The History of the Slip Coach

[@henrybn14ar]

I travelled on the last one in the last month of operation in 1960, a late afternoon train from Paddington detaching at Bicester North, in a GWR Hawksworth coach like the one in the pciture.

[@philt4346]

Lucky devil, I was 9 months old and couldn't get a pass. I can only imagine. Like a module separating from a stage into weightlessness.

[@Martin_Adams184]

Yes. Lucky you!

[@epiccogman7959]

Noice.

[@alexjohnward]

awesome.

[@jayburgh]

thats fascinating, Henry what was the experience like?

[@leokimvideo]

Obviously footage of a slip coach actually being detached is so rare it's right up the end of the video...amazing

[@21Trainman]

@@andypandy7769 not really, since they would slip just before the station, and so would simply coast in using their momentum and stop at the appropriate time. If they stopped early though, yes there would be no way for them to reach the station.

[@DrFod]

The reason this was dangerous was because it violated the principles of absolute block signalling because there were effectively two trains in the same section. Signalmen had to be on their toes and remember not to ring train out of section when they saw the front half pass their box.

[@highdownmartin]

That’s why the leading nonstop portion would have a special specific tail lamp arrangement of two or maybe three ( I think) lamps to remind the signalman checking the end of the train that the slip was still in section. The steam railway was dangerous in SO many ways but because people grew into the job it was remarkably safe.

[@johnkeepin7527]

@@highdownmartin Actually illustrated around 10 seconds into this movie 😊.

[@Mortthemoose]

@@highdownmartin Ohhhh, that was intetesting. Thanks. I was wondering about that.

[@highdownmartin]

John Keepin indeed! I noticed that second time around

[@n1thmusic229]

But incab signalling should make this perfectly safe just so long as the slip coach contains it's own signalling equipment

[@gavinjohns6736]

Interesting resume of the slip coaches operation. At certain complex locations special signals were provided to show the slip guard that it was safe to slip i.e. the main train had clear signals through the section ahead and that when slipped the coach could run safely to a stand within station limits. Some trains had multiple slip coaches: presumably passengers had to ensure they were in the correct part! Nice film. Thanks.

[@Titot182]

Slipcoach - sounds like a post-rock/grunge band

[@winfield347]

Another goth rock fan.what a looser you must be.

[@visionist7]

@@winfield347 what's a looser

[@paulkennedy8701]

@@visionist7 Someone who has slipped too much I suppose.

[@paulqueripel3493]

@@visionist7 same as a loser, but they can't spell.

[@duffey3]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2Xbm6Vvq5qYns0

[@itsthatsebguy93]

Never knew that this was a thing

[@goteamdefense]

iBeer420noscope you would if you had watched Thomas the Tank Engine. There was an entire episode on it.🤓

[@Delta-nl7pi]

@@goteamdefense I guess i missed that VHS tape

[@datguymiller]

They're on multiple Thomas episodes

[@terryansell6641]

Never knew this happened

[@steeveedee8478]

I've always loved railways and I've never seen this before either.

[@davidpatrick8599]

I remember seeing slip coaches being detaching at both Reading and Didcot in the late 1950s. Historically , they were amazingly save, no serious accidents being recorded involving their operation, which speaks volumes for the skill and competence of the staff involved. The rules of operation were extremely strict and had to cope with localised bad weather ,i.e. fog, blinding snow etc. The Guard in the slip portion had to know exactly where he was before releasing the slip and if there was any doubt, he would gently but firmly apply the brake sufficently hard enough that the driver would feel the pull and thereby he would stop the whole train at the station. I f the driver knew that he was likely to be slowed by signals ahead, there was a whistle code that would denote that the slip should not happen .This was to prevent the slip being detached and then running into the rear of the decelarating train.

[@Ralph2]

This I did not know. Thank you for the information.

