British Railways Mark 1 was the family designation for the first standardised designs of railway carriages built by British Railways. Following nationalisation in 1948, BR had continued to build carriages to the designs of the "Big Four" companies (the Great Western, Southern, London Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways), and the Mark 1 was intended to be the standard carriage design for use across all lines, incorporating the best features of each of the former companies' designs. It was also designed to be much stronger than previous designs, to provide better protection for passengers in the event of an accident.
The Mk 1 coaches were built in two distinct tranches: the early vehicles (1951-60) and the 'Commonwealth' stock (named from the type of bogie used) from 1961 onwards.
Read more about British Railways Mark 1: Construction, 1957 Prototypes, Fibreglass Bodied Vehicles, XP64, Safety, Post-privatisation, Future, Preservation, Liveries
Famous quotes containing the words british, railways and/or mark:
“Jane Hudson: Bravo.
Rosano Brazzi: Grazie.
Jane Hudson: Prego. That about concludes my entire performance in Italian.”
—H.E. Bates, British screenwriter, and David Lean. Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn)
“There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.”
—H.G. (Herbert George)
“The mark of our time is its revulsion against imposed patterns.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)