, The stock on these trains might be NE region from Newcastle, and ex-LMS from Sheffield They'd then run as a single train as far as Newton Abbot, where they'd be split into Plymouth and Paignton portions; this was common practice well into the 1970s. The two portions had very different clientele; Paignton would be holiday-makers, laden with suitcases and kitchen sinks, whilst the Plymouth portion would be servicemen with huge duffle-bags. The chaos that ensued when BNS advised a train would be leaving in the opposite way to normal (via Camp Hill vice Edgbaston) can be imagined.

[The Johnster]

My Great Uncle Ted, having survived the Great War in the catering corps at Aldershot (they also serve, who only stand and cook), later worked on the GW as a restaurant car chef on the Barry-South Shields ‘Ports to Ports Express’.  This was what was called a ‘double home’ job; he worked throug with the GW stock and lodged in Newcastle overnight while a balancing NER train’s Geordie catering crew lodged in Cardiff. 

 

This, of course, led to all sorts of away from home shenanigans, and Ted needed very little encouragement when it came to shenanigans...

 

The Cardiff-York TPO sorters we’re still doing this in the 90s.  

Edited March 30, 2019 by The Johnster

[DCB]

On 28/03/2019 at 19:39, Right Away said:

Whilst browsing the late David Heys website i picked up on this photograph of a Sheffield to Bournemouth working in the '60s; the first three coaches look to be of LM origin, the following vehicles of SR Maunsell design with a couple of  Bullieds thrown in. (please see link below).

 

The potential of this sort of combination could lead to some interesting modelling variations.

 

A couple of questions for the members: 

Could this type of consist have originated from an attached portion from elsewhere or perhaps strengthening  being required?

Would the corridor connections beween the different stock have been compatible/gangway adapters used?

 

http://www.davidheyscollection.com/userimages/00-0-a-c-verrall-76064.jpg

 

I assume its on the SR with a BR1B tender on a std 4 it looks to me like a scratch SR formation strengthened by 3 LMS coaches.  SR stock usually  roamed in fixed sets and as Bullieds has Pullman Gangways and Buckeyes the inclusion of Maunsels and Bullieds in the same formation smacks of summer Saturday barrel scraping desperation.

 

[SRman]

If you have Mike King's book on Southern coaches, he describes certain dedicated sets that had British Standard Gangways on the outer ends for such interregional traffic. The alternative was to use adapters to connect the BSG type to Pullman gangways, as mentioned above.

[Wickham Green]

6 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

 

I assume its on the SR with a BR1B tender on a std 4 it looks to me like a scratch SR formation strengthened by 3 LMS coaches.  SR stock usually  roamed in fixed sets and as Bullieds has Pullman Gangways and Buckeyes the inclusion of Maunsels and Bullieds in the same formation smacks of summer Saturday barrel scraping desperation.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with mixing Maunsell & Bulleid stock in the same formation : the majority of fixed sets - of either style - were only of three or two cars so a mixture in a lengthy train was probably more normal than not ............ but looking at this melange, I'd guess it'll be after fixed sets were abandoned and any combination might turn up.  

The L.M. stock is led by a pair of 'Portholes' - but the third vehicle is different : less solebar visible and something on the roof that looks to be more than just torpedo ( or shell ) vents ....... I haven't got the appropriate 'library' with me : anyone got any thoughts ?

[AMJ]

I have often thought that the cross country services are interesting.  In many of the histories there are comments about  through coaches being allocated to certain service trains.  

 

It's one of those where you could have a rake of mixed coaches LNER, LMS, GWR and SR and you can say that each vehicle(s) represents a certain portion of the overall train.  As it will be in your own realm you could have it doing what you want.

[johnofwessex]

I gather that a local was observed on the S&D, 4 coaches, one from each of the Big 4

 

BTW that trains quite a load for a Class 4