Preserved Pre-1948 Railway Carriages

Royston Morris looks at a photographic record of historic preserved railway carriages enjoying their second life.

---

Preserved (or heritage) railways have, in the majority of cases, at least one working steam locomotive and either a diesel unit or a diesel locomotive. However, the main thing these railways need to keep them going is the general public coming along and riding the trains. It’s all very well having a decent-sized fleet of working locomotives, but without any carriages to carry people in, you might as well call your railway a museum. The carriages on a heritage railway are just as important as the locomotives.

With nearly 200 previously unpublished images, Royston Morris looks at some of these often-underappreciated stars of the preservation scene.