Camping Coach
Camping Coach was the name of an offer from various British railway companies for overnight stays for holidaymakers in rural areas and on the coast.
vehicles
The vehicles used were decommissioned cars . They offered simple sleeping and resting options. The cars were parked in railway stations near national parks or on the coast on sidings . They were serviced on site by the local station staff. In winter the wagons were often taken to a repair shop for overhaul and brought back to their place of assembly in spring.
offer
The tariffs for the use were such that they should be attractive for groups that the train took advantage arrived and during their stay, the train for day trips.
The first offer of this kind was made by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1933 with 10 vehicles. Back then, camping and hiking were fashionable among the urban bourgeoisie. The following year the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway followed suit . In 1935, the Southern Railway joined. In the same year, LNER offered “touring camping coachs” for the first time, camping coaches with relocation.
Due to the Second World War , the offer was discontinued after the summer of 1940 and only slowly reintroduced from 1947. It was only after the railroad was nationalized in 1948 that British Rail reintroduced the service on a large scale. From the mid-1960s, however, the supply declined: The cars used were worn out, this form of vacation went out of fashion and the number of suitable stations that were still staffed decreased. The offer was last publicly available in 1971, even if many of the cars were later available to the railway workers and their families for holidays.
Museum railways
Today, camping coaches are again being offered on some museum railways in Great Britain who want to appeal to rail enthusiasts. This offer is currently available in the following train stations:
- Bere Ferrers, Devon
- Blue Anchor, Somerset
- Cloughton, North Yorkshire
- Dawlish Warren, Devon
- Ebberston, Allerston , North Yorkshire
- Goathland, North Yorkshire ( North Yorkshire Moors Railway - NYMR)
- Hayle, Cornwall
- Levisham, North Yorkshire (NYMR)
- Petworth, West Sussex
- Rogart, Sutherland
- St Germans, Cornwall
- Ravenglass, Cumbria ( Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway )
The offer is also available in some locations in the USA .
literature
- Camping Coaches 1957 . British Railways brochure .
- Mike Fenton: Camp Coach Holidays on the GWR Wild Swan, 1999, ISBN 1-874103-53-4 .
- Mike Fenton: The LNER camping coach scheme . In: British Railway Journal. 1996.
- Andrew McRae: British Railway Camping Coach Holidays . Foxline,
- Part 1: The 1930s and British Railways (London Midland Region). 1997, ISBN 1-870119-48-7 .
- Part 2: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. 1998, ISBN 1-870119-53-3 .
- NYMR Camping Coaches & Holiday Accommodation. Goathland, Levisham & Grosmont. no year
Movie
- PB Whitehouse and John Adams: Camp Coach Holiday (Cara Bridge) . Great Britain n.d. 16/8 mm silent film .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ John Huntley: Railways in the Cinema . London 1969, p. 118: available from Colorviews Ltd., 30 Cambridge Rd, Birmingham 14.