Craven Coaches 1145 & 1146

[dave182]

Hi Guys

 

Just reading on Wikipedia (coaching stock of Ireland page) about 2 First Class Cravens that were built at Inchicore in the 60's. Anyone got pictures or more information on these coaches? They were numbered 1145 & 1146 and had air conditioning. Coach 1145 was destroyed in the Buttevant crash of 1980. Just wondering if they looked much different externally? How long did 1146 last?

[heirflick]

so was it one plate per train?

[flange lubricator]

I think it was one or two per coach or one per coach per side , nice idea I think the RPSI still use the brackets and similar boards on their trains .

[heirflick]

thanks fo the info Flange - every day is a learning day!

[BSGSV]

I have a very similar picture to Flange, we must have been on the same IRRS visit.

The EGV's and Mk.3 driving trailers had significant design input from Inchicore given their differences from anything BREL had produced.

I believe by the end of construction Inchicore staff reckoned they were building a good quality coach and by that stage they were fabricating the main elements themselves from raw materials using jigs and doing the complete fit out. Their ability to produce coaches by themselves led to their being disappointed not to receive further orders, for example when new stock for the Dublin-Belfast line was ordered from DeDetrich.

[minister_for_hardship]

They were permanent as far as I can remember depending on the service

 

Failte - Dublin-Cork -Dublin

Cu Na Mara - Dublin-Galway-Dublin

Sarseal-Dublin -Limerick-Dublin

 

There may have been more name trains than this that were named or the above may not be correct , no doubt more knowledgeable minds than mine may provide more information.

 

They were either cast alloy or painted timber, had two brackets at the back for hooking them on coaches.

 

Each train had boards with the train 'name', Failte/Slainte/Cu na Mara/Deiseach/Seandun/Sarseal and separate origin-destination boards in Irish and English versions.

 

Must have been a RPITA for someone to put them all up/taken them all down/change them but sure labour was cheap.

[jhb171achill]

We've both above..... In the pics above, 1146 is a laminate and 1150 a Craven. The Craven firsts were "first", not "super standard", as that terminology only appeared in 1972. Craven firsts were externally identical to standards.

Edited December 3, 2014 by jhb171achill

[StevieB]

I was very interested in the photo of FO 1146. It is basically a first class version of the 1449-1496 series of SO. The drawings I have of this coach show it having two toilet windows per side but photos show it with either one and two windows per side. Was there any rhyme or reason for the different versions.

 

Stephen

[Mayner]

Unlike BR CIE went through 4 distinct design stages with its coaches up to the arrival of the Cravens in 1963.

 

After building the Park Royals & Laminates CIE reverted to traditional wooden framed construction for the final batch of Inchacore designed coaches Bredin MK3? SO 1497-1503 & FO 1145-1146. These coaches had the squarer profile of the MK2 Bredin SO 1356-1371 built in 1953.rather than the tear drop profile of the laminates.

 

Generally CIE SO had 2+2 seating for 64 passengers arranged in 8 seating bays & one toilet , the main line Park Royals & 1429-1443 Laminates originally had 3+2 seating for 70 passengers in 7 seating bays and two toilets.

 

There were basically four types of laminate coach 70 seater SO 1429-1443, 64 seater SO 1449-1496, 40 Seater BSO 1909-1913, non-lavatory (suburban) SO 2162-2171. The Laminate suburbans were converted into BSO 1914-1923 in 1970.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Mayner