Hornby l&mr, open carriage pack - era 1

Having established the concepts of first and second class rail travel, it was only a matter of time before railway companies created a lower fare 'third class' for the carriage of the working classes, especially in the densely populated industrial areas. Companies such as the manchester, bolton & bury railway, the manchester and leeds railway and the sheffield, ashton-under-lyne & manchester railway all used open third class carriages, mostly for standing passengers, but sometimes fitted with a rudimentary bench (or benches). The l&mr considered the possibility of creating a third class as early as 1839, due largely to market pressure from the mb&br and m&lr, but the directors were afraid that, with its lower fares, it would draw passengers away from the first and second class trains. The introduction of third class travel on the l&mr dates to april 1844, when the board ordered new enclosed second class coaches to replace the older 'blue boxes', which were then downgraded to third class. The first of the l&mr third class train services ran in october 1844, departing from manchester at 06:30 and from liverpool at 18:30

specifications:

• finish: painted
• colour: blue
• gauge: 00
• operator: liverpool & manchester
• designer: stephenson
• livery: liverpool & manchester
• minimum curve (mm): radius 1
• number of parts: 1

dimensions - without packaging:

• length (cm) = 7. 5
• height (cm) = 5
• width (cm) = 3. 5
• weight = 0. 06
• scale = 1:76 scale 00 gauge