[@johnpotter4750]

Thank you for the added clarity, most of my visits to Reading were in the 60's> via Southern Region electric multiple stock. Down by the Biscuit factory and Gas works lines.

[@gus.smedstad]

Watching this video, I fully expected a section on the number of disasters and deaths caused by this practice. There was no real discussion of the potential dangers.

[@Mortthemoose]

I have no idea why this appeared in my recommendations, but I watched the whole thing, and found it really interesting! Lol I had never heard of this before. I have no particular intetest in trains, but this video did bring back memories of growing up in Norfolk, uk. We literally lived in a railway cottage, right on the platform of Haddiscoe Station, on the Norwich to Lowestoft line. Just to the side of house, was a disused line, closed by Beeching. Mum and dad didn't have a car, so we went on the train everywhere. Trains were a huge part of my life. I even remember how the old carriages used to smell! The ones with the individual compartments, and a long corridor joining them. We always felt "posh", if one of those turned up, as they were a lot more plush than the regular trains. Our station had one long platform and one short one, so you had to make sure you walked to the right end of the train before it stopped, or you'd end up with no platform to get out onto! If it was a really long train (which happened occasionally), if your section didn't stop at the platform, you were allowed to pull the emergency cord, the guard would come, and you had to ask the driver to shunt the train backwards or forwards, so that you could get out onto a platform! 😄 I miss all of that! Also, there was a period of time when you had to request some of the trains to make a stop at Haddiscoe, or else they would go flying past! In my 20s and 30s, I got the travel bug, and lived/worked all over the uk, including the Scottish Highlands and Islands. It was a 12 hour journey to get back up to the Isle of Skye. I had to get the 6am train, and when it was dark, I had to flag the train down with a torch, or else it would just continue on, through the station. Sorry for rambling. Just brought back good memories, of a different era ☺

[@RichardASK]

Very enjoyable video. I'm 69 and have been a railway fan all my life, but this was a concept, of which I'd never heard. Thank you.

[@rogerkearns8094]

This morning I was unaware that I would hear of such a thing today.

[@patagualianmostly7437]

Ditto....And today is my Birthday..... What an unexpected present from YT!

[@rogerkearns8094]

@@patagualianmostly7437 Have a good one, best wishes. :)

[@stejer211]

Ah yes, that usually happens when learning new things. Amazing, isn't it?

[@johnmaxnodiff5875]

I saw the Coronation Scot in blue do this as a boy train spotter on Crewe Station. I overheard a conversation between a Porter and a passenger about they occasionally ran bets were the coach would come to rest. This stopped when it was realised that some cheating could have occurred with the brakeman. The one I saw had come to a halt just a few yards short of a small white line on the edge of the platform hardly visible to passengers of why it was there. At the time I didn’t know what was going on and thought the coach had come off the end of the train, until I looked it up in all the train spotting and other books I had. Up to the start of COVID I still was going to Crewe Heritage Centre often. There is a large window in the old signal box looking directly at the end of the platforms. Unfortunately I can no longer go at the moment owing to long term illness. I especially miss talking to the old members of Crewe railway works and that are often there and the visiting steam locos. On of the last I saw was the Flying Scotsman. Health and safety makes it now there is a small fence between the visitors and the Locomotives. The members are a very friendly bunch that are always willing to answer any questions.

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

Glad you were able to show at least one clip of a slip coach separated from it's train.

[@Craigrd]

A brilliant but short documentary of slip coaches. Very accurate ,with very good footage. WELL DONE!

[@11holic11]

I get to know the slip coach for the first time. Thank you for raising this topic.

[@rvnmedic1968]

Always learning something new that was very old. Cheers from Syracuse, NY! Bob

[@flatcapfiddle]

I saw these watching an epicode of Thomas the Tank Engine with my daughter. I thought they where fictitious, thought up by creative tv writers.

[@applecounty]

When the Rev. W. Awdry wrote his books he ensured that the storylines included Railway operating practice (UK). I am not familiar with the latter stories, especially non-UK so cannot comment on these.

