BR MK1 Maroon CK

BR MK1 Maroon CK

Type: COMPOSITE CORRIDOR (CK)
Built: 1952 - 1963
Seating: 24F 18S (S & W regions: 24F 24S),
in 7 compartments.
Length: 64.5 feet
Weight: 37 tons
Era: 1956 - late 60s
BR Region: ALL

The Composite Corridor presented here as No. 16199, allocated to the Western Region, a member of the last batch of 28 to be built. Built with modified aluminium frames and mounted on Commonwealth bogies (for better riding), fitted internally with tungsten lighting, melamine interior panelling in the Second class compartments, wooden panelling in the First, and duel steam or electric heating. Two toilets are provided, one at each end of the coach.

The passenger seating is arranged into seven compartments, each with its own window, with access to each compartment from a two foot wide corridor positioned down one side of the coach - hence the term 'corridor' coach. Designed originally for combined First and Second Class travel (hence the term 'composite').

The First Class compartments, complete with fitted carpets and curtains, seat six - three abreast, while Second class compartments are fitted with retractable armrests with the option to increase capacity to seat four abreast. The Southern and Western region Second class compartments were fitted with no armrests, thus seating eight people to a compartment. In time, as coaches moved around the network, the nature of six and eight seated compartments presented problems to operational managers regarding seat reservation. To the extent that many armrests were removed or sewn into the upright positions in Second class compartments.

An interesting feature built into this coach is the placing of a door on the corridor side opposite the middle Third class compartment. This is to enable a loaded stretcher to gain access into the coach. The middle Third class compartment window is hinged so as to allow a stretcher to be used should the coach be marshalled with the compartment side adjacent to the platform.


USE

This type of coach would be found on mainline passenger trains on all regions of British Railways, during mid 1950s to late 1960s.


LIVERY

A change of government in 1951 saw the passing of a new Transport Act that lead to the abolition of the Railway Executive in 1956, giving the Regions much more autonomy in their actions. One such regional development led to the London Midland, Southern and Western regions adopting new liveries based on their former pre-nationalised companies.

Urged on by the desire to replace the Crimson and Cream livery with a single coloured livery for ease of maintenance and cleaning, the Maroon livery made its first appearance in the spring of 1956. Instigated by the London Midland Region (the largest BR region) - this livery closely matched that of the former London Midland and Scottish Railway, whose lines outside of Scotland the LM region now controlled.

Maroon was adopted as the standard livery for coaching stock - replacing Crimson and Cream - on all regions, except the Southern. Coach ends were painted black until 1964 where upon new painting techniques, developed at the Southern Region's Eastleigh works, started the trend to paint the coach ends in the same colour as the body sides.

The Maroon livery lasted until the Blue Grey corporate livery was unveiled in 1965. During the mid 50s and late 60s, many rakes would be formed with a mixture of coaching stock bearing old and new liveries.


THE MARK 1 PROGRAMME

After the Second World War, wartime conditions highlighted the need for better standards in regards to vehicle lengths, profiles and couplings, for stock working between the 'Big Four' companies. A commission of senior officers was duly appointed by the UK 'Railway Companies Association' to create and implement a set of dimensions that would be applied to all future stock from each company. Although completed, the standards were not implemented, as nationalisation was imminent.

On nationalisation in 1948, the commission's findings were used by the new 'British Railways Carriage Standards Com

Author: Stephen Dark/Alexander Barnard

BR MK1 Maroon CK
• config.txt 6.48KB
mk1_maroon_ck_art
mk1_maroon_ck_art_512.texture.txt 93 bytes
mk1_maroon_ck_art_512.tga 1.00MB
mk1_maroon_ck_art_icon.texture.txt 95 bytes
mk1_maroon_ck_art_icon.tga 32.02KB
mk1_maroon_ck_body
env.texture.txt 26 bytes
env.tga 48.53KB
mk1_maroon_ck.texture.txt 36 bytes
mk1_maroon_ck.tga 1.50MB
mk1_maroon_ck_body.pm 465.37KB
mk1_maroon_ck_shadow
black.texture.txt 28 bytes
black.tga 812 bytes
mk1_maroon_ck_shadow.pm 72.61KB