Gauge Museum QR Interpretation: Coach 6705
Additional information about Coach 6705:
It has seats for first and third class passengers and room for luggage, mails and the guard, so was particularly suitable for providing a ‘through coach’ for destinations on West Country branch lines, so that passengers did not have to change trains.
The coach is built with oak frames, with sheet steel plates on the outside, and wooden internal panelling. The body is bolted to a steel underframe which rides on two 4-wheel bogies, with bolsters limiting the movement of the body to provide a more comfortable ride.
The coach went to Bellows Falls at the same time as Schools class 4-4-0 locomotive 30926, Repton and M7 0-4-4 tank engine 30053 and both have been repatriated. You can see Repton on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and the M7 on the Swanage Railway.
Technical Details:
Lot no 1589, delivery complete 15 October 1938
Gangwayed Brake Composite coach
Drawing no. E.159
Length 60 ft 11¼ in, width 8 ft 11 in.
Weight 32 tons
Built at Swindon carriage works.
Carriage building at Swindon:
Initially, contractors built carriages for the GWR from its opening in 1838. The company constructed a new carriage works at Swindon in 1869 and it carried on building vehicles for the GWR and then British Railways until 1962. (In 1950, the carriage works employed 4,300 men). After closure, carriage work was moved to the locomotive works, and the last of the BR owned ex GWR carriages (except sleeping cars) were withdrawn at the end of 1967.
Railway coaches are still built at Litchurch Lane, Derby owned by Alstom, and also at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, owned by Hitachi.
Things to look out for....
- The weight of the coach (32 tons) is shown at the end of the coach.
- The yellow disc shows that the coach could be used on other companies’ lines, as well as those of the Great Western.
- The white roof – a bold move given the effect of smoke from the engine!
- The ‘bellows’ connections at either end, which allows passengers to walk between coaches.
- The famous GWR ‘chocolate and cream livery. The paint comes from Williamsons of Ripon, North Yorkshire, the same company that used to supply the Great Western Railway.
- Look for the numbers at the top right hand corner of the coach showing the number of seats in first and third class.
- The steps at the end of the coach are because the lavatory tanks were filled from the use. We have provided a filler pipe so that this can be done more safely from platform level.
- The two toilets, one for first class and one for third.
- The luxurious first class compartments with comfortable arm rests and more legroom (the compartments are six inches wider than the third class ones.)
- The control valves for the steam heat radiators (under the seats).
- The pictures on the compartment walls of places to visit on the Great Western. These are prints from original GWR photographic plates.
- The blue moquette to distinguish first class from the red in the third.
- The swing door separating first and third class sections of the coach.
- The leather straps on the droplight windows in the doors.
- No inside door handles (better than child-proof locks!)
- The hand brake column. The guard would apply this when the engine was detached from the train, as the automatic vacuum brake would leak off over a period of around 45 minutes.
- The letter rack, allowing him to sort the internal mail for each station at which the train called.
- The double doors in the brake van, allowing easy loading of heavy luggage, mails and parcels.
- The vacuum gauge. On GWR trains, the needle should register 25 inches of vacuum.
- The steam heat pressure gauge, showing if pressure was adequate to heat the compartments effectively.
6705 at Taunton in BR days (Peter Darke)
6705 in ship returning from Canada (Andy Forster)
The painting gang at Williton (Chris Austin)
The bogie in bits (Chris Austin)
