Difference between revisions of "Arley Camp Coach"

Revision as of 11:12, 2 January 2021

Camp Coach at Arley

The Speight family with the Camp Coach

For one year only, in 1938, the GWRGreat Western Railway had a camp coach at Arley.

The Speight family holidayed there in Easter 1938 and took a number of photographs of the area, as recounted in "Arley, a glimpse of the past" by Barrie Geens.^[1]

The coach was not connected to mains supplies, water was from a tap at the station, lighting was by paraffin lamps, cooking was by oil stove and waste water was emptied down the station toilet, for which the occupants of the coach were issued with a key.

A similar camp coach was also situated at Hampton Loade for a period during the 1930s.^[2]

Camping coach 9947

The coach was a DeanWilliam Dean, Chief Locomotive Engineer of the Great Western Railway 1877-1902 era 4 wheeled short vehicle (31' long), a three compartment brake third numbered 949 and built in 1901. This vehicle was one built to diagram T36 and later modified to diagram T37 without a guard's ducket. It was renumbered to 9947 on conversion to a Camping Coach in 1937, one of around 15 similar vehicles converted at that time.^[3]

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  Cover of a 1934 GWRGreat Western Railway brochure for Camp-Coach Holidays

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  Plan of a 1930s GWRGreat Western Railway Camp Coach

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  Advert for Camp Coach holidays

References

1. ↑ Geens (2010)
2. ↑ Marshall (1989) p. 101.
3. ↑ Great Western Railway Dean Era Coaches (Retrieved 3 January 2019)

Links

Camping Coaches on Wikipedia
Short silent film of a Camp Coach holiday in 1953 on British Pathé