Talk:BR 16169 Composite Corridor

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Query corner. On uk.railway someone posted: "Mk.I Corridor Composites (CK) had one compartment with a stretcher window, which opened inwards so that invalid stretcher cases could easily be loaded or unloaded if the platform was on that side. There was a normal door on the opposite, corridor, side of the coach." The SVRSevern Valley Railway have three BRBritish Rail or British Railways Mark I CompositeCarriage having more than one class of seating, ie First and Third or latterly First and Standard. Corridor carriages: 16169, 16202 and 16267, do/did they have this feature? And was there any similar facility in pre-Nationalisation stock? Also raised on the unofficial SVRSevern Valley Railway Facebook page. TIA--Patrick Hearn (talk) 13:14, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

From the Charitable Trust 16267 page: Reupholstered in both classes at SVRSevern Valley Railway Carriage Works, Kidderminster, 16267 presents a very tidy example of this useful, comfortable design. One unusual feature of these coaches was the stretcher-window situated in the middle second class compartment. These allowed ambulance crews to load stretcher-borne patients into the train, and one of the best examples of this traffic was a weekly booking from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads, where patients were sent to convalesce near Yatton.
RM Web forum gives a bit more information: It is commonly referred to as the "stretcher window" and had a full-size opening pane hence the indented and thicker (actually an additional) frame. Hinged at the top it was designed to be pushed out in the event of an emergency for stretchers to be taken inside. This was not possible through the 2' wide doors and side corridors of Mk1 stock. The decline and virtual elimination of Mk1 compartment stock from main line use and its replacement with wider doors on (mostly open plan) Mk2 and later carriages meant there was no need to perpetuate the feature. It could be found on CK vehicles which would have been formed into almost all trains at one time and including the 4Cep and 4Bep SRSouthern Railway EMU units built to virtually standard Mk1 designs.
Not sure on pre-nationalisation stock.--Robin (talk) 15:31, 17 October 2019 (UTC)
Thanks. Responses elsewhere are it was the centre second class compartment. Of the three SVRSevern Valley Railway CKs, 16169 and 16267 have had the handles removed and window sealed up but frame is still present. 16202 still has the handles/mechanism but has been sealed to prevent water ingress. On other lines the stretcher window was replaced by a fixed light to reduce water ingress. No comment on pre-nationalisation stock.--Patrick Hearn (talk) 08:45, 18 October 2019 (UTC)