What were the last 5'3'' 4 wheel (passenger carrying) coaches?

[minister_for_hardship]

Just wondering.... know that the Tramore had some positively antique rolling stock well into GSR days and the Waterford & Central Ireland had a lot of 4 wheelers, the W&CIR were reputed to have the worst passenger stock in the country, but how long did they last until? (Not counting 4 wl heating vans or Schull & Skibb ng stock here)

[BSGSV]

Can I just clarify, please? Is it passenger carrying only Irish standard gauge carriages you have in mind, or NPCCS as well?

[jhb171achill]

The MGWR had a handful of four wheelers into the 1920s. Well into GSR days, there were at least two or three old relics usually kept kicking about in Inchicore. These were only used in emergencies; they had as you might expect no heat, light or corridors. Rather than being painted in normal GSR lined maroon, they were just plain maroon with no crest or lining, but just "G. S" on their dudes.

 

I think they lasted until about 1930. I can't remember - off the top of my head - what company they originated from.

[minister_for_hardship]

Just passenger coaches. Like this example: http://79.170.44.87/roxeymouldings.co.uk/assets/images/products/P1010091.jpg

[jhb171achill]

That type of long wheelbase four wheeler would be reasonably common on British lines at one time, but Irish four wheelers were way shorter and of a more primitive body design. A body like that, if in Ireland, would inevitably be six wheeled. Some Irish 6-wheelers were only 24ft long.

 

Four wheelers here followed much older body designs, because they stopped building them here decades before they stopped building them in England. By the mid 1880s, the standard in Ireland was six wheeled, but vehicles of the body design of that model would have been built in England possibly as late as the 1910s.

[minister_for_hardship]

So would they look more 'scrunched up', like Hornby's interpretation of a 4 wheeler? (which I assume is freelance)

 

http://www.intertrains.com/userfiles/Hornby%20GWR%204%20wheel%20coach.jpg

[BSGSV]

I don't like your quiz as the question is too hard!

I'm not saying this is the last, but I do believe that, despite the caption, there's no middle wheels on this carriage. They may have been removed to make it easier to get around the curve, something done on the Isle of Wight too.

[Jawfin]

I think there's only two four-wheelers preserved, on that note... DKR 48 and possibly (Probably? It's only 25' long) UR 33, the former at Cultra and the latter at Downpatrick. Not including the Tin Van TPO at Heuston, of course!

[jhb171achill]

That's correct, Jawfin. The two I mentioned were normal passenger carrying ones. The two you refer to are of an even earlier era. The one shown at the start of this post is completely unlike anything that ever ran here.

[jhb171achill]

Minister, that type too is unlike anything which ever ran here. By the time that the type of body design shown in both the pictures posted was the norm, six wheeled chassis were universal here. British lines kept on building four wheelers a great deal longer, leading to some of the beautifully restored examples on the Isle of Wight, for example.

 

On these boards a while back, someone showed how he had made a quite superb GSWR-like six wheeler by amalgamating a couple of those "Thomas" coaches to make one that was one and half times the length, and using a six wheel chassis. That's more like it for Ireland.

 

The initialing wheelbase four wheel shown in this post would do fine for many Irish lines if it was fitted with a six wheel chassis. It would look like many first class coaches (4 compartment) off the GSWR, or at a pinch West Cork or the DSER. It's not, however, convincing for NCC, BCDR, GNR or MGWR scenarios.

[Broithe]

On these boards a while back, someone showed how he had made a quite superb GSWR-like six wheeler by amalgamating a couple of those "Thomas" coaches to make one that was one and half times the length, and using a six wheel chassis. That's more like it for Ireland.

 

'Twas Mike84C - http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/4325-A-six-wheel-coach .

[Jawfin]

Never thought that there'd be a four-wheeler around as late as 1950, that's a great find

Is there any particular reason why four-wheelers weren't seen often here compared to in Britain?