The LNER Encyclopedia

Good morning all from deepest Surrey
I am wondering about gas-lit carriages.
Did the lights come on automatically when the guard threw a switch, or did he have to set the lights going in each compartment seperately?

The only gas-lamp that I can remember was underneath a railway overbridge, and at dusk a man use to come along with a long pole and hook a ring on the lamp to operate it.

Earlswood nob

Not sure if you have access to HCD Vol 1 LNER but there is a drawing of the ends of several Howlden coaches on P94 in there showing the control mechanism on the end of a carriage. Each non corridor coach had its own main control at waist height or higher so that a guard could activate them from the platform as necessary.

If you do not have it, I could post a photo which answers the query.

That's right, each compartment had a light and it was supplied by two pipes. One was the permanent pilot flame and one was for the main burner. As long as there was gas in the carriage tank the pilot remained lit. Alternatively, perhaps as in the example in the photograph there was one pipe and on turning the light off, the burner went down to a very low flame. But maybe the one in the photograph is electric!

The actuating rod could be operated from either side of the carriage. There was only one per carriage and they were never on the brake end. I have no photograph of the end of a gas lit corridor carriage.

Colombo

Colombo wrote: The actuating rod could be operated from either side of the carriage. There was only one per carriage and they were never on the brake end. Colombo

On many North Eastern carriages, particularly the clerestories, the actuating rod was certainly on the brake end. As the steps were at the compartment end. H.C. Casserley's photo on the cover of 'LNER Steam' by Bradford Barton shows this quite clearly. It also shows the arrangement of the gas pipes on the roof reasonably well too.

John

The actuating gear on ex GN Howlden stock was also often on the brake end, particularly on ex six wheelers and rigid eights formed into artic sets where the mix of gas control, windows, and emergency brake teltales made life quite exciting!.

I stand corrected,
Colombo