Ernest Leung

Gentlemen, thanks a lot for all the answers!

Hello, I am planning at the moment to build a layout that represents two or three pre-war electrification schemes that never happened. I need now of course to decide which schemes to pursue, and rather than the usual ones (NER York-Newcastle, 1919 etc) I am looking at the lesser known ones, for example the LBSCR's plans to raise its voltage to 11kv AC (from 6.6kv) just before grouping for the planned electrification of the Brighton mainline, which would have coincided with the Midland's plans for mainline electrification on a similar standard. There is also the GWR scheme for 3kv DC electrification discussed elsewhere on this forum. In fact the list goes on and on. I am looking at a probable scheme that doesn't seem to have been described at any length in any literature I've read. I've noticed that the District Railway, which used to have direct Ealing-Southend services until 1939, came to use their box cab locomotives to haul two rakes of coaches built in 1910 that resembled LNWR North London emus of the era, probably with open saloon arrangements and hand-pulled sliding doors. The contours of the coaches, which were bellowed, suggest that they were not designed by the same people responsible for the District's US-styled slab-sided coaches. Then I found this website which suggests that these coaches had enormous end windows, which, if we recall what was planned for the Quint Art sets on the LNER, suggests that they were meant to be refitted as EMUs or at least push-pull stock used on an electrified route. The problems are - 1. Were there any plans to turn these coaches into EMUs? What else do we know about these coaches? 2. What were the plans to electrify the LTSR? Was it to have been a DC line, allowing total through-running with the District, or was it going to be an AC line to be unified with the rest of the Midland AC system, which might eventually have reached London had WWI not intervened. I would appreciate any hints or clues to things that might lead to answers. Thanks in advance!