Coach type nomenclature

[JohnV]

I'm sure I've seen this topic somewhere on the forum but I've searched high and low. I can work out some of the terms for coach types (Brake/Comp etc.) but I'd appreciate a link to a comprehensive list. Cheers.

[Multiprinter]

Try this:

codes-for-passenger-stock-t641.html

[robertcwp]

Here are the codes from a 1947 LNER Carriage Working Book (Western Section - Southern Area):



Note that in LNER parlance "vestibule" meant what BR called a gangway. Hence, BV in LNER terms was what BR called a BG.

Corridor in LNER terms did not necessarily mean what BR called a gangwayed vehicle.

Just to confuse things further, that other railway (LMS) used the term "vestibuled" to mean what the LNER called open stock.

Headbanging stuff! My usual approach is to use the BR terms (BG, FK, etc) as I think they are the most widely understood.

[65447]

Just to add to Robert's post, the GNR adopted Pullman Vestibules for making the connection between carriages in the late 1800s and the terminology stuck, although other stock with the British Standard type fitting was sometimes referred to as gangwayed.

A corridor is a passageway that runs along one side of a carriage giving access to the doors, 'facilities' and seating compartments - a carriage did not have to have vestibules to have a corridor; the Gresley teak-panelled dia. 49/50 had semi-corridors either side of the lavatories for 1st and 3rd class respectively, and the Gresley steel-panelled TL had a corridor leading to the lavatory at one end. Open carriages did not have compartments or corridors but seating was in bays, and finally a semi-corridor type (of which there were a few) had both compartments and open bays.

And all that was just for starters...