The LNER Encyclopedia

Hi

I am new to this forum and if I am honest railways and trains is a new interested.

Anyway I was reading about LNER A4 class trains and it sort of got me wondering. What was first class like on services between say London and Edinburgh just before and after the second world war? Does anyone have links to websites that might have photos and maybe even descriptions of the service?

Also were there three classes of service on LNER trains?
(what about sleeper trains. Did LNER offer sleeper services?)

Thanks

Alex

There were three classes on the LNER but only the Great Eastern section used second class. This was for boat trains and season ticket holders on the suburban services into Liverpool Street station if I remember correctly. Yes they had sleeper services and were the first and only company to offer shower facilities for first class. Third class originally had convertible sleeping cars that could be either used for day seated passengers or with extra pull down bunks could sleep 4 in a compartment. They later built conventional sleeping cars for third class. One first class and one third class convertible are preserved.

LNER first class services just before WW2 comprised normal service trains (Scotsman etc) The Coronation, SIlver Jubilee and West Riding and Pullman serices. Following WW2 only service trains and Pullman services remained. Attached are a couple of photos from the Van Der Poll collection showing the Coronation and a service train restaurant car.

I travelled from K+ to Newcastle regularly 1st Class in both service and Pullman trains during 1946 to 1950 and the accommodation was quite opulent; in deed even decadent by today's standards. The service was also up to pre WW2 standards with masses of porters (now never seen) and other uniformed catering staff.

Camperdown9 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:02 pm Hi

I am new to this forum and if I am honest railways and trains is a new interested.

Anyway I was reading about LNER A4 class trains and it sort of got me wondering. What was first class like on services between say London and Edinburgh just before and after the second world war? Does anyone have links to websites that might have photos and maybe even descriptions of the service?

Also were there three classes of service on LNER trains?
(what about sleeper trains. Did LNER offer sleeper services?)

Thanks

Alex

Hi Alex,

If you do a search for something reasonably general on Google Images you will get a decent variation of photos.

I just searched on "first class br carriage" and it came up with this -

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=first ... 76&bih=716

"first class pullman carriage interior" gives these results -

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=first ... e+interior

However, I can't guarantee these general links will work for everyone.