[@szabados1980]

@@applecounty Some elements were real and others fictional. Or show me a tank engine that talks to himself. 😃

[@szabados1980]

My first thought was to check the calendar. And it's not April 1st... I'm confused!

[@zork999]

That's where I heard of them first, too. And that's with God's Wonderful Railway being my favorite. I always wondered if the time saved on the outward journey (giving it the "slip") was worth the time lost on the return journey.

[@AviationNut]

Well Thomas the train is fictional.😂😂

[@gdj6298]

Came across this by accident - I remember reading about slip coaches when I was a kid, but I'd forgotten about them. On the one hand, if done correctly and with regulations and safety in mind, it kind of makes sense. On the other hand, gut instinct says it's just so...........bloody...........WRONG ! (It's reminiscent of when I'd be flying back to Gatwick and often the path would go right over my home town "Look, there's my house - give me a parachute, I can save three hours!") Thanks for a fascinating bit of history !

[@ThomasTankAlex01]

I really hope the slip coaches from Thomas & Friends will be merchandise in the future. Because I have been waiting forever.

[@royreynolds108]

One of the small railroads out of Silverton, CO was built with a turntable as part of the main line because of the lack of room for a loop to redirect the track in the direction the train was supposed to go. Also very steep grades were involved with steep mountainsides hemming in the route on both sides. To get the locomotive onto the front of the train and pointed upgrade, a turntable was built with 2 parallel tracks leading to it so the locomotive approached the turntable upgrade. The train would stop short of the turntable and uncouple from the cars, then proceed onto the turntable, turn, run around the cars and stop just beyond the turnout. The brakes would be released on the cars which would roll down to couple with the locomotive and then the train would proceed upgrade or downgrade as necessary. It was time consuming but did not involve backing a train up the grade as at a zig-zig(switchback).

[@volvoolympianforever]

Fun fact: the first ever slip coach practice on a colonial railway was on the Kowloon Canton Railway in Hong Kong, back before WW2. There were two buffet cars modified for this purpose so that golfers from Kowloon can ride on them which would be attached to Kowloon - Guangzhou (then Canton) express trains, with the coach detached at the golf course in the New Territories (specifically Sheung Shui). This piece of information was from a book on the history of the KCR by the colonial government of HK back in the 1990s, and I was unable to find any pictures of this information, but still, it’s interesting enough.

[@zanelindsay1267]

Fascinating, I watched it again! Rory calls it "an eccentric British railway novelty".

[@milesmojave8223]

Today you taught me about something I never knew existed. Nicely done.

[@johndoe1909]

Great idea really! With todays equipment each coach could be motorised and able to connect and disconnect automatically without human intervention. A motorised coach could accelerate on its own and connect to a passing train.

[@chrisjohnson6876]

Great info piece...being a bit of a train lover in my early teens (1969) have never heard of this practice. You live and learn! LoL Thanks!

[@philipdown321]

I was on the slip coach for Banbury during the last week of it's operation in 1960. Quite an event if one is a railway enthusiast. I was bound for Bicester where I was doing National Service in the RAOC. Happy Days! - Phil Down

[@papalaz4444244]

Fascinating. I have genuinely never heard of that ever.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

I feel like the slip coach is a good example of British railroad ingenuity. Doubt there are modern applications for the slip coach, but it would be cool for there to be some.

[@balasambasivan1815]

Indian railways also had slip coaches few decades back. This coaches will be detached at an important junction and attached to connecting train. I never saw detaching slip coaches from fast moving train.

[@steadynumber1]

I hadn't heard of slip coaches before. As a child though I was fascinated by the practice of slipping wagons at Shildon in NE England, and seeing the separated wagon being diverted onto the 'up' goods line of the station.

[@roygardiner2229]

I never heard of this before. It has surprised me greatly :-) ! Thank you.

