Manchester and Birmingham Railway Carriage

Manchester and Birmingham Railway first-class railway carriage, c.1840.

In the 1840s, steam powered railways were new and experimental, but right from the start there were different classes of tickets passengers could pay for. First-class carriages like this were a bit like stagecoaches, with compartments featuring comfortable seats, glass windows and a roof to keep out rain and smoke.

This first-class carriage was built for the Manchester & Birmingham Railway in about 1840. The carriage is recorded as having moved to the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway by 1874, at which date it was derailed damaging one end. The carriage body, removed from its chassis, was grounded nearby at Dorrington Grove.

By 1986 the carriage had moved to Llangollen, where it was in the care of London & North Western Railway Society members. It was moved to SIM in 1993, where it was extensively restored/rebuilt and put on to wagon chassis ex 555859. It is thought that approximately one-third of the carriage is original, one-third reconstructed and one-third completely replaced.

Early first-class railway carriages like this one often resembled horse-drawn stagecoaches, which were the other main means of public passenger transport.

Associated copy plans and papers, as well as details of the restoration of the carriage, are held in the museum archive.