Diagram E145
Centre coupling E129 from above
Centre coupling E129 from below 21/02/51 at Oxford
Centre coupling E147, coaches No W6907W + W6908W
The Llangollen Railway's "B" set
The first four photos are from my collection.
The first type, lot 1327 diagram E116 was ordered at the end of November 1922 and comprised 7 pairs – 7169-72, 7510/1,74-9, 7625/6 which were completed in August 1924. Like all the others there was one first class compartment, in this case at the inner end, and 6 third class. The coupling between the coaches was a channel section over a forged solid link similar to that used on S.R. electric units. There were no side buffers. Bogies were of the 9’ "fishbelly" type. All were allocated to the Bristol Area, and the ends branded "Bristol Division 1" to "Bristol Division 7" in white letters about 3"s high at cantrail level on the outer ends of the sets. These lasted in service until 1962. A 4mm model was available from K’s that needed a lot of work to bring up to a reasonable level. It is possible to find these kits second-hand if lucky.
The next type to appear 18 months later incorporated several variations. Lot 1355 diagram E129. It was a foot longer, with bow ends and ran on 9’ bogies. Numbers were 6454/7/51/3/6/60/1/3/5/6. All were allocated to the Bristol division. The inner ends were connected by a fixed link, but like all later batches, 1’8" buffers were fitted. The first class compartment was moved from the bogie to the fifth, leaving one compartment between that and the brake. 6534/5 were branded "Bristol division 8", 6556/60 "Bristol Division 10" and 6561/3 was "Bristol Division 11". A kit for these coaches is available from Comet.
March 1929 saw the completion of the next batch of 4 coaches under lot 1393. They were basically similar but mounted on 7’ bogies under diagram E135. They were allocated to the Bristol division, but 6640/1 were photographed at Kingsbridge in 1946.
The largest group, diagram E140, appeared in April 1930 under lot 1407, numbered 6445-57/9-65. These were longer at 61’2", 9’3" wide. They had recessed door handles, with a straight practically flat grab handles (instead of the curly "G" handles). 7’ bogies were fitted. All were built for the Bristol division. A further 40 for general traffic were constructed under lot 1445 later in the year and in the following May another 22 were built under lot 1455. These had random numbers in the 62, 63, 65, 66 & 67xx series. The last were allocated to the Bristol division. This is the coach produced by Airfix, then Dapol and now Hornby. Sample brandings were 6894/5 "Leamington Stratford And Worcester No 2", 6455/6 "Bristol Division 20", 6460/1 "St Ives 2", 6240/1 "Taunton 5" and 6983/4 "Cardiff Division 49".
Lot 1479, diagram E145 produced another 50 coaches by February 1933. With a similar style body to diagram E140, they were mounted on 9’ heavy bogies and given random numbers in the in the 60, 61, 62 and 63xx series. Although built for local services, several appeared in the Bristol area. Samples were 6200/2 "Bristol Division 26" and 6204/15 "Bristol Division 23".
The last style appeared at the end on 1933 with flat ends and 9’ light pressed steel bogies, diagram E147. 4 further batches appeared up to October 1936, lots 1393, 1505, 1523 and 1550 producing a total of 116 coaches. Some of the last lot ran as loose coaches in longer trains. Numbers were again random in the 67, 68 and 69xx series. They were distributed more widely around the system with many in South Wales. Samples for the Bristol area were 6736/8 as "Bristol Division 42", and 6730/32 seen on Yatton – Cheddar valley services in 1959. A kit is available from Comet.
No B sets have been preserved, but a flavour of them is on the Llangollen Railway who have a couple of non corridor coaches billed as a "B set".