[@redram5150]

This is fascinating. I had no idea this was done on purpose

[@elijaha773]

Facinating is right!

[@TrainBoi227]

That's why you should've watched Season 18 of Thomas & Friends lol

[@redram5150]

@@TrainBoi227 I forgot that was a documentary series

[@informatimago]

Indeed. So far the only example I had was in Tintin "Prisoners of the Sun" («Le Temple du Soleil»), kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4upYmyom6ZqfbM

[@PaulSmith-pl7fo]

Thank you for a very interesting film. The idea of a slip coach is totally new to me; although, I'm not too surprised at its demise, being quite labour intensive.

[@coloradostrong]

I rode this in Wedley-in-Commons to Uppleigh-on-Marthe in 2018. The ole chap had a stroke after releasing the car and we plowed into a Scottish Highland cow that was on the track. Beautiful animal it was.

[@darrenking6026]

Like most here, I've never heard of this either. However, now when my Hornby model trains accidentally uncouple when going around my layout, I can now say that they haven't accidentally uncoupled but are actually slip coaches!!! Ha ha ha... Cheers for the upload and info.

[@TheCatOfWarCSGO]

As you say it seems like it'd break every health and safety rule in the book- but I'm curious to know did any accidents happen with slip coaches? Other than that great video!

[@railtrolley]

That and the practice of "loose shunting".

[@hedgehog3180]

I mean you'd be surprised at the practices that are still in use, humping at rail yards is still the norm. Some things just work. Though I imagine that like with rail yards if this was to come back into use we'd do things a bit differently, some rail yards use sleds embedded in the track to pull cars along instead of having shunting, I imagine we'd do something like that and possibly also install the brakes in the track rather than on the coach so it can be automated instead of relying on a human. The biggest concern is almost definitely the corridor which can just be eliminated and the risk presented by having a train in front that's so close, I imagine an automated system with brakes in the track could solve that as the coach could be automatically released and then slowed down to being a safe braking distance away from the train in front.

[@hedgehog3180]

And also perhaps coming up with a different coupling system perhaps based on magnets that'd allow recoupling if that's needed.

[@millomweb]

So we now have 'loose shunting', 'fly shunting' and 'hump shunting'. I know and understand the latter but what are the other two ?

[@pgtmr2713]

@@hedgehog3180 Something like a metal fin under the train like a linear brake instead of a rotor. With a series of calipers on the trackside. Something like what rollercoasters use.

[@loganenglish3537]

You learn something new every day!

[@Martin_Adams184]

A good piece. Well done! I never saw a slip coach in operation, but the coaches themselves lasted a number of years after the last slip-coach services in 1960. I clearly remember seeing them in South Wales, where I lived. They were a rather rare but distinctive sight during the years 1959-1963, marshalled in the stock of a local train, or into one of those long trains to the western resorts, when an extra coach might be added en route if the train from Paddington was full. I cannot remember if all the slipping mechanisms were still in place; but the tell-tale things were the window at one end, the lack of corridor connection and, on at least one coach I remember seeing at Whitland, the word "Slip" prominent at that end. Thank you for an engaging video. Further down this page I've given a detailed reply to TheCatOfWar, who asked about accidents. I know of two.

[@judgedredd8657]

In freight operations. At least in canada we call that a drop or a Dutch drop when you sling a car into a track with a wrong facing switch. Similar to this

[@applecounty]

I would love to see this on film (KZbin). Do you have a link?

[@judgedredd8657]

@@applecounty it's called a Dutch drop. I'm sure there are some videos on KZbin of it. And yes still done in canada in occasion

[@Colonel_Blimp]

Judge Dredd we used to do this in yards in New Zealand with freight. We called it slipping. Banned along with kicking.

[@klausstock8020]

Saw that in Germany as a kid, but this is performed at low speed. Not passenger express train speed.

