Slip Coaches

[PaulG]

S..............
I was interested to see the comment that slips needed turning, ...................

Paul

In the article written by Bernard Walsh in the GERS Journal mentioned above, the slip carriage wasn't turned, just worked back to London Liverpool Street in an ordinary train for the next working; most slip workings on the GE were in the down direction. Timetables were far more complex than today, some slip services didn't run every day and e.g. Broxbourne had an additional slip service on a Thursday.

In Bernard's article he lists a number of disadvantages of the slip carriage, including (1) unequal service where a slip working in one direction, would require a stopping service in the other; (2) an extra guard whose service was difficult to use once the slip had arrived at a station; (3) slip fitting were expensive and the coach itself had to be worked back in a train in which it could not be used as a corridor coach and (4) difficulties in snow and fog, which would require the train to make an unscheduled stop

Paul (G)

[JASd17]

Slips were an answer to the question of keeping low usage stations open or add additional services at a time when motor engines did not exist, and he early steam alternatives were not really around.
Paul

A most interesting thought...

[john coffin]

We tend to forget we are looking at these procedures with 2013 eyes, not those of the time. Basically the railways were still growing until 1914, and all the technologies used were new when introduced. Unlike today, they were introduced to solve a problem, rather than being a solution to a problem that does not exist yet, in modern times. I mean how many people actually use all the features on their mobile, let alone the computer itself?

As I have said before, one of the first GNR trains to use a slip carriage, for Doncaster, was the 10.00 Scotchmen, after the train was retimed and non stop to York.

One clear sign that carriages were rarely turned is the fact that push-pull trains were just that, and the loco was almost never turned. As far as I know, the largest ever turntable was 70 feet, which is shorter than a standard carriage and loco together, and what would power the mainly steam or vacuum powered turntable?

As for timetabling, it seems from research, the slip carriage also allowed the few passengers for intermediate stations to catch a particular train, allowing them to get to a particular destination at a specific time.

The more you look, the more you find.
Paul

one more thing to think about, until only recently, railways were "common carriers" which meant they had an obligation to take things to all places they had originally served.

[terry_nyorks]

Just to add to the mix : Here's a pic of a Midland pair of slipped coaches recorded as circa 1910, bit grainy I'm afraid.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmighty ... 31425@N22/