BR MK1 Maroon BG

BR MK1 Maroon BG

Type: GANGWAYED FULL BRAKE (BG)
Built: 1953 - 1963
Seating: none
Length: 57 feet
Weight: 31 tons
Era: 1956 - late 60s
BR Region: All except Southern

The Gangwayed Full Brake, presented here in original condition as No. 80675 allocated to the London Midland Region, is mounted on BR1 bogies and fitted with tungsten lighting, wooden panelling and steam heating.

Designed for the provision of carrying parcels, newspapers and other such goods, these coaches have a centrally located brake compartment. The compartment, known as the ''Guard's compartment'', houses a vacuum brake and gauge, hand brake, desk table with swivel chair, wall mounted letter rack, food warmer, first aid box, emergency cutting tools and spare couplings and steam pipes. The rest of the coach is a wide-open space for the carriage of goods. For added security, bars are fitted to all windows, except the Guard's compartment window and door.


USE

Having a short wheelbase, this coach has a high route availability taking it to the far corners of the British Railways' network. Used on all regions, except the Southern until 1965, it was not uncommon to see this coach used at either end of a mainline express, or on more mundane duties, such as local passenger or parcel services along country branch lines.


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 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 Committee' as the basis to developed the 'C1 Restriction' profile - a set of standards governing coach length, profile and bogie centres. Thus from this the classic Mark 1 design was born, the prototypes unveiled on 18th September 1950, production coaches entering revenue service in March 1951. The Mk1 became the standard design for all new coaches between 1951 and 1964. Built using standard components - frame, coach ends and bogies - the body sides constructed from panelled sections with standard door and window fittings.

Author: Stephen Dark/Alexander Barnard

BR MK1 Maroon BG
• config.txt 5.46KB
mk1_maroon_bg_art
mk1_maroon_bg_art_512.texture.txt 93 bytes
mk1_maroon_bg_art_512.tga 1.00MB
mk1_maroon_bg_art_icon.texture.txt 95 bytes
mk1_maroon_bg_art_icon.tga 32.02KB
mk1_maroon_bg_body
env.texture.txt 26 bytes
env.tga 48.53KB
mk1_crim_bg.texture.txt 34 bytes
mk1_maroon_bg.texture.txt 36 bytes
mk1_maroon_bg.tga 1.50MB
mk1_maroon_bg_body.pm 466.70KB
mk1_maroon_bg_shadow
black.texture.txt 28 bytes
black.tga 812 bytes
mk1_maroon_bg_shadow.pm 64.43KB