[@richardheizmann2756]

Two examples with train arriving from left: ---------- Moving train on lower track uncouples car(s), races ahead to a stop on main, switch thrown,. reverses and races into upper track, switch thrown, car(s) roll into the main and are handbraked. I've always understood the first to be a flying drop and the second to be a dutch drop, but I may be wrong or it might be a regional US thing. Apparently Reading Company employees were fond of the practice and popularized it. Since the Reading was centered in the Pennsylvania Dutch (really German) country of SE PA that may be the origin of the move's name. The dutch drop required steadier nerves and a trusted crew. You'd be accelerating toward a car(s) rolling your way. A balky switch, an engine hiccup, a switchman slip or trip might ruin your plan, day or career. Management frowned on both the safety and damage liabilities involved and this practice was outlawed by most roads and probably the Feds by mid-century.

[@mpersad]

This was something I had no idea about! Fascinating, thank you!

[@zackbobby5550]

"Only ever ran a few times a day." ONLY a few times A DAY?!?! Here in the US if I wanna catch a train to somewhere I got wait for it to come later this WEEK lmao.

[@planespottingnurnberg6418]

Here its a few times in an hour

[@2H80vids]

@Andrew_koala Same reason ships carry "cargo" and road vehicles carry "shipments".

[@johnpotter4750]

Uk, Woking Station, Surrey. 06:30 - 24:17 Service each direction every hours general maintenance opportunity depending upon approaching first train movement & clearance.

[@user2C47]

@Andrew_koala In the US, many cities have commuter trains similar to the system in London, and longer distance trains have to run on freight lines where freight trains have priority. You have to wait multiple days for one of those trains because the train takes multiple days to reach it's destination, simply due to the large distances involved.

[@adamchmielewski6162]

LOL LOOK AT THIS TRAIN-LACKING LOSER!!!

[@zanelindsay1267]

I've always been curious about this practice and the video provides more information than what I knew previously.

[@Josh_Fredman]

The preserved one at the end, and its "charmed life" as you put it, made me smile. =] A beautiful, elegant little piece of history.

[@atgordon1948]

A wonderfully well presented piece of railway antiquity!

[@janethartwig774]

Fascinating video about something I’ve never heard of. What an interesting concept. Thanks for posting.

[@cnosprandt5155]

Very clever approach. I had never heard of these. I can see how you definitely needed a high level of skill and timing for the conductor in slip coach lest it over or undershoot the station.

[@flyby2300]

Excellent video; & excellent radio-voice too. (The speaker of this video would be an excellent BBC-radio-4-speaker! (In the last few years, some mumbeling duds have 'entered service' (on Radio-4), who should definitely be replaced!)

[@MarkJT1000]

Never knew they did this. Presumably there was a 2nd light on the rear of the carriage in front of the slip coach. But I would have thought any time saved by not stopping at the slip station would have been lost by the longer time required to stop and re-couple the carriage on the way back.

[@matt47110815]

Time for RailRoad operations, maybe. The acceleration of the older Engines were poor. For the Travelers in the Express part of the Train, it was A LOT of time saved.

[@TreniFS_]

Yes, at 2:55 you can see that the last car before the slip had its own tail lights. I'm also perplexed by the fact that this might be fast for passengers headed to a small station, but very slow for the trains used by the ones who are departing from there.

[@Mark1024MAK]

MarkJT1000 - the return would presumably have been via a slow stopping all stations trains at an off peak time, or via an empty stock train.

[@simonjames3845]

Lot of very interesting Irish footage in this video. As well as a superb view of a GE Claud in LNER livery.

[@dmv5552]

Another interesting video with plenty of information on a long forgotten railway practice. As an addition my August 1955 Bradshaws shows eight slip coaches still operating, all on the Great Western Region! Two were unusual as they were detached from West of England expresses at Westbury and stopped in the countryside near Heywood Road Junction from where they were taken by a tank engine in to the station nearly a mile away on a loop line. They then formed a train to Weymouth. The others were the Bicester slip from the 1710 Birmingham to Wolverhampton shown in the video and three others at Didcot slipped from Bristol or Fishguard trains and two at Reading slipped from Bristol/Cardiff trains.

