🚀 go-pugleaf

Coaches with lavatories only accessible from adjacent compartments seem to
have been used on some British railways, I remember reading somewhere, in a
book about British trains, approximate quote 'Even the man who had faced the
wild Matabele in Africa and the ferocious Afghan quailed from asking the old
maiden lady sitting on the seat in front of the lavatory door to rise up so
that he could use the facility'.
                                Regards,
                                                Bill.


"Bruce" <bgreeni@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4327019A.5070209@yahoo.com...
> In 1960 I travelled Melbourne - Sydney on a special train to take
> Victorian Scouts to the Sydney Jamboree. We changed trains at Albury at
> Midnight and I remember being discussed that NSW could only provide an
> old fashioned steam loco to haul the train. (Victoria had provided a
> diesel hauled train)We travelled in these coaches with dog boxes
> seperated by toilets. By the time daylight arrived all the water was
> gone as we had discovered that if you threw it out the window it came in
> the compartments behind. - This was on a hot December night so it was
> great fun
>
>
>
> Andrew Clarke wrote:
> > (cross-posted to uk.railway and aus.rail)
> >
> > I've just been reading the recent issue of "Australian Railway History"
> > which commemorates the 150th anniversary of railways in the state of
> > New South Wales.
> >
> > The first article in this issue, based on reminiscences of passenger
> > travel in NSW over the past sixty years, claims that non-corridor
> > compartment stock - often nicknamed "dog-boxes" in Australia -- were
> > referred to as "express cars" by NSW railwaymen *following British
> > usage*.
> >
> > This seems odd. This kind of carriage was generally used in Britain and
> > elsewhere for local stopping trains and short-distance semi-fast
> > trains, where the inaccessibility of lavatories and other facilities
> > wasn't a (serious) issue and where the individual compartment doors
> > meant that rush-hour commuter trains could be emptied as quickly as
> > possible. So "Express cars" seems the least likely name for them in
> > Britain at least.
> >
> > Has anyone at uk.railway ever come across non-corridor stock being
> > referred to as "Express" stock? Can anyone in aus.rail confirm that
> > this was indeed the case in NSW?
> >
> > My own wild guess is the term "Express cars" in NSW might have been
> > limited to those "dogboxes" which had been ingeniously fitted out with
> > basic lavatory facilities for the use of those whose personal needs
> > were not attuned to the measured pace of long-distance transport in the
> > days of steam. But I'm probably wrong ...
> >
> > andrew clarke
> > canberra
> >
>