| | The 'slipping' of coaches from moving trains, seems in today's more safety conscious world, an incredible practice. But it was once performed by some of Britain's most respected railways, sometimes from their most prestigious expresses. More than 35 years since the last coach was slipped from the rear of a British main line train, it is surely time for some connected account to be written about this century-long phenomenon, before records of its use and frequency vanish from libraries and archives as the paper on which they were printed crumbles away. There was a story, long current among railwaymen though never officially confirmed, that the practice of slipping carriages from trains in rapid motion originated by accident. It was said that on a certain occasion in the early days of rail travel, before continuous brakes would have ensured that a train which broke apart would at once start to slow down and eventually come to a halt, a highly-placed railway official, wishing to travel from a terminal station to an intermediate one, mistakenly boarded, on the wrong side of a departure platform, a train due to run a considerable distance before its first booked stop. He discovered his mistake when the train ran through one of the stations at which he had expected it to stop, and resigned himself at having to alight beyond his intended destination and then retrace his journey. His surprise was great, therefore, when the coach he was in began to slow down on approaching the station where he had meant to alight, and eventually came to a halt at the platform. His astonishment was even greater when, having stepped out of his compartment, he saw the front part of the train disappearing into the distance! Contents:
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Slip Coach Beginnings: 1858
- Chapter 2 The Build-up:1959-1900
- Chapter 3 Towards the zenith of slipping: 1901-1914
- Chapter 4 Slipping in Decline: 1914-1960
- Chapter 5 Slipping in Ireland: 1895-1940
- Chapter 6 Slip Detachment Procedure
- Chapter 7 Slip Coach Construction
- Chapter 8 Slip Coach Accidents
- Appendix 1 An Unofficial Slip Working in 1838
- Appendix 2 Slips made from the Cornish Riviera Express
- Appendix 3 G.W.T. Daniels Slip Coach Table
- Appendix 4 Was the South Eastern Railway actually the First Slip coaches?
- Appendix 5 Cord communication on Slip coaches prior to Automatic braking.
- Appendix 6 Early Slips on the London & South Western Railway
- Appendix 7 The Travelling Post Office slip van used on the GWR Ocean Mails train
- Appendix 8 Did the Midland Railway operate vestibuled slip coaches?
- Appendix 9 Slips on the Ravenglass & Eksdale Railway
- Appendix 10 Returning slip vehicles to their bases
Continent: Europe
Country: UK | | | Keywords: RAILWAYMEN, ACCIDENT, PLATFORM, MISTAKE, FRYER, ZENITH, IRELAND, CORNISH, RIVIERA, DANIEL, CORD, OCEAN, RAVENGLASS, EKSDALE | Tell a friend about this publication  | Last viewed titles |
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