[@johnbrown9092]

I am amazed! Worked on railway for 49 years and never heard of them!!

[@Jakob_DK]

You should watch more Thomas the tank engine :-)

[@johnbrown9092]

Jakob Soland Engbæk Maybe!

[@Jakob_DK]

Browndale Heritage Railway. John Brown Slip coaches are important in several episodes: ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Slip_Coaches But yes you are probably at a higher level and most with Thomas is for very young children.

[@davidfarmer2193]

Thomas the Tank Engine brought me here, from the episode "Duck and the Slip Coaches"! :)

[@YukariAkiyama]

David Farmer Oh hell yeah man! I’m not the only one who got this from TTTE

[@shuttyssteamclips]

Same here bro

[@falkerhard]

Duck it

[@Toggle2400]

That is a frowback

[@jamesleopard8518]

I didn't remember the slip coaches since I was a little boy back then

[@georgecoles9942]

For the record, 'clerestory' is usually pronounded ' clear story' (and sometimes 'clerestory'). Calling it 'clear storey' defines what it is! Apart from that, a great compilation. Thanks for doing the research.

[@vivekraychowdhury4348]

Slip coaches are still in some railways outside of UK. Thanks for this very interesting upload.

[@gerryc2795]

In 1954 I was lucky enough to watch the guard through his door when we slipped from the Cornish Riviera train, the slip was into Par to form the service into Newquay, Cornwall

[@harrypenn611]

These are getting better and better can't wait for the next ,great stuff

[@grahamsowerby6087]

The classic way to present a documentary! Brilliant! Thanks!

[@Miner4472]

The first clip, i remember watching ages ago but never really looked into it. Great Video

[@marienbad2]

I never knew I needed to know about this but it was fascinating. I loved the opening comments about the Health and Safety handbook!

[@johnjephcote7636]

The 2nd model coach I ever built from scratch (in the early 1980s) was a 4mm EM gauge concertina (70 foot) slip coach of the GWR. 'Concertina', because of its recessed, flat doors. They were still being used on the Bicester slip in 1959 tho' by then fifty years old (built 1906).

[@ozzietadziu]

A fascinating oddity. Typical British ingenuity.

[@WineScrounger]

We love getting weird 👍

[@applecounty]

I believe one of the American Railway/Railroad companies experimented with the concept.

[@donaldstanfield8862]

Keep the train on time!

[@bostonrailfan2427]

because others wouldn’t be dumb enough to cutoff coaches and let them glide into the station, they’d either schedule a stop or not include it on an express! if they have an engine there to move the coach, why couldn’t said engine be at a preceding station stop and be used to pull the coach to the intended station? that’s the real waste

[@davidjones332]

@@bostonrailfan2427 He really doesn't explain the concept clearly. The point was that the slip coach was usually used to provide a through service to a branch line destination not served by the express. It was generally coupled to a waiting local train, rather than just being shunted to a siding.

[@Einstein52]

Thank you for this interesting historic documentation about a variation in railway operating technology, I never have heard before.

[@MililaniJag]

Very interesting! Never heard of it. Thinking outside the box. Sounds like FUN!! Cheers!!

[@alstokesveteranfilmmaker913]

Back in the 1970s, I made a film for a mate who was converting a disused branch line station into house. It had a 'spare' platform which seemed a bit pointless until the owner explained it for the slip coach - a long and wonderful explanation followed. All I can remember of it was the branch line was on the Great Western Railway and the slip coach platform was owned by some Lord or other who was famous for leading a charge at Waterloo.

[@RailRocketRicky]

What a wonderful and interesting video all about the Slip Coaches. :)

[@stewartgibbard5895]

I seem to remember travelling on the Cornish riviera where the last 4 coaches would be detached or slipped at Newton abbot. These would go on to Torbay via a smaller engine.

