Everyone Needs A Coach (1)

PLEASE NOTE

fbb is "officially" on holiday in Largs this week,

only it has been cancelled. The "holiday" will

be at Seaton, Devon. fbb does reserve the right

to publish shorter blogs to allow for some trips 

out with Mrs fbb.

There are also early September updates to sort out for GoTimetable. Work on the model railway is suspended! Back to today's posting:-

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Dating from the 1550s, a "large kind of four-wheeled, covered carriage," came from Middle French coche (16C.), from German kotsche, from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) "(carriage) of Kocs," ...

... the village where it was first made. In Hungary, the thing and the name for it date from 15C., and forms are found since 16C. in most European languages (Spanish and Portuguese coche, Italian cocchino, Dutch koets). Vehicles often were named from the place of their invention or first use (as with "berlin", "landau", "surrey"). "Coach" was being applied to railway passenger cars by 1866.

Ronnie O'Sullivan did not have a coach for the final of the World Snooker which came to its conclusion yesterday. "Coach", in the sense of a "trainer" in sport is linked to the Norwegian carriage; because the sports coach "carries" the competitor. 

There is an old word, no longer used, which describes "a coach" in this sense.

"Agonistarch" (from the Greek) is the one who is "in charge" (arch as in archbishop) of the "agony" as he/she prepared competitors for the "games"!

But the first railway coaches were simply road carriages on railway wheels.

Three "classes" emerged, two of which are well remembered from the pioneer Manchester and Liverpool Railway. First class was still built to look like a road carriage for the wealthy ...

... with third class being little more than a coal truck with doors and hard benches.

For second class initially you might just get a roof ...

... later with more side protection as with this repro at the Didcot Railway Centre.

Later embellishments included more protection and glass in the doors - too expensive to offer any more than minimalist glazing!

The rich panoply of early railway vehicles was ideally illustrated with a set of British Stamps issued way back when First Class post was 12p. They celebrated the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with "Rocket" ...

... first and second class coaches ...

... third class and a sheep wagon (not a great deal of difference).

If you were a real "toff", unwilling to associate with the great unwashed at any level, you could take your carriage, load it onto a truck, pop you nag into a box, a horse box ...

... and journey in splendid aristocratic independence. The final stamp showed a general goods wagon, probably with "hitch hikers" aboard ...

... and, in red and black, a mail coach complete with post office and railway guards.

Eventually the class differences became more subtle but still important as some travellers would always be prepared to pay more for extra comforts, or maybe for less discomfort.

Remember that at this early stage there were no toilets and no platforms; you would have to climb in using either the running boards or small steps. The latter were not easy to manage in posh gear, but, of course, you would have yous maid or butler to help. Once helped in, they would adjourn to the lower class accommodation.

Soon the broad shape of a four wheel or six wheel railway carriage became normality - although they were still designed to look something like their horse-drawn equivalents.

This was Queen Adelaide's carriage from the 1840s ...

... about as luxurious as you could get on four wheels.

Longer four and six wheel coaches began to emerge as "standard" on the railways of the later 19th century. The Bluebell railway has a set ...

... for which the vehicles have been restored over a number of years. It is a long, hard job from this ...

...via this ...

... to a job well done.

O.K., its a different coach - but you get the idea!

Tomorrow we shall look at some similar wonderful examples of the preservation art on the Isle of Wight - but it is good to know that money (lots of it) and skills allow us to step back in time and remember the days before bogies, corridors, toilets and buffets.

Maybe we won't experience some of the crush loading enjoyed by "the lower classes" as they journied on their excursion train ...

... or maybe we can, but only in modern times post-virus on some London "commuter" routes.

More tomorrow.

Irrelevant Snippet : "Bad Timing!"

The Northampton local paper carried this story which found its way onto some of the national news bulletins.

Apparently over 290 workers tested positive for Covid 19 at a factory on Moulton Park Industrial Estate, just a short bike ride from where fbb was brung up!

In the same paper, good news was revealed that, to remedy the lack of food products after the closure of Marks and Spencers ...

... W H Smith's store in the Grosvenor Centre off Market Square ...

... would be stocking a selection of M&S food stuff including snacks and sandwiches.

And where are these sarnies assembled? 

That would be at the Greencore sandwich factory on Moulton Park Industrial Estate!

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P.S. Ronnie did not need an Agonistarch!

 Next coaching blog : Tuesday 18th August