MR 6w Luggage/First/Third class compartment carriage (body only)

This carriage has undergone some changes in its life and tracing its origins has proved very difficult, provoking various ideas over the last few years. However, after considerable research it appears it was built in the 1880s by the Midland Railway at Derby. It was a composite luggage vehicle to diagram D516, ideal for "through coach" use, being detached from one train and attached to another without the passengers or their luggage being disturbed. It had two third class compartments, one at each end, with two first class compartments within those, and a narrow luggage compartment in the centre, accessed by a pair of doors. Seating capacity would have been 12 first class passengers and 20 third class. It has a body style of the arc roof type designed by Thomas Clayton, measures 31'0" in length, and would have run on a conventional six wheeled underframe of 21' 0" wheelbase. It has several design features in common with the MR Family Saloon body also at Foxfield, but is slightly shorter. When built it would have weighed just over 11 tons.

No details of its history or numbers are known as none have (so far) come to light since this carriage has been preserved. However there is plenty of evidence that its last use was as a departmental vehicle, as the fixed quarterlight windows had been panelled over in tongued and grooved boarding down to the waist, a style very typical of Derby's conversion of old carriages to mess vans, etc. The door droplights remained, but several doors had been permanently fixed, and some wooden panelling replaced with steel sheet.

After scrapping of the underframe sometime after the 1920s the body was sold off for use as a bungalow in Uttoxeter in conjunction with MR bogie third number 01101, a new roof being built overall, and both were lived in until 1988. For use as living accommodation few major alterations were made to the basic structure of this body apart from removal or repositioning of partitions and the installation of some metal domestic windows. But most of the evidence of interior design and decoration that had survived the departmental conversion was concealed or removed, and the exterior was partly coated in black bituminous paint. 

On construction of a new road between Rocester and Uttoxeter in spring 1989 the scrapyard in which the bungalow was situated was to be cleared and the contractor, Wrekin Construction, kindly allowed Foxfield to claim the bodies rather than bulldoze them away. Two weeks grace enabled them to be brought to Caverswall Road station where this six-wheeler was used as a store until converted for living accommodation once again, this time for a family of volunteers while on site. It currently carried maroon livery on the side that faces the station yard. Various remains of the decorated ceilings in both classes have come to light, but little further evidence. In view of the subsequent conversion of the body from its original condition, and the survival of other excellent similar Midland carriages, it seem unlikely that this body will ever be restored to running order. A new replica underframe would be required costing many thousands of pounds, but its continued existence ensures that one day restoration could be achieved.

For the Vintage Carriage Survey entry for this MR 6w luggage composite see: http://vintagecarriagestrust.org/sd/3208.HTM

Two identical carriages to diagram D516 also survive in preservation, complete with their original underframes. The Vintage Carriages Trust has number 358 built in 1886, which is currently under full restoration in the workshops of the Museum of Rail Travel at Ingrow on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. For full details see: http://www.vintagecarriagestrust.org/Midland.htm. The National Railway Museum, York has one that was built in 1883 and totally restored in 1975 down to the finest details as MR number 901 (though the actual identity seems to be unknown). It is usually on display in the York Museum and has provided an inspiration to many other restorers of vintage MR carriages. For its Vintage Carriage Survey entry (and a picture to show what ours should look like!) see: http://vintagecarriagestrust.org/sd/622.HTM