Scottish Railway Preservation Society Collections pages

West Coast Joint Stock (WCJS)
Third Class Corridor Coach No.245

West Coast Joint Stock (WCJS) Third Class Corridor Coach No.245

SRPS Core Collection. Acquired in 1992 with grant support from the National Fund for Acquisitions.
Stored in the Carriage Shed. Built 1902/03, L&NWR Wolverton. Diagram D.51.

The companies which operated through trains on both the east and the west coast main lines to Scotland shared Joint Stock carriages. Those on the west coast were all built by the London & North Western Railway at Wolverton, near Bletchley. The first bogie West Coast Joint Stock (WCJS) carriages had been built in 1890, and at about the same time it was becoming the practice to provide corridors giving access to lavatories.

No.245 had six and a half compartments and two lavatories. The use of bogies enabled a longer body length (50ft, whereas the longest 6-wheeled WCJS coach had been 42ft). The compartment headroom remained low, as these coaches had traditional "arc roofs", and the much higher "elliptical" roof was not introduced on WCJS carriages until 1909. Electric lighting was provided, a system which was becoming universal in new construction, although many gas lit carriages remained in service.

This coach represents design developments, for main line use, at the start of the 20th century. It was withdrawn from passenger service in 1941, and was acquired in 1992, but unfortunately its interior is far from complete due to conversion for departmental use. It is stored in the Carriage Shed.

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Pre-Grouping Coaches List