[@bingola45]

That's a split, not a slip.

[@rich7787]

What a fantastic channel! Thanks for your hard work, much appreciated!

[@barrydysert2974]

i had never even heard of this service! Thank you so much sharing. Absolutely fascinating!:-) 🖖

[@atakd]

Great to watch something I'd never heard of before.

[@philiphart6688]

The footage from 6'50" looks suspiciously like Whiteabbey station (in Northern Ireland) - a place I spent much time during my teenage years (in the mid 60s) spotting trains.

[@AndreA-ke2id]

A few questions come to mind....... 1. As the guard had technically become a 'driver' when he slipped the coach, was he required to study and pass the whole railway operating regulations book just as a real driver would? 2. As mentioned in the film, @4.04, it was vital to slip the coach at the correct moment. Were lineside marker boards provided to indicate the point at which to do this? 3. What did the guard do when the coach arrived. Did he just stay with it or catch the next train back to his starting point that day?

[@ex48bw]

I think I know where I'm going for my summer holiday next year... :P Another splendid little film, thank you!

[@mikegmdw1]

Fascinating - thankyou for this very informative video of which I knew nothing even though I consider myself a railway enthusiast.

[@FD-vj6hd]

6:50 Ireland was part of the UK in 1900

[@Bertie_Ahern]

Not by choice...

[@AakashKalaria]

It looks dangerous but damn cool!

[@bingola45]

What is it that 'looks dangerous'?

[@AakashKalaria]

@@bingola45 A rogue wagon, sure it has a person who can break. But... The coach is still on the mainline.

[@peteacher52]

Very well researched, assembled and presented.

[@tracyyy99]

As is said by others, I never knew this practice existed...Very informative piece of film.

[@jayburgh]

Ruairidh I never knew about the slips being used in Ireland. Thanks a million for that mighty useful information.

[@peterarmand6814]

A publication from the Oakwood press very good .A History or Slipping and Slip Carriages. Send for their catalogue

[@philipm1009]

Great video nice to see Irish railway history of slip coaches thanks for making 👌🚂

[@adrianrosenlund-hudson8789]

Fascinating. I'd no idea they were in service that long. I first heard about slip coaches through watching Thomas the Tank engine 🤣

[@hb6986]

What an excellent vid and very well produced, thank you

[@s0nnyburnett]

This was not what I was expecting it to be about. Can't imagine being a passenger on an Amtrak train, walking forward only to see the conductor holding a big lever in the vestibule and the rest of the train missing ahead.

[@WilliamHollinger2019]

Werid right.

[@davidsheriff8989]

Educated..never knew this all my life and I grew up in the steam era...well explained

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Fascinating. Well done Ruairidh.

[@williamevans9426]

Fascinating - I was totally unaware of such a concept!!

[@jamesavenell2368]

In my loco spotting days during the late 40s & early 50s I lived in Reading. We had the Western main line to the west & Wales proceeding through Reading General station, as it was known then. I recall having often seen the slip coach at the rear of a train as it passed on its way west.

[@johnlomas7398]

We used to return to Guildford from Bristol, via Reading Stations, on a Sunday afternoon and I am sure there was at least one occasion when we were in a slip carriage. for Reading. There was also one time when we had one of the gas turbines pulling the train. Unusually for a Bristol-London train it had to use the outer platform at Temple Meads because the noise from the jet engine would have been deafening under the canopy.

[@jamesavenell2368]

@@johnlomas7398 Ah Interesting John, yes I remember the Gas Turbines. You mention Guildford, I knew it quite well as my Grandfather lived there before he was married. I used to inhabit Joseph;s Road a fair bit until the terrible event in the 1970s.

[@barefooboy17]

Great video! Never heard of a slip coach until this video!

[@anotherluckyone]

Thank you for making this video. I never knew such a practice existed.

