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Carriage Building - Midland Railway style

As part of the Derby 175 celebrations, we are delighted to make this series of photographs from Derby Museum’s collection available. In October and November 1922, the Midland Railway’s photographer paid a series of visits to the Carriage & Wagon Works at Litchurch Lane in order to record the progress of building a single coach (actually, some are of different vehicles, but they show the sequence very well).

Most of the photographs show a 57ft Bogie Corridor Composite Brake Carriage. Ten of these were built as Lot 972, to Diagram 1283. The "General Arrangement" was Drg.No. 5391 (dated February 1922), which is preserved in the Midland Railway Study Centre’s collection (Ref:88-D1026). Picture 7 (DY12871), however, is not exactly the same type of carriage. It is a brake third - one of nine built to Lot 974 around the same time. These had a much longer brake compartment, having two sets of double doors; one to the right of the chap in the bowler hat (who we think may be the Works Manager?), and one just behind the chap with the white apron and raised arm. There were five variants of these new 57ft carriages (Lots 971-975), totalling 49 vehicles.

You can read more about the Carriage & Wagon drawing collections within the Midland Railway Study Centre and search our database of these drawings.

Though the process is vastly different, over ninety years on, artisans at Litchurch Lane are still building coaches, which we all hope will continue for many more years.

DY11824 Steel Underframe for Dining Car 28FEB1921

1 - Steel Underframe for Dining Car 28FEB1921 - DY11824

DY12872 Cramping Floor Framing 2hrs Work NOV1922

2 - Cramping Floor Framing 2hrs Work NOV1922 - DY12872

DY12828 Method of carriage construction old style - 7th day, making quarter framing 06SEP1922

3 - Method of carriage construction old style - 7th day, making quarter framing 06SEP1922 - DY12828

DY12832 Method of carriage construction old style - 14th day, fixing bottom quarter panels 15SEP1922

4 - Method of carriage construction old style - 14th day, fixing bottom quarter panels 15SEP1922 - DY12832

DY12834 Method of carriage construction old style - 16th day, preparing doors 20SEP1922

5 - Method of carriage construction old style - 16th day, preparing doors 20SEP1922 - DY12834

DY12835 Method of carriage construction old style - 19th day, moulding up completed and preparing for roof 26SEP1922

6 - Method of carriage construction old style - 19th day, moulding up completed and preparing for roof 26SEP1922 - DY12835

DY12871 Constructing Carriage Roof on Floor NOV1922

7 - Constructing Carriage Roof on Floor NOV1922 - DY12871

DY12841 Method of carriage construction old style - 28th day, scaffold fixing for roofing 04OCT1922

8 - Method of carriage construction old style - 28th day, scaffold fixing for roofing 04OCT1922 - DY12841

DY12858 Screwing Carriage Partitions in Jig NOV1922

9 - Screwing Carriage Partitions in Jig NOV1922 - DY12858

DY12848 Method of carriage construction old style - 35th day, roof completed 13OCT1922

10 - Method of carriage construction old style - 35th day, roof completed 13OCT1922 - DY12848

The negatives from which these prints were made (many years ago!) are held as part of the Derby Collection of the National Railway Museum, who will be delighted to answer enquiries about the rest of the collection.

Read more about how the Midland Railway Study Centre is helping to celebrate "Derby 175"