For more pictures of BR Mark 1 coaches click here
British Railway Mark 1 coaches
The newly formed 'British Railways' produced the prototype Mark 1 coach in September 1950, with the production examples emerging six months later.
This was not a single type of carriage, but was a range of stock mounted on a standard chassis, and built to standard body profiles with uniform window sizes. Eventually there were some 66 different diagrams of ‘main line’ stock.
Construction of the standard carriages was all steel, with the body shell welded to the underframe which was 63’ 5” in length for main line stock. The body profile was curved, similar to that employed by Bulleid for his Southern Railway designs, and allowed slightly greater width at shoulder height.
For main line coaches Buckeye automatic couplers, and Pullman type gangways became standard.
Initially, there will be 23 different body ‘diagrams’ available, although many of these are externally identical, it being only the interiors that are different.
For more pictures of BR Mark 1 coaches click here
To download my 'Guide to the BR Mark 1 Coach' in PDF format (340KB) click here
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