Carriage end apparatus

REGARDING the query in the December issue, the coach concerned is BR Mk.1 non-corridor second No. E46139, which was originally allocated to the Western Region but transferred to the Eastern in the mid-1960s. The conjecture it may be part of slip coach working is correct.

The book British Railways Mark 1 Coaches by Keith Parkin (page 89) explains this: “The Western Region obviously had a high expectation of the services on which its nongangwayed coaches would work. They were fitted with small rings, or eyelets, at approximately the centre of each end. To these could be attached chains to hold the coupling out of the way when used with slip coaches. The author has been unable to trace any evidence of such use.” John Macnab Laurieston, Falkirk