[@NeilFLiversidge]

I learn something new every day. Thank you!

[@tonycollins7965]

I remember watching the slip coaches coming into Bath with the main train continuing to Bristol. Thisa would have been in the early 1950's.

[@Mark1024MAK]

Do you remember if they were shunted into one of the short bay platforms? If yes was a locomotive used or was it done with horses?

[@tonycollins7965]

@@Mark1024MAK Sorry for the delay, I have just seen your comment. As far as I know the coaches ran into the main platform and were retrieved after the passengers had got off. I don't know how they did the retrieval.

[@Mark1024MAK]

Tony Collins - Thanks. I asked because I was told that at one time a horse was kept at Bath Spa. After the slip coach had done it’s job, when they wanted to move it from the main line, they attached the horse to pull it into a siding. However, I don’t know if this was one of the bay platform lines that used to exist at Bath Spa.

[@Momo_Kawashima]

This reminds me the time me and my family took the Rome-Milan train. We see the train slow down to a halt, we watch behind us and we notice the coaches behind us disappeared and we can see the full panorama. We spent 45 minutes dead on the tracks before starting again

[@danielrose1392]

Oddly, research into this topic returned. Having not only individual slip coaches but whole trains splitting while moving, you could vastly increase flexibility and capacity. The modern concepts also include coupling at slow speeds.

[@mriinpromriinpro]

Oh how I love history either war or transportation

[@warrenny]

Transportation I understand. Machines, movement, excitement. War is people maimed, killed, limbs amputated, people with infections begging a doctor for morphine to deaden the pain, post trauma shock and permanent emotional problems from war.

[@jeffreypaul4414]

@@warrenny /mm. M m/m Kk'v mmmmmmmm/. M M M mm / mmmmm k kk m. M. N. N. / (, what?

[@mebeasensei]

@@warrenny yes, but it still a massive addiction for millions...

[@erisdiscordia1649]

@@mebeasensei And it is the mother of invention, and the wildfire that cultivates new life

[@truth.speaker]

Oh how I love punctuation

[@Mark1024MAK]

Question: some GWR stations had very short bay platforms. Did horses ever shunt the slip coach into such bay platforms?

[@BazColne]

Interesting. Well-commentated. Many thanks.

[@kingofthepod5169]

There is a similar practice called a flying switch, in which a freight car is uncoupled from a moving train and switched off into a siding under its own momentum. While nearly unheard of today, videos are still up on KZbin.

[@peterb1543]

Fascinating piece of GWR history.Someone should build a replica and put it in a railway museum

[@benpotter614]

Great video or an interesting subject. A minor point - the coach style to which you refer is 'clerestory', from 'clear story- the level of the building (the storey) which contained windows. This term remains in use when describing e.g. medieval cathedrals. Keep up the good work!

[@wideyxyz2271]

Great piece and very well presented.

[@Leathersladekitchen]

This actually still sort of happens at the stations mentioned early on (Lewes and Haywards Heath, Lewes is pronounced Lewis btw) The line still splits at Haywards Heath heading North or south, southbound the split heads to either Brighton or branches off just after Wivelsfield and travels down towards Eastbourne and Hastings, or down to Brighton.

[@MisterHampshire]

Not sure if that would be seen as a 'slip' though - trains divide yes, I've been on them on the south coast, but the key difference is they are actually two multiple unit trains initially joined as one, which then separate at wherever and become two, single, powered trains in their own right. The separation happens at a designated station when the whole thing stops as one where everyone stops at.. It's then separated with each portion of that divided train going on to its own destination.

[@visionist7]

Traveling off peak from Victoria to Littlehampton I always had to know which carriages to board as the train would split at a station, can't remember which one. The other half of the train would head out west. Peak trains wouldn't split and the entire twelve carriage train would proceed to Littlehampton, which is a terminus.

[@bruceboatwright7488]

I learned something new today! Fascinating.