Carriage 13
| Carriage 13 | |
|---|---|
| Type | 4-wheel open ‘bug box’ |
| Seating | 14 x 3rd |
| Original Railway | FR |
| Status | Scrapped |
| History | |
| Built by | Brown, Marshall & Co |
| Built | 1863/4 |
| Technical | |
| Length | 12 ft |
| Frames | Wood |
| Carriages | |
Carriage 13 was one of the FR's original carriages from 1864. It was built as a fully open carriage, subsequently fitted with a canopy and aprons. It was later given enclosed body work similar to the other Bug Boxes. It was scrapped in the 1950s.
History[edit]
Background and early years[edit]
Carriage 13 was built by Brown, Marshall & Co of Adderley Park Birmingham. It was a single compartment open carriage with knifeboard seating and a third class of capacity seven each side. It is believed to have been part of the first batch of narrow gauge passenger coaches built in the world for public service, to designs assumed to have been made by C.E. Spooner.
This was one of two open carriages from the original batch. This vehicle was numbered 12 and classified as first class, with padded seat backs and cushions while the other was numbered 13 and had plain wooden seating. They had leather aprons to protect passengers legs and keep them in the vehicle. By 1871 a canvas awning on a wrought iron frame to provide some protection from the elements had been added.
Late 19th century rebuild[edit]
Later in the 19th Century both open carriages were rebuilt as enclosed observation carriages. The side windows were completely glazed with a single pane of glass either side of the central door, which had a glazed droplight. It does not take much imagination to see that the glazing would have acted like a greenhouse in any sort of sunlight. By the time of Wheeler's photo the "portholes" had been glazed (or more likely had fine mesh fitted to stop midges and flies) but originally they had sliding ventilators which were in evidence to the end.
Some time soon after the Great War the glazing was removed and substituted by the wire mesh and rails, seen in the photo. The small board in the waist panel of the door bears the legend "Observation Car" and was applied when the carriages were first enclosed. Both had their numbers reduced by 1 in the 1930s to become 11 and 12.
Both survived into the revival era in poor condition. Number 12 (originally 13) was scrapped in 1958 whilst number 11 (originally 12) was restored to the original fully open condition after the late 19th Century bodywork collapsed during 1958 whilst the derelict carriage was being moved at Boston Lodge. This carriage was nominally renumbered 8 in the post revival fleet list but was scrapped before it could be applied.[1]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Fred Boughey (1966) "F. R. Coaches 1955-1965: 2 − 1961-1965", Ffestiniog Railway Magazine, Issue 33, page(s): 15